Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews of San Ramon, California made National Hockey League history on Tuesday. Matthews became the first American-born player to score 60 goals in a season as the Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario.
Matthews made hockey history at 5:49 of the third period. He scored his 60th of the season from William Nylander and Morgan Rielly on the power play to put the Maple Leafs up 3-0 at the time. It was the second of two goals for Matthews during the game. He also scored at 15:48 of the first period from Jason Spezza and Colin Blackwell.
On the season, Matthews now has 60 goals and 44 assists for 106 points. He is a +20 with 18 penalty minutes, 44 even strength goals, 29 power-play points, 10 game-winning goals, 348 shots on goal, 691 faceoff wins, 62 blocked shots, 67 hits, 92 takeaways, and 48 giveaways.
The Maple Leafs are playoff bound. The odds of them winning the World Series are +1000 according to betonline.ag.
Related: Auston Matthews Ties Maple Leafs Single Season Record in Goals with Seventh Career Hat Trick
Brett Hull
It should be noted that Brett Hull had three consecutive seasons where he reached a minimum of 60 goals, and led the NHL in goals each season. He scored 72 goals in 1989-90, 86 goals in 1990-91, and 70 goals in 1991-92. However, even though Hull represented the United States internationally, and won a World Cup with the stars and stripes in 1996, he was born in Belleville, Ontario, before moving to Illinois at age four, where his dad Brett starred for the Chicago Black Hawks.
Others to score 60 goals in a season
Matthews became the 22nd player in NHL history to record 60 goals in a single season. In addition to Hull, he followed Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy, Phil Esposito, Alexander Mogilny, Teemu Selanne, Jari Kurri, Lanny McDonald, Alexander Ovechkin, Steve Yzerman, Luc Robitaille, Reggie Leach, Jaromir Jagr, Steven Stamkos, Bernie Nicholls, Luc Robitaille, Pavel Bure, Guy Lafleur, Dennis Maruk, and Steve Shutt.
Related: Canadiens’ Legend Guy Lafleur Passes Away at Age 70
Other Notable Record
In other NHL news, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes of Orlando, Florida set the Canucks franchise record for most points in a season by a defenseman with 66. He accomplished the feat in a 5-2 Vancouver win over the Seattle Kraken. Doug Lidster had the old record of 63 points in 1986-87.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
