Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews scored twice in the second period against the New York Islanders on Saturday night to pass Mats Sundin and set the franchise record for career goals with 421.
“It means a lot, it’s a very historical franchise,” Matthews said after his team’s 4-3 overtime loss in Elmont, N.Y. “There’s a lot of pride. I am very humbled. I couldn’t do it without the great group of guys around me.”
His first goal tied Sundin at 420 when Matthews entered the offensive zone past Islanders defenceman Scott Mayfield, shifted the puck from his backhand to his forehand and slid it past goaltender David Rittich at 9:30 of the second period. It tied the score 1-1.
Just 7:49 later, Matthews broke the record with his second of the game and 20th of the season to put Toronto ahead, burying a cross-ice feed from Bobby McMann on a one-timer.
Mats Sundin congratulates Auston Matthews for passing him on the Leafs’ all-time goals list 🤝 <a href=”https://t.co/7ZjG3ziotu”>pic.twitter.com/7ZjG3ziotu</a>
“A club that’s had tremendous history, a tradition of players coming before him” John Tavares said of Matthews. “Hopefully that doesn’t get lost in the loss. Amazing moment for him and a hell of a player.”
Matthews had his second consecutive multi-goal game after he had a hat trick on Friday night in the Maple Leafs’ 6-5 win against Winnipeg. He now has six goals and 10 points in four games since the NHL’s Christmas break. He sat out Toronto’s 4-0 win against New Jersey on Tuesday night.
“It’s incredible, congrats to him,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. “He’s accomplished a lot of things; he had a strong game again tonight. He drives the bus, drives the play for us and everybody feeds off of him.”
Matthews, in his second season as Maple Leafs captain after succeeding Tavares, is fourth all time in franchise points with 760, trailing Sundin (987), Darryl Sittler (916) and Dave Keon (858).
Sundin, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012, scored 420 goals in 981 games with the Maple Leafs. Matthews, named to Team USA for the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina next month, topped his mark in his 664th game.
“For Toronto, it’s come at the absolute necessary time for him; they need him to get going, and he’s finally going.”<a href=”https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@FriedgeHNIC</a> reacts to Auston Matthews breaking Mats Sundin’s all-time goal record on Saturday night with <a href=”https://twitter.com/Mattymar89?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Mattymar89</a> and <a href=”https://twitter.com/FutaMichael?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@FutaMichael</a>. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeafsForever?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#LeafsForever</a> <a href=”https://t.co/RUYDfFTZ4W”>pic.twitter.com/RUYDfFTZ4W</a>
