One wonders if there's a good chance of reaching the legendary 50-goal-in-50-game plateau for Auston Matthews, who added two goals to his tally in a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The team from Queen City lost 2:5 to the New York Rangers, but the American still delivered a great performance. He scored in the fifth consecutive meeting and scored a brace in five of his seven games in December.
• Also read: WATCH: A great goal and a hat trick for Kirill Marchenko
• Also read: Dylan Larkin doesn't feel safe in the NHL
Matthews in particular now has 25 goals in just 28 games. In 2022, he managed to score 51 goals in 50 games, although not at the start of the season. However, if he keeps up his current pace, he could even exceed the 70 success mark for the first time.
In the modern era of the National Hockey League, Matthews is the second fastest player to score 25 goals for the Leafs. In 1993-1994, Wendel Clark needed 27 confrontations.
However, the spotlight was stolen from him by the Rangers. Toronto's streak of games without a loss in regulation time ended at nine. Mika Zibanejad (twice), Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafrenière and Braden Schneider shook the ropes.
Martin Jones tried his best in the loss, making 31 saves on 35 shots. Igor Shesterkin made just as many saves for the win.