Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews becomes fastest to 50 goals in 28 years

Auston Matthews scored his 50th goal of the season Wednesday night in the Toronto Maple Leafs star’s hometown, becoming the fastest NHL player to reach that goal in 28 years.

Playing his 54th game of the season, Matthews scored 5:01 into the game on a power play to give Toronto a 2-0 lead over the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena.

From nearby Scottsdale, Matthews scored on a shot from the circle to the left of goalkeeper Karel Vejmelka. Mitchell Marner and Timothy Liljegren assisted on the goal that came with Arizona’s Michael Carcone in the box for heeling.

Mario Lemieux reached the milestone in 50 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96. The fastest was Wayne Gretzky, who scored his 50 in his 39th game for Edmonton in 1981-82 on his way to a record 92 goals. Matthews is the fastest to 50 among US-born players.

Matthews scored eight goals in his last four games and had back-to-back hat tricks before scoring one against St. Louis on Monday night. Florida’s Sam Reinhart is second in the NHL with 39 goals. Matthews has 349 career goals in 535 games.

Matthews, who scored 60 goals while leading the NHL two seasons ago, making him the first to reach that mark since Steven Stamkos scored 60 in the 2011-12 season. The last players to score 70 or more in a season were Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny, who each scored 76 in 1992-93.