Matthews passes Sittler for 2nd-most goals in Maple Leafs history
Toronto Maple Leafs sniper Auston Matthews passed Darryl Sittler for the second-most goals in franchise history with his 390th career tally Sunday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Matthews climbed Toronto's record books with a tally in the second period of his team's wild 6-5 overtime victory.
"An honour to be in the same sentence as Darryl Sittler," Matthews said postgame, according to Postmedia's Lance Hornby. "He paved the way for a lot of us."
Here's how the Maple Leafs' all-time list looks now:
Rank | Player | Goals | GP |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mats Sundin | 420 | 981 |
2 | Auston Matthews | 390 | 607 |
3 | Darryl Sittler | 389 | 844 |
4 | Dave Keon | 365 | 1062 |
5 | Ron Ellis | 332 | 1034 |
Matthews is just 31 goals away from taking over Sundin for the No. 1 spot.
He hadn't scored in his past three games and hadn't beaten a goalie in his previous 10 contests, per Hornby.
The 27-year-old tied Sittler with an empty-net goal Feb. 22 during the Maple Leafs' 6-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Matthews is now up to 22 goals in 45 games in his first campaign as Toronto's captain.
Matthews wasn't the only Maple Leaf to hit a significant milestone against the Penguins.
Mitch Marner overtook George Armstrong for fifth place on Toronto's all-time points list (714) on Matthews' goal. William Nylander, meanwhile, scored in overtime to claim sole possession of 10th place on the franchise's goals list (252) after tying Bob Pulford on Friday.
Though Matthews has been hampered by an upper-body injury this season, he's been one of the league's best scorers over the course of his career.
He's won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy three times in the past four years, including in 2023-24 when he went off for 69 tallies - the most by any player in the salary-cap era.
Matthews also became the first Maple Leafs skater to hit the 60-goal milestone in a single season back in 2021-22.
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