Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews has scored has 10th goal in Toronto’s sixth game of the season, thanks to a late third-period tally Saturday night in a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals.
Matthews joins Mario Lemieux (11 goals in 1988-89) as the only players over the last 30 years with at least 10 goals in their teams’ first six games.
Matthews is the fifth player in the Modern Era (since 1943-44) with at least 10 goals in his team’s first 6 games of a season, joining Bobby Hull (11, 1965-66); Dino Ciccarelli (10, 1986-87) and Mike Bossy (10, 1984-85) in addition to Lemieux, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
He is just the third player in Maple Leafs history with at least 10 goals in the team’s first six games of a season and the first since Babe Dye in 1922-23, according to Elias.
Since 1987-88, no player in Maple Leafs history had previously scored more than seven goals in the team’s first six games.