Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has already earned multiple accolades during his NHL career that put him among the most decorated players in club history.
Considering the history of the Maple Leafs, that’s no small feat on the part of Matthews, and he continues to climb the charts in both team and NHL history.
During Toronto’s setback against the Calgary Flames on Monday evening at the Scotiabank Saddledome, Matthews added another impressive notch to his resume by reaching 800 career points and setting team history in the process.
Toronto Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews Overtakes Darryl Sittler In Club History
Matthews, who picked up an assist during the 5-2 setback, now has 800 career points, and became the fastest player in team history to reach the impressive mark, reaching it in just 703 career games.
Maple Leafs Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler reached the mark during his playing career in 742 games, set in November 1980.
Auston Matthews Defended Teammate Eason Cowan
Following the setback against the Flames, Easton Cowan took responsibility for a costly turnover that led directly to Calgary’s second goal.
However, Matthews came to the defense of his teammate, saying that they win and lose as a group.
”There’s a number of factors that go into losses and that go into wins,” Matthews said. “For us, we’re gonna stick together through it all. We’re gonna win as a team, we’re gonna lose as a team. It’s on all 20 guys that were on the ice and we know that we need to be better in a number of different areas, but it’s definitely not on one guy.”
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs remain shorthanded thanks to the absences of both John Tavares and Chris Tanev, and now, they’re dealing with the injury to Kirill Marchenko.
”It’s not really a guy you can just replace,” Matthews said. “It’s just on the guys who are gonna get some more opportunity and they gotta step up with more minutes, stepping up in the lineup and whatnot. Every team deals with this. We’ve been dealing with it for a couple weeks now with Johnny, Taney, et cetera. It’s just a good opportunity for guys to step up and have more opportunity to move.”
Another Maple Leafs Legend Is Now Behind Auston Matthews