Rival fans seek to undermine Auston Matthews' 50 in 50

Auston Matthews is making Maple Leafs history, regardless of how that story is being told. Matthews is the first 50-in-50 player since Mario Lemieux, though technically the NHL only officially recognizes players who score 50 goals in their team’s first 50 games of the season. This detail is provoking a lot of debate amongst Leafs supporters and rival fans.

Video Transcript

- I don't understand why there's this back-and-forth argument that's taking place predominantly between [INAUDIBLE] fans and Leafs fans. But over the weekend, Matthews scored his 50th goal of the season. And that marked his 50th goal in 50 games. And now we're doing this whole semantic breakdown of, oh, actually, it's only 50 in 50 games if it's at the start of the season or because Matthews had that two-game suspension when he cross-checked Rasmus [? Dahlin. ?]

You know, that makes it-- you know, that takes it away. Like, I don't understand why we're doing [? that. ?] If you look at-- if you go on any hockey stats website, you look at the game logs, you count backwards from that game, count back to 50, count how many goals he has, he has 50. Like, OK, sure. I get it. It's written down somewhere. But like, he has 50 goals in his last 50 games. Why can't we just be like, hey, that's cool?

And at this point, I don't even know if it's [? just ?] because there's, like, a whole-- it's a rivalry thing. Like, I don't understand why non-Leafs fans are so hesitant to say, hey, Auston Matthews has 50 goals in his last 50 games. That's pretty cool. I don't get it. Now it's turning into, like, oh, no, he actually didn't. Cole Caulfield is better.

Like, listen, man. Like, there is history going on right now. And yes, I understand that Leafs fans-- like, we're all very overly excited for this. I get that. I understand that. But man, just let us have our victory here. Let us enjoy the player. Let us enjoy the record. So like, man, do we really need to fine-tune-- to really focus on the nitty-gritty here? Do we really need to do that? Do we really have to throw all the "well, actually's"?

Like, here's the thing. This is an area of where you may want to throw the "well, actually's." If Auston Matthews walks into the playoffs and has no goals [INAUDIBLE] bounced in the first round, then you throw out the "well, actually's." That's where you can say, well, actually. Oh, he finished with 58 goals in the season. Well, actually, does it matter? Because when we needed him to score the goals, he didn't.

That's where you can throw the "well, actually's." And that's where I expect all of you, and myself included, to throw the "well, actually's"-- when those games matter-- because that was a big conversation last year. He had a great regular season, not much in the playoffs.

And especially in what we're seeing this year, as where he's turned it up and is scoring against the best teams in the NHL-- he got a hat trick against Tampa-- if he goes [? to ?] the first round and doesn't have any goals, then you can say the "well, actually." Oh, Matthews finishes with 60 goals. Well, actually, doesn't matter, because he got out in the first round. Then throw that out.

But for now, just let Leafs fans-- let us enjoy the history. And I don't think every single stat needs to be dived into that much. It's hockey, right? Auston Matthews has 50 goals in 50 games. Let's all just enjoy it. The game is getting better. Matthews is one of those reasons why.