By the numbers: The best stats from Matthews' 50-goal blitz

Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews added to his superhuman season Wednesday night, burying his 50th goal in only his 54th appearance.

There is a bevy of mind-blowing stats and facts that illustrate how impressive Matthews has been leading up to his milestone marker. Here are some of the best:

1: Matthews is the quickest American-born NHLer to hit 50 goals in a campaign, besting the previous record (62 games) shared by him in 2021-22 and Kevin Stevens in 1992-93.

8: There have been eight instances of a player scoring 50 goals in 54 contests or fewer since 1989-90: Cam Neely, Brett Hull (three times), Mario Lemieux (twice), Alexander Mogilny, and Matthews. The all-time record holder in this department is still, and likely always will be, Wayne Gretzky's 50 in 39 in 1981-82.

4: Matthews is one of four active players to have multiple 50-goal campaigns, joining Alex Ovechkin, Leon Draisaitl, and Steven Stamkos.

2: Matthews joins Rick Vaive as the only Maple Leafs in franchise history to have multiple 50-goal seasons.

0: No other player has hit the 40-goal mark yet in 2023-24.

3rd: Matthews' 36 tallies since Dec. 2 - the night he ended a dry spell of one goal in nine games - would be tied for third in this season's "Rocket" Richard race.

76: The 26-year-old is currently on pace for 76 goals this season, which would tie the fifth-highest total in league history. The 70-goal barrier hasn't been breached since 1992-93.

7th: Matthews entered Wednesday averaging 0.65 goals per contest for his career - the seventh most in NHL history among players to play at least 100 games.

25.5: He has scored a quarter of Toronto's 196 goals this season.

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