Auston Matthews scores 50th goal as Maple Leafs down Jets in 7-3 win

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He did it.

Auston Matthews became only the fourth Maple Leaf in history to record 50 goals on Thursday night during a 7-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Scotiabank Arena.

The crowd erupted when he put the game away with an empty-netter, with 2:06 remaining. He is the first Toronto player to reach the milestone since Dave Andreychuk got 50 in 1993-94 and joins him, Rick Vaive and Gary Leeman in a very limited group to achieve the feat form a franchise that dates back to 1917.

“It means a lot,” Matthews said after getting doused with water by his teammates when he entered the dressing room afterwards. “I am really fortunate to have played with really good players and on really good teams over the last six years.

“It was special to do it at home as well.”

Fans rose and gave him a lengthy standing ovation. In tribute, some tossed their hats and hockey sweaters onto the ice.

“We knew he was going to get,” Mark Giordano, the Maple Leafs defenceman, said. “Basically, he is a goal a game player.

“I loved the reaction of the crowd. There was a buzz every time he got the puck late in the game. It was something cool to be a part of.”

Matthews has scored 13 goals over the last 11 games and has had at least one in 36 of the 62 games in which he has played. He now has a one-goal lead in the scoring race over Leon Draisaitl of Edmonton and is well within reach of the team record of 54 goals that was set by Vaive in 1981-82.

“I just try to stay in the present and do my thing,” Matthews said when he was asked about exceeding that. “I have a job to do and want to stay focused.”

With the victory, Toronto moved into second place in the NHL’s ever-so-close Atlantic Division. Florida won again and retains a seven-point lead over Toronto, with Tampa Bay now third one point behind the Maple Leafs and Boston fourth just two points behind them.

After a game in Philadelphia against the Flyers on Saturday, Toronto travels to Tampa to play the Lightning on Monday, then to Sunrise, Fla., to face the Panthers on Tuesday and to Dallas on Thursday to play the Stars.

William Nylander scored twice on power plays, and Matthews, Giordano, John Tavares, Ilya Mikheyev and Timothy Liljegren had one goal each.

Rookie Erik Kallgren gave up goals on two of the first four shots he faced but finished with 20 saves to earn the win in the Maple Leafs’ net.

He had picked up a victory in relief of Peter Mrazek in Boston on Monday after the latter left in the first period with a groin injury. Mrazek is expected to miss a minimum of six weeks, the latest blow for him in what has been a disastrous campaign for him and an expensive one for the Toronto.

The club signed him in the off-season to a three-year deal at US$3.8-million annually to serve as Jack Campbell’s backup but he has been hurt and struggled throughout.

Campbell suffered a broken rib and has not played since March 8 but will likely return on Saturday in Philadelphia against the Flyers.

Jets captain Blake Wheeler sliced through the defence and chipped the puck over Kallgren to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead a little more than three minutes into the action. Then Paul Stastny beat Kallgren on an wrap-around to make it 2-0 with 12:15 left in the first period.

Giordano got a lucky break to net his first goal as a Maple Leaf about five minutes before the first intermission. It was the seventh goal overall for the former Calgary captain and bounced in off the leg of the Jets’ Brenden Dillon.

At 38, Giordano is the oldest defenceman to score for Toronto since Tim Horton did so at age 40 in February of 1970.

Winnipeg began the second period on a power play but was unable to take advantage. Nylander then knotted the contest at 2-2 on a power play two minutes in. Nikolaj Ehlers responded for the Jets less than two minutes later, but it took only 23 seconds for Tavares to tie it again at 3-3.

Nylander scored for the second time with a man advantage with 11:20 left in the period to put Toronto up for the first time at 4-3. Mikheyev then added one short-handed and it was 5-3 after 40 minutes.

Matthews then followed with his 50th and Liljegren got his second of the year with 1:46 remaining.

Besides Mrazek, Toronto was also without defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin, who incurred a head injury on Monday when punched by Boston’s Taylor Hall. Carl Dahlgren was called up from the AHL Marlies to take his place. The Jets were without leading scorer Kyle Connor and veteran blueliner Nate Schmidt, both of whom tested positive for COVID-19 in Buffalo on Wednesday.

Expecting a chippy encounter, the Maple Leafs inserted pepper pot Wayne Simmonds and the rugged Kyle Clifford into the lineup on the fourth line flanking centre Jason Spezza. There was a dustup in the only other contest between them in 2021-22, a 6-3 Jets victory on Dec. 5. In that one, Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk was suspended two games for a knee-on-knee blow to Rasmus Sandin, and Jason Spezza was given a four-game suspension for kneeing Pionk in retaliation.

Toronto came in 42-19-5 and 6-3-1 in its last 10 games. Winnipeg was 33-25-10 but 4-1 over its last five and 10-4-1 in March. The Jets trail the Vegas Golden Knights by two points for the second wildcard slot in the Western Conference but are running out of time and space to catch them.

Matthews is embroiled in a race for the scoring title with Leon Draisaitl of Edmonton. Draisaitl scored his 49th on Wednesday in a victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

“He’s a great player,” Matthews said earlier in the day. “I am not too surprised. He is one of the best in the game.”

No doubt Matthews could claim the same thing.