Tempe, Arizona (AP) Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season in his hometown, breaking the tie for the fastest U.S.-born player to reach 50 and helping the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the struggling Arizona Coyotes 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Matthews scored his milestone goal on a power play 5:01 into the game, his 54th of the season, making him the fastest player to reach 50 goals in a season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. Wayne Gretzky owns the record, earning 50 points in his 39th game for Edmonton in 1981-82. Matthews and Kevin Stevens shared the previous U.S.-born mark of 62 games.
Matthews scored off a rebound in the second quarter to make the score 4-2. The 26-year-old center from neighboring Scottsdale has nine goals in his last four games and 350 in his career through 535 games.
