EP Rinkside 3 stars for Week 25 of the NHL season

Hey, it’s the end of the 25th week of the NHL regular season. And it was a week marked by milestones, which is impressive given that there are still a full four weeks left in the campaign.

Let’s go:

3. Getting there in a hurry

Auston Matthews scored his 50th goal of the season in his 62nd game. But given that he didn’t score in his first three games this season, it’s also 50 in 59. Which is wild.

When Steven Stamkos, the last player to score 60 in a season, did it 10 years ago, he needed 65 games to hit the half-century mark. When Alex Ovechkin scored 65 in 2007-08, he didn’t get to 50 until Game 67.

Now, yes, Matthews has missed five games this season, so the Leafs are on Game 67. That means his runway to get to 60 is shortened by five games. But the idea that he’s going to go cold sometime soon doesn’t feel reasonable, and even if he does for a week or something, the idea that he somehow couldn’t score 10 in eight games down the stretch is also a little silly. So it really does feel like we’re going to see someone score 60 for the first time in a decade, and just the third time since 1996.