Ultimate goal remains elusive for Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews

With five games remaining in the regular season, the 26-year-old could become the first to reach 70 goals in a season since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny scored 76 in 1992-93.

While individual milestones are great, that is not how most NHL players want to be judged. Success in the Stanley Cup playoffs is where legacies are made, but Toronto and Matthews have come up woefully short there over the past seven seasons. 

Despite talent that also includes forwards Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and defenseman Morgan Reilly, the Maple Leafs have only reached the second round of the playoffs once since Matthews joined the team in 2016. 

In a best-of-seven second-round series last season, Florida eliminated Toronto in five games.

In five of the previous six seasons, Toronto was eliminated in the first round. In the COVID-19 season of 2019-20, the season they weren't dismissed in first round, the Maple Leafs lost in the qualifying round. 

Of the other 12 players who have scored 65 goals in a season, 10 are among the greatest to play the game. Of those 10, Phil Esposito, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Lanny McDonald, Jari Kurri, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Selanne and Ovechkin have won at least one Stanley Cup.

If he stays healthy, Matthews will find himself somewhere among those names in career goals. Unless he and the Maple Leafs can figure how to dramatically improve their playoff fortunes, however, Matthews could find himself as the Marcel Dionne club. 

Hall of Famer Dionne — who played from 1971-89 for three teams — is sixth all time with 731 goals, the most career goals without winning a Stanley Cup.

Dionne was a terrific player, but he's not how Matthews wants to be remembered.