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Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews (34) and defenceman Morgan Rielly (44) and right wing Mitchell Marner (16) celebrate a goal scored by Rielly against the Dallas Stars during the third period at the American Airlines Center.Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

Auston Matthews did what no other Toronto Maple Leafs player has ever done on Thursday, scoring his 55th and 56th goals of the season in a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Centre.

The 24-year-old centre ripped a one-timer past goalkeeper Scott Wedgewood in the second period and then beat him again with a wrist shot with 2:50 left in overtime. The first broke Rick Vaive’s club record of 54 that had stood for 40 years and three days.

“It felt good,” Matthews said. “There are a lot of emotions that run through your mind and body when you see the puck go in. It’s really exciting.” Before he scored, Matthews had been frustrated repeatedly by Wedgewood. The Dallas netminder had denied him nine times from virtually every angle as Matthews’s teammates fed him pucks in an attempt to help him become the greatest scorer in the franchise’s 105 years.

On March 31, Matthews joined Vaive, Dave Andreychuk and Gary Leeman as the only Toronto players to score 50 goals in a single season. He has had six goals in four games since then and now has 49 over the last 49 contests.

“It’s amazing,” linemate Mitch Marner said. “It’s hard to score a lot of goals in this league, and he makes it look easy.”

The record goal came on a power play with 1:02 left in the second period after defenceman Mark Giordano delivered a pass directly onto the blade of Matthews’s stick as he lurked in his office on the left side of the net.

“It is pretty cool to be a part of it, and for him to get the winner felt right,” said Giordano, who was acquired by Toronto from Seattle at the trade deadline. “To be honest, it has been impressive to watch him since I got here.

“A lot of guys take a breather when they get to 50, and he just turns it on.”

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Dallas Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood (41) defends against Toronto Maple Leafs centre Alexander Kerfoot (15) during the third period at the American Airlines Center on April 7, 2022.Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

Morgan Rielly and William Nylander had the other goals for the Maple Leafs, who three times had one-goal leads. Tyler Seguin, John Klingberg and Joe Pavelski scored for the Stars. Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs in the first. Dallas got goals from Seguin in the first and Klingberg, who had tied it at 2-2, in the third when he uncorked a slap shot from 13 feet out on the left side of the net.

Toronto goalie Jack Campbell had 16 saves in the win. Wedgewood kept Dallas in the game even though it was severely outplayed. He recorded 37 saves in the defeat.

The victory improved Toronto 46-19-6 and left them five points ahead of the third-place Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s Atlantic Division standings.

The Florida Panthers lead the Maple Leafs by six points. Their next game is at home on Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.

Dallas is 40-27-3 and in a battle for wildcard position in the Western Conference.

Matthews now has 56 goals and 41 assists in 65 games and leads Leon Draisaitl of Edmonton by six goals in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy.

It was historic night for him and everyone on the team celebrated with him.

“This is Auston’s night and much deserved to finish it with an exclamation point,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “This organization has been around for a long time and has had a lot of great players. It’s an achievement for him to be at the top of the list.”

Matthews acknowledged that it is an honour for him, but was more happy that the team won. Toronto concluded a four-game road trip with three wins.

“We are on a bigger goal, and this is just a stepping stone,” he said.

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