The Toronto Maple Leafs made a significant leadership change during the offseason, with John Tavares stepping down as captain after five seasons and Auston Matthews assuming the role. Matthews became the first American-born captain in franchise history.

Having recently signed a five-year contract extension, Matthews continues to be one of the NHL’s most dangerous goal-scorers. On Monday, during Toronto's divisional matchup against the rival Tampa Bay Lightning, Matthews added another achievement to his impressive resume.

Early in the second period, Matthews buried a rebound of teammate Mitch Marner's shot past goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead:

His goal was the 371st of his career, which tied Washington Capitals captain and future Hall of Famer Alex Ovechkin for the most tallies before the age of 28. Born in September of 1997, Matthews won't turn 28 until next fall, meaning he'll have plenty of time to set the new record.

Matthews' goal also gave him tallies in three straight games.

Leafs forward Auston Matthews continues to climb the goal-scoring charts 

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One of the most feared snipers in the NHL, Matthews has won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the League's best goal scorer in three of the last four seasons. His most impressive goal-scoring output took place last season when he lit the lamp 69 times, the most of any player since Ovechkin scored 65 in the 2007-08 season.

His 69 goals were also the highest by any player since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux scored 69 himself during the 1995-96 season, one year before his first retirement.

Matthews also fell just short of becoming the eighth player in NHL history to reach the 70-goal plateau.

His goal against the Lightning was the 371st of his career, which already includes 283 assists for a total of 654 points. He's also added 23 goals and 25 assists in 55 career postseason games.