CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Rick Vaive’s record will stand for at least another season.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday the regular season had ended and the league is now moving to play-in series to determine the eight teams that would join the top four teams in each conference, which had been given post-season berths.
It means Auston Matthews will end the 2019-20 regular season with 47 goals in 70 games. It put him on pace for 55 goals.
Vaive, who grew up in Charlottetown, holds the Toronto Maple Leafs’ single-season record of 54 goals. He accomplished the feat in 1981-82.
Vaive told The Guardian earlier this year he was pulling for Matthews to break the record.
“This year was setting up to be the perfect year for Matthews to do it. He was very close,” he said at the time.
