Auston Matthews gets 100% real about surpassing Alex Ovechkin to become NHL goal leader 

Auston Matthews has scored the most goals of anyone in the NHL since he entered the league back in 2016-17, and Alex Ovechkin has scored the most goals in NHL history.

Matthews is widely considered the best goal scorer in the game today, while Ovi is now considered the greatest goal scorer of all time. Both players possess wicked shots and an uncanny ability to put the puck in the net.

With 398 career goals, Auston Matthews is 497 behind Ovechkin in the all-time scoring race. Still just 27 years old, many feel that if anyone in the current age could eventually surpass Ovechkin's goal totals, Matthews would be the guy.

On Monday, the Maple Leafs captain was asked about the possibility of passing the Great 8 in career goals one day. He quickly shot down that question.

"That's such a long way to go," Matthews said. "I don't think I should even be in that conversation. This guy just broke the record. I'm so far away from that, and I think it shouldn't really be a focus on myself."

Matthews is right. It's Ovechkin's moment and nothing should take that away from him.

Matthews is in the middle of a down season scoring-wise with 30 goals in 61 games. It should be noted that injuries have affected his play at times.

Auston Matthews has the highest goals-per-game rate of any active NHL player

While it may seem ridiculous to think about right now, Auston Matthews could put himself atop the NHL's all-time goal-scoring list when it's all said and done.

Matthews has a career 0.64 goals-per-game average through 623 games played, while Ovechkin has a career 0.602 goals-per-game average in 1,487 contests. With a 69 and 60-goal season already on his resume, we know that the superstar center can score in bunches and still has many prime years ahead of him.

The difficult part of chasing down Ovi will be durability and longevity. Ovechkin rarely missed time with injury and consistently put up massive goal-scoring numbers into his late 30s. Matthews is one of the few players capable of achieving such a feat, but it's hard to express just how difficult it will be.

Matthews and the Maple Leafs are back in action on Tuesday night against the Panthers in Florida. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST at Amerant Bank Arena.