Auston Matthews scored his 65th goal of the season and fed Jake McCabe in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are trying to hang on in the playoff race.
With the second team drafted spot on the line, the Penguins came away with just one point, losing 3-2 in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs. They matched the points tally (84) of the Detroit Red Wings, who are in last place giving access to the playoffs, but they played one more game. The two teams will face each other on Thursday.
Auston Matthews became the 13th player in history to amass 65 goals in a season by breaking the deadlock in the third period. He is on a streak of 11 games with at least one point and he has hit the target in his last five. He then fed the hero of the match in overtime, Jake McCabe, who scored his first goal in these circumstances. The 30-year-old defenseman is having his best season in the NHL with 26 points.
Even Sidney Crosby is impressed that Auston Matthews is looking to score 70 goals.
“It seems like a crazy number, but he could do it,” the 36-year-old said before his team faced the Maple Leafs. It’s incredible. That says a lot about the consistency he shows. ”
“He goes about it the right way,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of his ace scorer. He is confident that his talent will come through – he will be able to score – and whatever the end result, I think he will be satisfied.”
“He should definitely be proud of what he did, how he handled himself, throughout his journey. ”
Author of the first goal in each game during their recent four-game winning streak, the Penguins had every intention of continuing the trend. Rickard Rakell scored his 14th goal of the season with 1:54 left in the first period to open the scoring again. Evgeni Malkin took control of the puck in offensive territory after an opponent’s turnover before passing it to Rakell, who shot while turning around to beat Ilya Samsonov and open the scoring.
Matthew Knies tied the score in the second period by redirecting TJ Brodie’s shot past goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who was making his ninth straight start. He is the third Leafs rookie in the last seven years to amass 15 goals in a campaign, joining Michael Bunting and Andreas Johnsson.
Mitch Marner came close to giving his team the lead by breaking away during a power play, but Nedeljkovic blocked his maneuver.
Alert to the faceoff on the massive attack in the third period, Matthews immediately fired a powerful slap shot after 1:22 of play to reach the impressive plateau of 65 goals. The only other active player to achieve the feat is Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals in 2007-2008.
Drew O’Connor tied the game late in the game and Sidney Crosby collected his 998th career assist in the streak.
On March 27, the Penguins found themselves 9 points out of a playoff spot with 11 games remaining. In NHL history, the largest gap closed to participate in the playoffs with 11 games remaining is 7 points.
