Even though he fell behind somewhat during the season, it was difficult to rule Connor McDavid out of the race for the Art Ross Trophy.
The captain of the Edmonton Oilers proved this state of mind right and thanks to a three-point haul in a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night, McDavid is within reach of Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov.
McDavid first reached the 120-point mark for a third consecutive season with his 27th goal of the campaign. He is the seventh player in NHL history to experience such a streak.
The attacker then joined forces in this match in the nets of Adam Henrique and Evan Bouchard to bring his total points to 122 in 69 games. He is thus only two points behind the top of the scorers’ ranking, occupied by Nikita Kucherov and his 124 points. MacKinnon is at 123 points in second place.
McDavid has won the last three Art Ross trophies.
As for the game against the Kings, Arthur Kaliyev deprived Stuart Skinner of a shutout in the third period. The Oilers goalie still made 32 saves. Cody Ceci put the finishing touch on the game in an empty net. Leon Draisaitl had three assists in this game.
With this win, the Oilers now have four points over the Vegas Golden Knights in second place in the Pacific Division. The Kings fall to last place among drafted teams, five points ahead of the St. Louis Blues.
Matthews’ 60th goal will wait
Tyler Bertuzzi scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Washington Capitals for the second time in the space of eight days, winning 5-1.
Last Wednesday evening, in Washington, the Leafs (41-22-9) won 7 to 3 against the same Caps (36-27-9), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
Once again deprived of Mitch Marner, Toronto shot 48 times on Charlie Lindgren’s net, while Joseph Woll turned away 25 pucks at the other end of the ice.
By virtue of the loss suffered by the Florida Panthers, the Leafs moved to within six points of the latter, with 10 games to play, a little more than their Sunrise rivals.
In his first game since February 29, veteran defenseman Mark Giordano opened the scoring midway through the first period with his second goal of the season.
After Tyler Bertuzzi’s first of the night, Nic Dowd cut the lead in half for Washington, but Connor Dewar responded five minutes later, restoring the lead to two goals.
Bobby McMann moved the strings 66 seconds into the final period, dealing a big blow to the visitors’ hopes of a comeback.
Bertuzzi completed the score by taking advantage of a missed zone exit from Trevor van Riemsdyk, behind Lindgren’s net.
Toronto had lost its last two games, including a 6-3 loss Tuesday to the New Jersey Devils, a performance that head coach Sheldon Keefe called “immature.”
Things are not getting better for the Jets
Ivan Barbashev scored two goals in the third period and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1.
Barbashev scored at 14:31, then placed the puck in an empty net with 1:45 left in the game.
Jack Eichel also scored in an empty net. Pavel Dorofeyev scored the other goal for the Golden Knights, who are 2-0-1 in their first three games on a four-game road trip.
Logan Thompson stopped 39 pucks.
Former Montreal Canadiens Sean Monahan shook things up for the Jets, who lost a fifth game in a row. They thus equaled their worst streak of the season.
Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves in this sixth consecutive loss for the Jets against the Nevada club.
Canes offer playoff tickets
Frederik Andersen made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season in a 4-0 victory for the Carolina Hurricanes over the Detroit Red Wings.
With this win, the Canes ensure their participation in the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season.
The Hurricanes’ victory also ensures that the Panthers are guaranteed to participate in the playoffs. The Boston Bruins punched their ticket following the Montreal Canadiens’ victory against the Philadelphia Flyers.
All the goals in this match were scored in the middle period. Sebastian Aho shone the red light for a 32nd time this season. He finished his evening of work with a three-point haul.
Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas and Brady Skjei also found the back of the net at the expense of James Reimer. The latter allowed four goals on 33 shots.
A nice plateau for Malkin
Evgeni Malkin scored two goals to reach the 20-goal plateau for the 15th time in his career and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2.
The Russian became the 31st player in National Hockey League history to have 15 20-goal campaigns. He added himself to this list with two power play goals, each time creating a tie.
Drew O’Connor then gave the Penguins the lead 35 seconds into the third period. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 17 pucks and the Pennsylvania team has a record of 21-2-3 in its last 26 games against the Blue Jackets.
Sidney Crosby has two assists and has 995 in his career, 11th in Bettman Tour history. The Penguins captain has totaled nine points in his last three games.
Mathieu Olivier and Cole Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost a sixth straight game. Daniil Tarasov made 33 saves.
Despite the defeat, the Panthers have their playoff ticket
Semyon Varlamov blocked 26 shots and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period to help the New York Islanders defeat the Florida Panthers 3-2.
The Panthers could advance to the playoffs with a win. The team still qualified for spring ball as the Detroit Red Wings lost to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Ryan Pulock and Mathew Barzal also scored in the win. Casey Cizikas had two assists.
The Islanders had lost seven of their last eight games before Thursday’s matchup.
Finding the back of the net for the Panthers’ second goal, Aleksander Barkov became the first player in team history to reach the 700-point plateau.
Vladimir Tarasenko also scored in the loss. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz stopped 21 pucks for the Panthers, who have lost six of their last seven games.
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad was back in the lineup after missing seven games with a lower-body injury.
Boldy deals a big blow to the Sharks
Matt Boldy broke the tie 18 seconds into the third period and the Minnesota Wild defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1.
Joel Eriksson Ek had previously hit the target and Ryan Hartman put the finishing touches in an empty cage. Kirill Kaprizov collected two assists.
Filip Gustavsson stopped 26 pucks, giving the Wild a 7-1-3 record in their last 11 games.
The Wild, who had not played in the last five days, are nine points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and third place in the Pacific Division with 10 games remaining. The two teams will cross swords on Saturday.
Mikael Granlund made the red light shine for the Sharks, last in the general standings. The California team has lost 18 of its last 19 meetings.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves in the loss.
The Blues take on the Flames
Brandon Saad scored his sixth game-winning goal of the season and the St. Louis Blues beat the Calgary Flames 5-3.
Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 25 saves and had two assists, bringing his career total to seven.
Pavel Buchnevich scored two goals, the second in an empty net, while Jake Neighbors and Quebecer Zachary Bolduc also found the back of the net in the victory.
The Blues are 7-1-1 in their last nine games.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored two goals and Quebecer Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for the Flames. Dustin Wolf blocked 14 shots.
The Flames have lost their last five games and eight of their last 10 meetings.
Saad scored the winning goal 2:04 into the third period. During the Blues’ last game in Calgary, Saad scored two goals, including the winning goal with 48 seconds left in regulation.
