Auston Matthews didn’t hit the milestone, but Nikita Kucherov did. Edmonton once again fell to Arizona

Tampa Bay’s game with Toronto was a battle of the productivity leader against the competition’s top scorer. This duel turned into a shootout, which was dominated by the home team from Tampa Bay by 6:4. Edmonton Oilers fell to Arizona for the second time. This time they failed to beat the Coyotes 2:5.

The shootout in Tampa Bay

Toronto came to Tampa Bay with two goals. It was to end the 3-game losing streak and to help Auston Matthews to reach the 70-goal mark for the season. The crowd at Amalie Arena was expecting the productivity leader Nikita Kucherov to break the 100 passes in a season as the 5th player in history and the 2nd player this season.

In a wild game in which a total of 10 goals were scored, the home team was more successful. Both Tampa Bay and Toronto, just before the playoffs did not abound with good form both teams had a series of 3 defeats in a row. Tampa Bay completely controlled the game until the end of the second period, when the team was already leading 5:1.

Kucherov reached a milestone in the second period

The Canadian scoringleader scored a total of two points in the game for a goal and an assist. First, he scored a goal in the 7th minute of the first period to put his team up 2:0, and at 37:5 of the power play he contributed with a long-awaited pass on Brayden Point’s goal.

It was the 100th assist this season and Kucherov made NHL history as the 5th player in history to reach that mark. Recently, Connor McDavid also broke the mark. Kucherov finished the regular season with 44 goals and 100 assists.

And he will most likely win his second Art Ross Trophy of his career. Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche now has a six-point deficit before the last game of the season, and unless he puts in the performance of a lifetime, the Russian cannot lose this trophy.

Kucherov has joined the club of “extraordinary ones”.Only four players have broken the 100 assists mark in a season before him, Wayne Gretzky did it in 11 seasons! Mario Lemieux did it in 1988-89, Bobby Orr did it in 1970-71 and Connor McDavid broke the mark in his team’s big win over San Jose this season. Only once in history and that was in the 1988-89 season has it happened for two players in one season to surpass this milestone.

Matthews did not reach the milestone

American cannonballer Matthews did not score his 70th goal of the season. He came up empty in the last two games of the season and finished the season with 69 goals. However, he dominated the scorers’ table.

Of course, it is a slight disappointment for him, as it was the first time since the 1992-93 season that a hockey player had a chance to attack this mark. Even so, this is the 15th best scoring performance in NHL history, which Mathhews shares with legends Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy.

Although Totonto dramatized the game in the 3rd period, scoring 3 goals in quick succession, Matthews did not make the scoresheet and Toronto corrected the score to 6:4. This is the 4th defeat in a row before the playoffs, which is a shame. Toronto has been waiting to win the Stanley Cup since 1967.

Edmonton falls to Arizona again

The Edmonton Oilers fell to Arizona for the second time in a week. A few days ago, it failed against a unit that has already after the season on its own ice in overtime, and in today’s game it clearly succumbed to Arizona on its ice. The game was even only in the first period, when one goal fell on both sides.

From the second period on, the home team took the game into their own hands. In addition, Connor Ingram once again put in a great performance, catching 28 Oilers shot attempts. In the third period, Oilers forward Warren Foegele made the game even more dramatic by reducing the score to (2:3).

Arizona, however, did not let the victory be taken away as in the previous game. In the 55th minute, Dylan Guenther scored on a power play and Sean Durzi sealed the victory with an empty net goal. Edmonton lost for the 3rd time in the last 4 games. In addition, they fell twice to a weak team. Which is a shame before the playoffs. Edmonton is looking to finally have some significant playoff success this season.

Source: NHL