NHL Review April 13, 2021
MacKINNON, ERNE EXTEND LENGTHY POINT STREAKS IN WINS
Nathan MacKinnon (1-1—2) and Adam Erne (1-0—1) extended their point streaks as the Avalanche and Red Wings earned wins on Monday:
MacKinnon extended his point streak to 10 games (7-10—17) as the League-leading Avalanche (29-9-4, 62 points) improved to 12-0-1 in their last 13 contests at Ball Arena and concluded their season series against the Coyotes with a 6-1-1 record (ARI: 2-5-1).
Mikko Rantanen (25-25—50 in 42 GP) scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season to move within seven of Auston Matthews in the 2020-21 Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race. Rantanen (17-15—32 in 24 GP), MacKinnon (12-20—32 in 21 GP) and Gabriel Landeskog (12-20—32 in 24 GP), who had an assist on Monday, own the most points among all players since March 1.
On the night Carolina celebrated Jordan Staal (0-1—1) for skating in his 1,000th career game, Detroit Red Wings Adam Erne scored the first of three Red Wings goals – the 20,000th in franchise history (excluding shootout-deciding goals).
Erne, who extended his career-high point streak to seven games (5-2—7), joined Jeff Halpern (Apr. 1, 2013 w/ MTL), Brad Marchand (Jan. 8, 2017 w/ BOS) and Travis Dermott (Jan. 31, 2018 w/ TOR) in scoring the 20,000th goal for their respective franchise.
STREAKING SCOTIA NORTH DIVISION SKATERS CONTINUE TO SCORE GOALS
Senators forward Connor Brown (1-0—1) and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (1-0—1) extended their goal streaks to eight and five games, respectively:
Matthews (32-21—53 in 39 GP) scored his League-leading 32nd goal of the season and extended his goal streak to five games (8-3—11), the second longest active run in the NHL behind his former teammate Brown. Matthews owns a goal streak of at least five games for the fourth time in his NHL career.
Brown pulled Ottawa even with 1:22 remaining in the first period to extend his franchise-record goal streak to eight games (8-1—9), the longest by any NHL player since defenseman Mike Green had a run of equal length over 12 years ago (w/ WSH).
MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM MONDAY
Max Pacioretty (20-17—37 in 39 GP) scored his team-leading 20th goal of the season and 300th of his NHL career as the Golden Knights (28-11-2, 58 points) rallied past the Kings to strengthen their grip on second place in the Honda West Division. Pacioretty (300-291—591 in 802 GP) became the sixth active U.S.-born player to reach 300 regular-season goals and required the third-fewest games among the cohort to hit the mark behind Zach Parise (767 GP) and Patrick Kane (775 GP).
Tomas Tatar tallied twice as the Montreal Canadiens snapped the Maple Leafs’ point streak at 10 games (9-0-1) and handed Jack Campbell his first loss of the season. Montreal, which occupies fourth in the Scotia North Division, improved to 18-12-9 (45 points) and moved eight points ahead of fifth-place Calgary (17-21-3, 37 points).
Patrick Kane (0-2—2) factored on two of his team’s four goals and Brandon Hagel scored the overtime winner as the Blackhawks overcame a pair of one-goal deficits to close out their season series versus the Blue Jackets with a 6-2-0 record (CBJ: 2-3-3). Chicago (20-18-5, 45 points) moved within two points of idle Nashville (23-19-1, 47 points), which occupies fourth place in the Discover Central Division.
Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz made a career-high 46 saves to establish a franchise record for most in a shutout, eclipsing the previous mark of 45 set by Dominic Roussel (Dec. 22, 1998) and matched by Jonas Hiller (Dec. 20, 2010).
PREVIEW OF TODAY’S ACTION
A dozen teams are in action on Tuesday, including the Flames facing the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena where Calgary forward Milan Lucic is set to skate in the 1,000th regular-season game of his NHL career.
2021 NHL TRADE DEADLINE RECAP
Teams made 17 trades involving 26 players on Monday prior to the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline.
The Capitals and Red Wings swapped former 25-goal scorers, with Washington receiving Anthony Mantha from Detroit for Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, a 2021 first-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick. The MassMutual East Division-leading Capitals also added Michael Raffl in a trade with the Flyers.
The Flames sent Sam Bennett and a 2022 sixth-round pick to the Panthers for Emil Heineman and a 2022 second-round pick. Bennett was chosen fourth overall in the 2014 NHL Draft after Florida selected Aaron Ekblad with the first pick.
The League-leading Avalanche brought back a familiar face when they acquired Carl Soderberg from the Blackhawks for Josh Dickinson and Ryder Rolston. Soderberg skated four seasons with Colorado, which included scoring a career-high 23 goals in 2018-19 (23-26—49 in 82 GP).
The Scotia North Division-leading Maple Leafs, who acquired Nick Foligno, Riley Nash, Stefan Noesen and David Rittich in recent days, also added Ben Hutton from the Ducks and Antti Suomela from the Sharks.
Foligno, whose father Mike skated parts of four seasons with Toronto which included helping the team reach the 1993 Conference Finals, shared his excitement about joining the club.