NHL Review April 8, 2021

CAMPBELL SETS FRANCHISE RECORD WITH 10TH STRAIGHT WIN

After Auston Matthews opened the scoring just 54 seconds into the latter half of the national broadcast across the U.S., Jack Campbell (32 saves) backstopped the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 past its longtime rival the Montreal Canadiens and established the longest win streak by a goaltender in Maple Leafs franchise history (10-0-0 since Jan. 16).

Campbell, without a loss in 398 days, was congratulated by teammate Mitch Marner and was emotional in a post-game interview when asked what it’s like to have the support of his Maple Leafs teammates.

The Maple Leafs netminder, who matched Montreal’s Carey Price’s NHL record for longest win streak to start a season (10-0-0 in 2016-17), became the second goaltender to string together at least 10 consecutive wins this season. The other: Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy (12-0-0 from Feb. 22 – March 23).

The 2020-21 campaign became the eighth in NHL history to feature multiple goaltenders each post a win streak of 10 or more games, joining 2016-17 (4x), 2011-12 (3x), 2018-19 (2x), 2001-02 (2x), 1992-93 (2x), 1985-86 (2x) and 1929-30 (2x).

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Auston Matthews opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs at 0:54 of the first period and later registered the primary assist on Zach Hyman’s third period goal. Matthews has goals (4) and points (4-2-6) in three consecutive games. Tonight’s game is his 15th multi-point performance of 2020-21. He has recorded 28 points (17 goals, 11 assists) in 20 games on home ice this season. He has nine points (3-6-9) in five games against the Canadiens in 2020-21. Matthews leads the NHL in goals (28) and has scored the first goal of the game a League-leading seven times.
• TJ Brodie scored the second Toronto goal of the game at 2:32 of the third period. Brodie has points (1-1-2) in two consecutive games. With the goal, he has now recorded at least one point against every team in the North Division this season. Brodie’s third period goal is his first goal as a Maple Leaf.
• Zach Hyman picked up the secondary assist on Matthews’ first period goal and later scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the night at 10:21 of the third period. Hyman has assists (3) and points (1-3-4) in three consecutive games. Tonight’s game is his sixth multi-point performance of the season. He has six points (2-4-6) over his last five games played. He has recorded six points (2-4-6) in five games against Montreal this season.
• Ilya Mikheyev registered the primary assist on Matthews’ first period goal. Mikheyev has a goal and an assist in five games against Montreal in 2020-21. The Maple Leafs are 5-1-1 when he records an assist this season.
• Alexander Barabanov recorded the primary assist on Brodie’s third period goal. Barabanov’s assist is his first career NHL point. Tonight’s game is his 12th with the Maple Leafs this season. He has recorded a pair of goals and three assists in two games with the Toronto Marlies (AHL) in 2020-21.
• Wayne Simmonds had the secondary assist on Brodie’s third period goal. Simmonds has points (1-1-2) in two consecutive games. He has recorded six goals and two assists in 22 games this season. Both of his assists have come on home ice.
• Mitch Marner had the secondary assist on Hyman’s third period goal. Marner has four assists over his last five games played. He has six points (2-4-6) in five games against the Canadiens. Marner ranks fourth among NHLers in assists (35). He has recorded 27 points (9-18-27) in 21 games on home ice.
• Jack Campbell stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced to improve his record to 10-0-0 this season. With the win, Campbell has established a new franchise record for consecutive wins by a goaltender.

DRAISAITL, McDAVID PROPEL OILERS WITH FOUR-POINT OUTINGS

Connor McDavid (1-3—4) and Leon Draisaitl (3-1—4) combined on all four of Edmonton’s goals on Wednesday as the Oilers (8-0-0 vs. OTT in 2020-21) earned eight wins against one opponent in a single season for the second time in franchise history (8-0-0 vs. WIN in 1983-84).

McDavid improved his NHL-leading point total to 23-45—68, the most by an Oilers player through his first 40 games of a season since Wayne Gretzky in 1987-88 (31-62—93) and the highest by any player in 18 years.

Draisaitl scored his second hat trick against the Senators in 2020-21 and has collected 10-11—21 (8 GP) against the club this season, powered by three outings of four or more points. He joined rare company with 21 points versus one opponent in a single season.

McDavid, who has 4-16—20 (8 GP) against the Senators in 2020-21, and Draisaitl became the first set of two teammates in 35 years to each post 20 or more points against a single opponent in a single season. A pair of Oilers players were also the last duo to achieve the feat: Wayne Gretzky (6-21—27) and Paul Coffey (9-11—20) versus Los Angeles in 1985-86 (8 GP).

FIALA, KAPRIZOV POWER WILD, END AVALANCHE’S 15-GAME POINT STREAK

Kevin Fiala (3-1—4) scored his first career hat trick and Kirill Kaprizov (2-1—3) recorded his third three-point game of the season as the Wild matched a single-game franchise record with eight goals and snapped Colorado’s 15-game point streak. Minnesota (24-12-2, 50 points) moved within two points of Vegas (25-11-2, 52 points) for second in the Honda West Division.

Kaprizov boosted his 2020-21 totals to 16-18—34 (38 GP) and opened up a 10-point cushion on Dallas’ Jason Robertson (8-16—24 in 32 GP) atop the rookie scoring race. Wednesday’s performance also helped Kaprizov become the first rookie in Wild history to record three outings with three-plus points.

Minnesota, which became the fifth different team to score at least eight goals in a game this season, is the second in as many days to accomplish the feat after the NY Rangers skated to an 8-4 victory over Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

PREDATORS, BLACKHAWKS CONTINUE BATTLE FOR FOURTH SEED IN CENTRAL

The fourth-place Predators (21-18-1, 43 points) and fifth-place Blackhawks (18-17-5, 41 points), separated by two points in the Discover Central Division standings are set to take to the ice against the Red Wings and Stars tonight, respectively, as they continue to fight for a playoff spot.

Nashville’s rise in the division standings, from 7th to 4th since March 15, has benefited from its last dozen games – going 10-2-0, allowing 19 goals against and posting a penalty-kill percentage of 91.2 percent. In their 12 prior contests from Feb. 20 to March 13, the Predators went 5-6-1, allowed 41 goals against and recorded a 65.7 penalty-kill percentage.

Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat beat Dallas’ Jake Oettinger for the game-winning goal on Tuesday to reach the 20-goal mark for the third time in four seasons – he fell two short of the mark in 2019-20 (18-27—45 in 70 GP). With three career goals against Oettinger, he has only scored more against five netminders thus far in his career.

PANARIN LOOKS TO CONTINUE POINT-PER-GAME PACE

Artemi Panarin (12-28—40 in 27 GP) and the Rangers (18-15-5, 41 points) look to continue their streaking ways tonight when they host the Penguins (24-13-2, 50 points). Panarin enters Thursday’s action with multiple points in each of his last four games and New York is 3-0-1 in its last four.

Panarin (1.48 P/GP) has recorded the third-highest points-per-game-played rate this season, behind Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (1.70) and Leon Draisaitl (1.53). He can also join the Oilers duo as the third player to post at least five consecutive contests with multiple points in 2020-21 after they registered seven- (Jan. 24 – Feb. 6) and five-game (Jan. 24-31) runs, respectively.

Additionally, the second-year Rangers forward (44-91—135 in 96 GP) can also become the franchise’s first player to record multiple points in five straight games since Jaromir Jagr (6 GP in 2005-06).