NHL Review March 12, 2021

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THURSDAY

Thursday’s 10-game slate also included an overtime winner by this season’s goal-scoring leader, a frenetic comeback by Florida and a shorthanded marker featuring a pair of Bruins stalwarts:

Auston Matthews (1-1—2) scored 59 seconds into overtime for the 4-3 win to record his League-leading 21st goal of the season (21-14—35 in 25 GP) – which includes seven game winners – as the Maple Leafs (19-7-2, 40 points) defeated the Jets to snap a three-game slide (0-3-0) and move back into first place in the NHL standings. The 2020-21 campaign marked the first season since 1993-94 in which Toronto was the first team in the League to reach 40 points.

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Mitch Marner put the Maple Leafs on the board at 3:14 of the second period and later had the secondary assist on Auston Matthews’ overtime goal. Tonight’s game is his 11th multi-point game of the season. Marner has assists (2) and points (1-2-3) in two consecutive games. He has 21 points (7-14-21) in 15 home games this season. He has five points (3-2-5) in three games against the Jets in 2020-21.
• William Nylander scored the second Toronto goal of the game at 6:31 of the third period. Nylander has points (1-1-2) in two consecutive games. He has 15 points (6-9-15) in 15 games on home ice this season. He has a goal and two assists in three games against Winnipeg.
• Ilya Mikheyev scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the night at 12:39 of the third period. Mikheyev has two goals and an assist over his last five games. He has two goals and two assists through six games during the month of March.
• Auston Matthews registered the primary assist on Marner’s second period goal and later scored the overtime winning goal at 0:59 of the extra frame. Tonight’s game is his 10th multi-point performance of the season. Matthews has goals (3) and points (3-1-4) in two consecutive games. He has 23 points (14-9-23) in 14 games on home ice. In 11 career games against the Jets, he has recorded 16 points (7-9-16). He leads the NHL in goals (20) and game-winning goals (7).
• TJ Brodie picked up the secondary assist on Marner’s second period goal. Brodie has assists (3) in three consecutive games. He has a pair of assists in three games against Winnipeg this season.
• John Tavares registered the primary assist on Nylander’s third period goal. Tavares has points (1-2-3) in three consecutive games. He has five points (2-3-5) over his last five games played. He has a goal and two assists in three games against the Jets this season.
• Morgan Rielly had the secondary assist on Nylander’s third period goal and later recorded the primary assist on Matthews’ overtime winner. Tonight’s game is Rielly’s sixth multi-assist and seventh multi-point game of the season. He has three assists in three games against Winnipeg this season.
• Alex Kerfoot registered the primary assist on Mikheyev’s third period goal. He has a pair of assists over his last three games. He has recorded six of his nine assists on home ice this season. In three games against Winnipeg this season, he has recorded two assists.
• Pierre Engvall picked up the secondary assist on Mikheyev’s third period goal. Engvall has a goal and two assists over his last five games played. He has recorded two goals and four assists in 19 games played this season.
• Frederik Andersen stopped 23 shots to earn his 13th win of the season.

The Panthers scored four unanswered goals – capped by an overtime winner from Frank Vatrano – to overcome a 4-1, third-period deficit and defeat the Blue Jackets. Florida (17-5-4, 38 points), which kept pace with Carolina in the Discover Central Division standings, earned a win after rallying from a third-period deficit of three or more goals for the third time in franchise history.

Brad Marchand had three assists – including one on a shorthanded goal by Patrice Bergeron (1-1—2) – and Jaroslav Halak turned aside all 27 shots he faced as Boston blanked New York to earn its 300th all-time regular-season win against the Rangers. Thursday marked the 27th instance in which both Marchand and Bergeron factored on a shorthanded goal – that’s tied with Bill Barber and Bobby Clarke for the third-highest such total by any pair of teammates in NHL history (since 1933-34 when goals by type were officially tracked), trailing only Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri (41x) as well as Don Luce and Craig Ramsay (31x).

STREAKING ISLANDERS EARN 100TH WIN SINCE TROTZ, LAMORIELLO JOINED CLUB

Brock Nelson (1-0—1) extended his goal streak to four games (5-0—5) as the MassMutual East Division-leading Islanders (17-6-4, 38 points) extended their win streak to seven games and improved to 12-0-2 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in 2020-21. Thursday’s triumph marked New York’s 100th regular-season win since naming Barry Trotz head coach and Lou Lamoriello general manager ahead of the 2018-19 season (100-56-21, 221 points).

Trotz, who had 557 victories with the Predators and 205 with the Capitals, became the seventh active head coach to record 100-plus with three or more different NHL franchises (also Darryl Sutter, Alain Vigneault, Joel Quenneville, John Tortorella, Peter Laviolette & Peter DeBoer).

Lamoriello, who had 1,093 wins with New Jersey and 118 with Toronto, became the fourth general manager in League history to reach 100 with three franchises. Lamoriello also oversaw his 12th career regular-season win streak of seven or more games – the total includes 10 during his tenure with the Devils, who the Islanders defeated on Thursday.

HURRICANES, HAMILTON EXTEND STREAKS TO SEVEN GAMES

Dougie Hamilton had 1-1—2 to help Carolina extend its winning streak to seven games and improve to 19-6-1 (39 points) on the season, moving ahead of Tampa Bay (18-5-2, 38 points) – which fell to Detroit on Thursday – for first place in the Discover Central Division. The Hurricanes’ seven-game run is tied with the Islanders for the longest active win streak in the NHL.

Hamilton extended his point streak to seven games (1-8—9), tied with St. Louis’ David Perron (4-5—9 in 7 GP) for the League’s longest active run. Hamilton, who has at least one helper in each contest, became the first Hurricanes defenseman to record a seven-game assist streak since the franchise relocated to North Carolina.

ENTIRE HONDA WEST DIVISION IN ACTION ON FRIDAY

All eight Honda West Division teams are in action across Friday’s five-game slate, which opens with a pair of contests beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Edmonton is also set to host Ottawa for a third straight head-to-head meeting at Rogers Place – the Oilers earned wins in each of the first two, outscoring the visitors by a combined 10-3 margin.

David Perron (4-5—9 in 7 GP) looks to extend his point streak to eight games when the Blues (14-8-4, 32 points) return home to host the Honda West Division-leading Golden Knights (16-6-1, 33 points). Perron has recorded a point streak of at least eight games in each of the past four seasons – the only active NHL players who have done so in five or more consecutive campaigns are Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby (both 6 straight from 2005-06–2010-11).

Anze Kopitar (3-7—10 in 6 GP) can also extend a lengthy point streak on Friday when the Kings (11-8-6, 28 points) clash with the Avalanche (14-8-2, 30 points) at Ball Arena. Teammate Adrian Kempe (6-0—6 in 3 GP) has tallied at least once in each of his last three games and can establish a career high for longest goal streak should he extend the run to four – Kempe can also become just the second Los Angeles player over the last 27 years (since 1993-94) with multiple goals in three straight contests, in which he would join Alex Frolov from Nov. 13-18, 2006 (6-2—8 in 3 GP).

Max Comtois (9-10—19 in 27 GP), who owns the team lead in tallies this season, can reach the 10-goal mark when the Ducks (8-13-6, 22 points) play host to the Sharks (9-11-3, 21 points) at Honda Center. The only seasons in which a skater age 22 or younger was the first Anaheim player to reach 10 goals occurred in 1994-95 (Paul Kariya), 1995-96 (Kariya) and 2007-08 (Corey Perry).

Kaapo Kahkonen, who is 8-0-0 in each of his last eight appearances dating to Feb. 18 (1.62 GAA, .940 SV%, 1 SO), can extend his win streak to nine when the Wild (15-8-1, 31 points) welcome the Coyotes (12-10-4, 28 points) to Xcel Energy Center. Kahkonen is one of five different Finnish-born goaltenders in NHL history with a regular-season win streak of at least eight contests – that cohort also includes fellow Helsinki native Niklas Backstrom, who had an eight-game run with Minnesota in 2012-13.

Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson made his League debut on Wednesday when he relieved Marc-Andre Fleury at 8:21 of the third period. Thompson, who manned the crease for the Brock University Badgers in 2018-19, became the first goaltender to appear in the NHL after playing Canadian university hockey since Robert Dopson (Wilfrid Laurier Univ.) with Pittsburgh in 1993-94 (2 GP).