NHL REVIEW MARCH 22 2018 – McDAVID #2 ON ART ROSS

THURSDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
Tampa Bay 7, NY ISLANDERS 6
PHILADELPHIA 4, NY Rangers 3
CAROLINA 6, Arizona 5
COLUMBUS 4, Florida 0
Edmonton 6, OTTAWA 2
Washington 1, DETROIT 0
Toronto 5, NASHVILLE 2
Vancouver 5, CHICAGO 2
Los Angeles 7, COLORADO 1
SAN JOSE 2, Vegas 1 (OT)

McDAVID POSTS FOUR-POINT NIGHT TO CLIMB ART ROSS LEADERBOARD
Connor McDavid (36-58—94) collected 2-2—4 to notch his third game with at least four points to leapfrog Evgeni Malkin (41-50—91) and Nathan MacKinnon (38-54—92) into second place in the battle for the Art Ross Trophy, behind Nikita Kucherov (37-58—95). Malkin was idle, while Kucherov and MacKinnon each notched one assist Thursday – with the latter extending his point streak to a career-high 14 games.

In 2016-17, McDavid became just the second Oilers player to win the Art Ross Trophy, finishing with 30-70—100, but has yet to hold the League lead in points this season. Kucherov has held that position since Dec. 12 and for 64% of the entire 2017-18 campaign thus far.

With eight games remaining, McDavid now sits six points shy of becoming just the fifth active NHL player with multiple 100-point seasons; Sidney Crosby (5), Alex Ovechkin (4), Evgeni Malkin (3) and Joe Thornton (3) are the others.

McDavid is just the second player in the last 25 years (since 1992-93) to score at least 35 goals in a season for Edmonton. Since entering the League in 2015-16, the 21-year-old Oilers captain leads the NHL with 26 games of at least three points.

LIGHTNING SURVIVE FRANTIC THIRD TO ESTABLISH FRANCHISE RECORD
The Eastern Conference-leading Lightning (51-19-4, 106 points) built 4-1 and 7-3 leads before holding off a frantic Islanders third-period rally – which saw them score three goals in 3:01 – to set a franchise record for wins a season and tie the Predators (48-15-10, 106 points) for the most points in the NHL.

The Lightning posted their fifth consecutive victory as visitors to extend their franchise record for road wins in a season (24-11-2, 50 points), with four such contests remaining. In 2016-17, the Rangers (27-12-2) paced the League in road victories.

The Lightning scored at least seven goals in a game for the fourth time this season. They lead the League with 271 goals this season (including six shootout-deciding goals), a new franchise record (previous: 262 GF in 2014-15). In 2016-17, the Penguins paced the NHL with 282 GF.

Jon Cooper was behind the bench for this 239th career win, tying John Tortorella (239) for the most by a Lightning head coach.

SHARKS EDGE GOLDEN KNIGHTS IN PACIFIC-DIVISION BATTLE

Logan Couture scored 39 seconds into overtime to lift the Sharks (42-23-9, 93 points) to their season-high sixth consecutive victory, pulling closer to the Golden Knights (47-21-6, 100 points) for first place in the Pacific Division. The two clubs close their season series March 31 at T-Mobile Arena (VGK: 2-0-1; SJS: 1-1-1).

Vegas, meanwhile, became the first team in NHL history to reach the 100-point mark in its inaugural season. The previous benchmark for was three seasons, set by the Oilers in 1981-82 and four campaigns for a team that did not merge from the WHA (a mark set by the Islanders in 1975-76).

With a seven-point lead and eight games remaining, Vegas aims to become just the second expansion team from any of the four North American professional sports leagues to finish first in its division. The NBA’s Denver Nuggets are the only team to accomplish the feat, doing so in 1976-77 (aside from 1967-68 Flyers, when all teams in the NHL’s West Division were expansion clubs).

Blues’ Bortuzzo Fined for Cross-Checking

St. Louis Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo has been fined $3,091.40, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for cross-checking Boston Bruins forward Jordan Szwarz during NHL Game No. 1134 in St. Louis on Wednesday, March 21. The incident occurred at 12:25 of the third period. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

NHL Schedule for Friday March 23 2018

Matchup	Time
Montréal@ Buffalo	7:00 PM ET
New Jersey@ Pittsburgh	7:00 PM ET
Vancouver@ St. Louis	8:00 PM ET
Anaheim@ Winnipeg	8:00 PM ET
Boston@ Dallas	8:30 PM ET