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Tuesday night was jammed packed full of games, so it’s no surprise that there’s no shortage of headlines. Connor McDavid had a four-point game, opening up a commanding lead in the Art Ross Trophy race with 122 points to Jonathan Huberdeau’s 115. With the season almost over, it would be shocking if McDavid fell short of the Art Ross Trophy now. Elsewhere, the St. Louis Blues’ 16-game point streak came to an end with a 5-3 loss to Colorado, Vegas was pushed to the brink of elimination with a 3-2 shootout loss to Dallas, Roman Josi continued one of the best campaigns we’ve ever seen from a defenseman by reaching the 93-point milestone.
Any one of those events are worthy of being the top story, but it’s hard to ignore Auston Matthews scoring his 59th and 60th goal of the season. One of the things that made this feat so impressive was how it felt almost inevitable. Clearly it came down to the wire this season, but with his skill set it just seemed like it was only a matter of time before he reached that mark in his career. As it is, he scored 41 goals in 52 games during the pandemic shortened 2020-21 campaign, which was a roughly 65-goal pace. If he had been able to play the full 82 contests this season and maintained his current pace, he would finish with 67 goals, which would have been the most of any player since Mario Lemieux scored 69 in 1995-96.
As it is, Matthews is the first US-born player to reach the 60-goal milestone. He’s only 24-years-old too. It will be fun to see what the future brings.
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TORONTO 3 DETROIT 0
Naturally the big story here is Auston Matthews scoring two goals to reach 60 this season. He’s just the third player to score 60 goals in the salary cap era and the first since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12.
Jack Campbell made 20 saves to earn the shutout. He’s won eight of his last nine starts.
Michael Rasmussen fired six shots against Campbell. Rasmussen also had a hit, two blocks, and a minus-one rating in 19:12 of ice time.
Alex Nedeljkovic saved 33 of 36 Maple Leafs shots. He’s 20-23-9 with a 3.31 GAA and .901 save percentage in 58 contests.
John Tavares scored the Maple Leafs’ other goal. He has 27 markers and 76 points in 79 games.
BOSTON 4 FLORIDA 2
Jake DeBrusk scored the game-winning goal. He has 24 goals and 40 points in 75 contests.
Brad Marchand and Taylor Hall each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins. Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak each assisted on two of Boston’s four goals.
Linus Ullmark turned aside 19 of 21 Panthers shots. One of the two goals he allowed was scored during a Florida power play.
At the other end of the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky saved 34 of 37 shots. He dropped to 39-7-3 with a 2.67 GAA and .913 save percentage in 54 games.
Gustav Forsling found the back of the net for the Panthers. It was his 10th marker and 37th point in 71 contests.
OTTAWA 5 NEW JERSEY 4 (OT)
Tim Stutzle had a huge night for the Senators, scoring two goals and registering two assists. That gives him 22 goals and 57 points in 77 games.
Drake Batherson scored two goals, including the overtime winner. He’s up to 17 goals and 44 points in 44 contests.
Nolan Foote provided a pair of goals for the Devils. Those were his first two points in five games this season.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 29 of 34 Senators shots. Two of his five goals were scored during Ottawa power plays.
Anton Forsberg saved 37 of 41 shots last night. He has a 21-17-4 record, 2.84 GAA, and .916 save percentage in 45 games.
TAMPA BAY 4 COLUMBUS 1
Steven Stamkos scored two goals, including the game winner, and registered two assists. He has 39 goals and 101 points in 79 contests. This is the first time he’s reached the 100-point milestone in a single season.
Nikita Kucherov also played a key role for the Lightning with a goal and three assists. That gives him 24 goals and 66 points in 45 games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 of 21 Blue Jackets shots. That was his third straight win and his 38th of the season.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored Columbus’ lone goal. He had a power-play marker just 2:58 minutes into the contest to tie the game at 1. As you can see, things went downhill for the Blue Jackets after that.
Elvis Merzlikins kicked out 28 of 32 shots on Tuesday. He’s 26-22-7 with a 3.25 GAA and .906 save percentage in 57 contests.
CAROLINA 4 NY RANGERS 3
Sebastian Aho found the back of the net 32 seconds into the third period. At the time it padded the Hurricanes’ lead out to 4-1, but the Rangers made a comeback attempt and Aho’s goal proved to be the difference.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes. He has 21 goals and 50 points in 80 contests.
Pyotr Kochetkov saved 31 of 34 Rangers shots. He surrendered two goals in the final seven minutes of the game, but he held on and has now won each of his first three NHL contests.
Chris Kreider scored a goal and registered an assist for the Rangers. He’s up to 52 goals and 77 points in 80 games.
Igor Shesterkin turned aside 32 of 36 shots last night. Most of the damage came in the second period when he allowed three goals on 15 shots.
EDMONTON 5 PITTSBURGH 1
Connor McDavid led the way with a goal and three assists. He’s up to 44 goals and a league-leading 122 points in 79 games.
Evander Kane scored a goal and an assist for Edmonton. That gives him 22 goals and 39 points in 41 contests.
Mike Smith saved 33 of 34 Penguins shots. He’s red hot, winning his last nine games while allowing 15 goals.
At the other end of the ice, Casey DeSmith stop 37 of 41 shots. Two of the four goals he allowed were scored during Oilers power plays. Edmonton’s final goal was scored on an empty net.
Jeff Carter accounted for the Penguins’ lone marker. He has 19 goals and 44 points in 75 games.
NY ISLANDERS 4 WASHINGTON 1
This game was tied at 1-1 going into the third period, but the Islanders pulled ahead with goals from Noah Dobson, Casey Cizikas, and Anders Lee in the final frame. Lee is up to 27 goals and 44 points in 74 games.
The Islanders’ other goal was scored by Ryan Pulock. He has five markers and 20 points in 55 contests.
Ilya Sorokin saved 32 of 33 Capitals shots. He improved to 26-17-8 with a 2.35 GAA and .927 save percentage in 51 starts.
Washington’s lone goal was scored by Conor Sheary. He has 19 goals and 43 points in 59 contests.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 22 of 26 shots last night. Only one of those goals were scored at even strength. Two of the Islanders’ markers were scored on the power play and another one was a shorthanded goal.
CALGARY 5 NASHVILLE 4 (OT)
The Predators lost this game, but the bigger concern for them is Juuse Saros left in the third period due to an injury. He stopped 33 of 35 shots before leaving the contest. David Rittich stepped into the game and saved three of five shots the rest of the way. Saros was still being evaluated after the contest, so there wasn’t any immediate update on his status.
Dillon Dube scored two goals for the Flames. He’s up to 18 goals and 32 points in 77 contests.
Noah Hanifin contributed a goal and an assist for Calgary. That gives him 10 goals and 48 points in 79 games.
Dan Vladar kicked out 19 of 23 Predators shots. He has a 13-5-2 record, 2.79 GAA, and .903 save percentage in 22 contests.
Roman Josi scored a goal and registered an assist for the Predators. With 22 goals and 93 points, Josi is now the eighth defensemen in NHL history to ever record at least 93 points, per the Predators.
ARIZONA 5 MINNESOTA 3
Phil Kessel and Anton Stralman each scored a goal and registered an assist for the Coyotes. Kessel has eight goals and 51 points in 80 games.
Shayne Gostisbehere assisted on three of Arizona’s five goals. That gives him 11 goals and 47 points in 80 contests.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 35 of 38 Wild shots. This was his first win since April 3.
At the other end of the ice, Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 21 of 25 shots. He surrendered three goals on seven shots in the third period.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored a goal and registered an assist for the Wild. He’s up to 26 goals and 49 points in 75 games.
DALLAS 3 VEGAS 2 (SO)
This was a back-and-forth contest, but Vegas did hold a narrow lead going into the first and second intermissions. Chandler Stephenson made it 2-1 for the Golden Knights when he scored a power-play goal at 19:56 of the second period.
Jason Robertson responded with the game-tying goal at 3:13 of the third frame. It was his second goal of the game and his 40th of the season.
Miro Heiskanen was the unlikely hero in the shootout. The blueliner has four non-shootout goals this season.
Jake Oettinger saved 33 of 35 shots in regulation time. He was then perfect in seven shootout rounds to win the game.
Logan Thompson stopped 28 of 30 shots prior to the shootout. As noted above, he was defeated by Heiskanen in the seventh round of the shootout. With that, Vegas has lost a vital game and their chances of making the playoffs are extremely slim.
COLORADO 5 ST. LOUIS 3
Artturi Lehkonen scored the game-winning goal. It was his 18th marker and 37th point in 72 games.
Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche. He’s up to 25 goals and 52 points in 61 contests.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 of 32 Blues shots. St. Louis pushed hard in the third period, outshooting the Avalanche 18-11. Kuemper allowed two goals over that span, but didn’t give up the lead.
Although St. Louis lost, Ryan O’Reilly had a great game with two goals and an assist. Jordan Kyrou assisted on all three of the Blues’ goals.
Jordan Binnington saved 29 of 33 shots last night. This game brought his personal five-game winning streak to an end.
VANCOUVER 5 SEATTLE 2
Quinn Hughes scored a goal and registered two assists for the Canucks. He has eight goals and 66 points in 74 games.
Conor Garland assisted on three of Vancouver’s five goals. That gives him 18 goals and 50 points in 75 contests.
Spencer Martin stopped 30 of 32 Kraken shots. This was his second win of the season and the third of his NHL career.
At the other end of the ice, Joey Daccord saved 22 of 27 shots. He Canucks opened up with a 3-0 lead while outshooting Seattle 13-6 in the first period.
Jordan Eberle scored a power-play goal for Seattle. It was his 20th marker and 42nd point in 77 games.
ANAHEIM 5 SAN JOSE 2
Sonny Milano scored the game-winning goal and registered an assist. He’s up to 14 goals and 34 points in 65 games.
Max Comtois also had a goal and an assist for the Ducks. That gives him five goals and 15 points in 51 contests.
Anthony Stolarz saved 31 of 33 shots last night. He ended his run of four straight games where he surrendered three or more goals.
Brent Burns provided the Sharks with one of their two goals. He has 10 goals and 53 points in 80 contests.
Kaapo Kahkonen turned aside 26 of 30 shots on Tuesday. He’s 2-5-1 with a 2.95 GAA and .914 save percentage in 10 games since being acquired by San Jose.
