Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

A Five Point Night For Connor McDavid Surpassing Four Points From Auston Matthews

02/21/2021 at 3:15am EST

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

There are only so many things you can write or say about Connor McDavid, and having covered him since the day Bill Daly flipped the placard, we can attest that there is only one way to spell the all the words that another McDavid five-point night brings to mind.

Awesome, dominant, lightning fast, other worldly… We would asked one of our copy editors — a distant relative of Gordie Howe we have nicknamed “Mr. Copy” — if the term ‘smoke show’ is hyphenated?

So here we are again after a 7-1 Saturday night win, trying to describe another one of those legendary McDavid nights witnessed by an entire country of hockey experts who still — six seasons and 506 points into McDavid’s career — aren’t sure they can believe what they’re seeing.

“It’s the same for us in the room,” said linemate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, whose two goals thrust him into the Top 10 in NHL goal scoring with nine. “Even though you see it on a daily basis, you almost forget how impressive he is when he has a night like this. He’s on a different level.

cotninued

from Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun,

Auston Matthews insists he doesn’t track his scoring streaks. But he had to know he hadn’t scored one against Montreal in the first three games of what’s become a first-place battle.

That’s no longer an issue as he marked his 300th NHL game with another deep dive into the Maple Leafs’ record book on Saturday at the Bell Centre. With two goals and a role in the first four of a 5-3 win, Matthews extended his personal points streak to 16 games and helped the Leafs reach 30 points in the standings, 10 ahead of the Habs in the North Division.

Fun as it is to follow Matthews with a calculator as he and linemate Mitch Marner climb the league scoring ladder, the Leafs are emphasizing playoff positioning in this short schedule. Matthews was just as happy to absorb a heavy hit from Shea Weber to send Marner away for a go-ahead marker and help plugger Travis Boyd get his first NHL power-play goal.

“I want to score, that’s what I’m here to do, that’s what I want to do,” Matthews said of tying the second-longest run in franchise history, two off the team record held jointly by Ed Olczyk and Darryl Sittler. “I’ve just been trying to do little things that help the team win, put the momentum back in our side. I want to play that full 200-foot game. As long as we win, I’m happy, we’re all happy.”

continued

McDavid 12g 25a 37pts

Matthews 18g 11a 29pts

Edmonton/Calgary

Toronto/Montreal

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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