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The 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns being shortened was the only thing that prevented Matthews from reaching the 50-goal milestone in both of those seasons. Now as long as Matthews can stay healthy – and, knock on wood, nothing happens to pause the season – it seems almost inevitable that he’ll get his first 50-goal season. With a hat trick last night, he’s up to 43 goals in 54 games this season.
His hat trick also opened up a wide lead in the goal scoring race. Chris Kreider and Leon Draisaitl are the two closest players to Matthews with 38 goals each. Alex Ovechkin is fourth in the league with 36 markers. Matthews is also easily the NHL’s leader in goals dating back to the 2019-20 season. Over the last three campaigns, Matthews has scored an incredible 131 goals in 176 games with Leon Draisaitl being the next best player with 112 goals in 184 contests over that span.
At this point, the big question is if Matthews can keep this up for the rest of the season. At his current pace, reaching the 60-goal milestone isn’t out of the question. If he does he’ll become just the third player to do so since the start of the salary cap era.
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NEW JERSEY 5 COLORADO 3
The Avalanche jumped ahead early with power-play goals in the first period by Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Cale Makar scored at 5:52 of the second period to make it 3-0 Avalanche.
After that it was all Devils. New Jersey got goals from Nathan Bastian, Yegor Sharangovich, Ty Smith, Damon Severson, and Tomas Tatar in the comeback win.
Jesper Bratt assisted on three of the Devils’ five goals. He’s up to 19 goals and 54 points in 52 games.
Nico Daws stopped 23 of 26 Avalanche shots. He’s surrendered at least three goals in three of his last four games.
Darcy Kuemper turned aside 38 of 42 shots last night. Most of the damage was done in the second period where he allowed three goals over 18 shots.
PHILADELPHIA 2 VEGAS 1
Carter Hart led the Flyers to victory by stopping 47 of 48 shots. That’s a new career single-game high for Hart in terms of total saves.
Oskar Lindblom scored the game-winning goal. It was his 10th marker and 21st point in 55 contests.
Scott Laughton assisted on both of the Flyers’ goals. He has 11 goals and 28 points in 53 games.
Evgenii Dadonov found the back of the net for Vegas. That gives him 11 goals and 23 points in 56 contests.
Robin Lehner kicked out 19 of 21 shots on Tuesday. He has a 21-15-1 record, 2.77 GAA, and .909 save percentage in 38 starts.
FLORIDA 4 PITTSBURGH 3
Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winning goal and registered an assist. He has 18 goals and 44 points in 56 contests.
Anthony Duclair netted a power-play goal for the Panthers. That was his 23rd goal of the season, which ties his career-high, set in 2019-20.
Sergei Bobrovsky saved 32 of 35 Penguins shots. He has a 29-6-3 record, 2.55 GAA, and .916 save percentage in 40 starts.
Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby each contributed a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Crosby is on a four-game goal scoring streak and seven-game point streak.
Tristan Jarry stopped 25 of 29 shots last night. He’s dropped to 27-12-6 with a 2.34 GAA and .920 save percentage in 45 games.
TORONTO 6 SEATTLE 4
Auston Matthews led the Maple Leafs to victory with a hat trick. That extended his edge in the goal scoring race and gives him 43 goals and 75 points in 54 contests.
Mitchell Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist for Toronto. TJ Brodie assisted on two of Toronto’s six goals.
Jack Campbell stopped 26 of 30 Kraken shots. He’s surrendered at least four goals in each of his last five contests.
Colin Blackwell contributed a goal and an assist for Seattle. He has eight goals and 15 points in 35 games.
Philipp Grubauer saved 26 of 31 shots on Tuesday. He has a 12-25-5 record, 3.22 GAA, and .887 save percentage in 43 games.
ARIZONA 9 DETROIT 2
Alex Nedeljkovic had a terrible night, allowing seven goals on 27 shots. The Red Wings briefly tried to switch to Thomas Greiss, but he didn’t do any better, stopping just one of three shots.
If there was any silver lining for the Red Wings, it’s that Jakub Vrana scored in his season debut. He hadn’t played yet this season due to a shoulder injury.
Nick Schmaltz scored two goals and registered two assists for the Coyotes. He has 16 goals and 37 points in 37 contests.
Nick Ritchie and Jakob Chychrun each scored two goals and registered an assist for Arizona. Clayton Keller contributed a goal and registered two assists while Barrett Hayton collected three helpers.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 26 of 28 shots on Tuesday. The only two goals the Red Wings managed were scored during power plays.
OTTAWA 4 ST. LOUIS 1
Josh Norris scored the game-winning goal and registered two assists. He’s up to 20 goals and 30 points in 40 games.
Tim Stutzle also had a goal and two assists for the Senators. He has 13 goals and 33 points in 55 games.
Anton Forsberg stopped 22 of 23 Ottawa shots. He improved to 12-10-2 with a 2.69 GAA and .921 save percentage in 27 contests.
David Perron netted the Blues’ only goal. It was his 13th goal and 30th point in 42 games.
Jordan Binnington saved 24 of 27 shots on Tuesday. That ended his run of three straight starts where he allowed two or fewer goals.
NASHVILLE 2 DALLAS 1
This game was scoreless going into the third period. John Klingberg got Dallas on the board first, scoring just 32 seconds into the third frame.
Ryan Johansen tied the game at 13:08 of the final frame. Johansen later registered an assist on the game-winning goal.
That game winner was scored by Roman Josi. He’s up to 15 goals and 60 points in 54 games.
Juuse Saros stopped 22 of 23 shots last night. He has a 27-17-3 record, 2.41 GAA, and .924 save percentage in 47 contests.
At the other end of the ice, Jake Oettinger saved 29 of 31 shots. He’s won his last four games, allowing a combined 10 goals over that span.
MINNESOTA 5 NY RANGERS 2
Kevin Fiala scored two goals for the Wild, including the game winner. That gives him 20 goals and 51 points in 55 games.
Marcus Foligno also had a big night for Minnesota, contributing a goal and two assists. He has 19 goals and 31 points in 51 contests.
Cam Talbot saved 23 of 25 shots last night. He improved to 21-12-1 with a 2.95 GAA and .908 save percentage in 35 contests.
Dryden Hunt and Mika Zibanejad accounted for the Rangers’ two goals. Zibanejad is up to 22 goals and 58 points in 57 games.
Alexandar Georgiev stopped 23 of 28 shots on Tuesday. He’s surrendered at least four goals in each of his last four starts.
WINNIPEG 7 TAMPA BAY 4
Mark Scheifele scored the opening goal and went on to also contribute three assists for the Jets. He has 21 goals and 48 points in 51 games.
Paul Stastny netted a pair of goals for Winnipeg. That gives him 17 goals and 29 points in 46 games.
Connor Hellebuyck saved 20 of 24 Lightning shots. He got the win, but this is the fifth straight game where he’s allowed at least four goals.
At the other end of the ice, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 of 31 shots. He surrendered a goal during a Jets’ power play and another goal when Winnipeg was shorthanded.
Tampa Bay’s goals were scored by Alex Killorn, Ross Colton, Ryan McDonagh, and Victor Hedman. In the case of Killorn, he’s up to 17 goals and 46 points in 56 games.
CHICAGO 8 ANAHEIM 3
Patrick Kane scored a goal and registered five assists. That gives him 19 goals and 64 points in 54 games.
Dylan Strome contributed a hat trick and recorded an assist for the Blackhawks. He’s up to 15 goals and 30 points in 45 contests.
Chicago got a goal and three assists from Alex DeBrincat. He has 33 goals and 53 points in 58 contests.
John Gibson surrendered five goals on 13 shots in the first period. Anthony Stolarz took over and saved 16 of 19 shots the rest of the way.
Trevor Zegras scored a power-play goal for the Ducks. He has 16 goals and 43 points in 53 games.
Marc-Andre Fleury saved 29 of 32 Ducks shots. He has an 18-20-4 record, 2.92 GAA, and .908 save percentage in 42 starts.
WASHINGTON 5 CALGARY 4
Alex Ovechkin led the Capitals to victory with a pair of goals. He’s up to 36 goals and 70 points in 56 games.
Nick Jensen assisted on three of Washington’s five markers. He has four goals and 16 points in 52 contests.
Vitek Vanecek kicked out 31 of 35 Flames shots. He has a 13-7-5 record, 2.32 GAA, and .919 save percentage in 28 contests.
Meanwhile, Dan Vladar stopped 22 of 26 shots. What happened was Ovechkin scored an empty net goal to make the game 5-3 at 18:12 of the third period. Then Calgary’s Elias Lindholm scored at 19:20 to narrow the Capitals’ lead. That’s why both goaltenders ended up with four goals allowed.
Speaking of Lindholm, he finished the game with two markers. He has 29 goals and 60 points in 56 contests.