Auston Matthews breaks out of a mini scoring slump, Mark Stone is worth every penny for Ottawa and Keith Yandle continues to produce for the Florida Panthers.
Here are four things we learned in the NHL.
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Matthews and Marner continue to change Leafs record books
Matthews ended a five-game goalless drought with his third-period tally against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday and it was a long time coming.
Matthews became the first Leaf since Wendel Clark and Dave Andreychuk to have 20 goals in 27 games or less.
Injuries have limited Matthews to 27 games this season but he currently sits second in the league in goals-per-game at 0.74 which is right behind Alex Ovechkin who is at 0.75 G/GP.
Matthews was not the only Leaf to reach a milestone against the Canucks as his fellow Nutcracker partner Mitch Marner set a new franchise record for assists in a player’s first 200 games with the Leafs.
Marner leads the Leafs in assists (40) and points (55) at the midway point of the season and is sixth in the NHL in overall points. The 21-year-old is well on his way to setting a new career-high after scoring 22 goals, 47 assists and 69 points last season.
With Marner and Matthews set to become restricted free agents this off-season there is no doubt they will be due some hefty pay raises based on their production this season.
Mark Stone reaches 20 once again
While Stone’s future with the Ottawa Senators is not clear at this moment, he continues to lead the way, scoring his 20th goal of the season.
That is the fifth straight season in which Stone has scored 20 or more joining Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza as the only players to do it in five or more consecutive campaigns for Ottawa.
The 26-year-old leads the Senators with 20 goals, 26 assists and 46 points in 42 games this season and is set to become an unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year, $7.35-million contract this past summer.
Keith Yandle gets to 500
With two assists against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Yandle recorded his 500th-career point becoming the 67th defenceman to do so in NHL history.
The 32-year-old passed Ed Jovanovski on the all-time scoring list among defencemen with 91 goals, 410 assists and 501 points in 865 career games with the Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers and Panthers.
Yandle was selected to his third all-star game with six goals and 33 points in 39 games leading all Panthers blueliners in scoring and is fifth on the team in points.
Jones wins it in overtime again for Columbus
Only one other defenceman has equalled the number of overtime goals Seth Jones has scored since the 2013-14 season and that is Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Jones scored his first game-winner in the extra frame on a great play by Pierre-Luc Dubois to set up the defenceman from his knees.
In 33 games this season, Jones has six goals and 24 points for the Blue Jackets. Since joining the league, the 24-year-old defenceman has 52 goals and 207 points including a career-high 16 goals, 41 assists and 57 points in 78 games for Columbus last season.
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