Auston Matthews reached another NHL milestone, Nikita Kucherov set a new Tampa Bay Lightning record, and Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 16 games.
Here are four things we learned in the NHL.
Matthews hits centennial goal mark
If Matthews wasn’t lucky at the casino in Vegas at least he hit the jackpot against the Golden Knights.
With his second-period goal, Matthews reached 100 career NHL goals, becoming the third-fastest Toronto Maple Leafs players to reach the milestone.
Since making his NHL debut during the 2016-17 season, Matthews is tied sixth in the NHL with 100 goals over 187 career games. The 21-year is also second in even-strength goals since entering the league with 77 while Connor McDavid leads the way with 84 in 219 career games.
Only Alex Ovechkin has a better goals-per-game rate (0.55) since the 2016-17 season with Matthews scoring 0.53 goals per game during that stretch.
The 2016 first-overall pick leads the Leafs in goals since his rookie season, with a 21-goal lead over Nazem Kadri’s 79 over 218 games.
In case you want to relive every Matthews goal, here is a compilation starting from the four-goal night against the Senators to No. 100 in Vegas.
Kucherov continues to pad scoring lead
Heading into Thursday’s game against the Dallas Stars, Kucherov held a six-point lead in the NHL scoring race ahead of Kane and he made sure to add some cushion with a four-point night.
Kucherov now has 26 goals, 66 assists and 92 points in 58 games, which set a new franchise record for fastest games to 90 points and makes him only the fifth player in the past 20 years to hit the 90-point plateau in fewer than 60 games.
According to Sportsnet Stats, Kucherov is also the fastest player to reach 90 points since Ovechkin did it in 56 games back in the 2009-10 season.
Since overtaking the NHL scoring lead in the NHL on Dec. 28, the 25-year-old has scored nine goals, 22 assists and 31 points in 20 games.
Kane keeping pace with Kucherov
While Kucherov has built a strong lead in the NHL scoring race, Kane has been right on his heels.
The 30-year-old extended his point streak to 16 games with a goal and two assists against the New Jersey Devils. He also set a new Blackhawks record for consecutive games with an assist, passing Stan Mikita’s 14.
When Kucherov took the scoring lead on Dec. 27 with 61 points, Kane was 12th overall with 47 points. Now Kane is tied with Connor McDavid for second place with 33 goals, 49 assists and 82 points in 56 games as Chicago is only two points back in the Western Conference wild-card race.
Kane’s scoring surge has should see him get Hart Trophy consideration if the Blackhawks make the playoffs, as he and Kucherov have been tied atop the NHL with 53 points over 31 games since Dec. 1.
Islanders goaltending continues to lead the way
A big part of the New York Islanders‘ success this season has been their one-two punch between the pipes with Greiss and Robin Lehner.
Greiss made 31 saves in a 3-0 shutout victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets for his fourth shutout of the season and the third over his past five games, becoming the first Islanders goalie since Rick DiPietro to accomplish the feat.
Both are atop the NHL in save percentage and goals-against-average among goalies with at least 20 games played this season. They also lead the league in combined shutouts with seven, which is second-most in franchise history since the 1975-76 season.
New York maintains a five-point lead atop the Metropolitan division while allowing a league-low 136 goals-against.
