PITTSBURGH — The month of October gave us five 20-point players across the National Hockey League for the first time since 1993-94, when a group that included Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros turned the trick.
In the same week, Andrei Svechnikov scored the NHL’s first lacrosse-style goal, and Matthew Tkachuk rifled home a between-the-legs wrist shot from “the farthest out I’ve seen,” according to Connor McDavid. The Edmonton Oilers, whose record book is stuck in the 80s, have suddenly found themselves rewriting a few categories, as James Neal, Leon Draisaitl and McDavid carry their team to a hot start.
What’s going on with scoring in the NHL? Well, a look at the stats tells us that scoring isn’t up from this time last year.
Yet something is different. The game is changing.
So, with a killer matinee on tap for Saturday — McDavid and Draisaitl vs. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Pittsburgh Penguins — we asked around.
It’s cool to score again in the NHL. And it’s even OK to try stuff.
How come?
“Even when you take your kids to hockey, what your kids are trying on the ice has changed,” observed veteran goalie Mike Smith. “What they see now in the NHL, you see your kid trying it. The younger players in our game now have brought a new dimension to hockey.
“It’s a little bit scary being a goalie, but it’s good for our game.”
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Today’s NHL is a safe place to try things like lacrosse-style goals, compared to the league I grew up covering. There, if a young player embarrassed a veteran, he spent the rest of the night getting slashed and cross-checked — all within accepted norms of the game.
Not today.
In fact, increased power plays have done two things: allowed the fastest players to get up to speed, and when they are impeded, the ensuing power play lets the star players shine.
“I think it has more to do with power plays,” offered McDavid. “Five-on-five it’s still real solid (defensively). But with more power plays, the same guys go out over and over…
“It’s so hard to score now that guys are trying anything,” he continued. “Tkachuk works out at my gym, and I skate with him now and then. He’s always trying different stuff. And Svechnikov? That goal’s been going on for a long time, but never in the NHL. Pretty impressive.”
This Saturday matinee in Pittsburgh is a beauty. Draisaitl, McDavid, Crosby and Malkin. The Penguins are 6-0 against Edmonton since McDavid vs. Crosby became a thing, but it’s the Oilers who are in first place this year, not the Penguins.
All this skill on display? How can you not have this game on TV on a cool, fall Saturday in Canada?
“I remember as a kid, Bobby Orr used to come on Hockey Night in Canada, and whether you were a Boston fan or not, you always wanted to watch Bobby Orr play,” said Oilers head coach Dave Tippett. “Our guys are younger than their guys, but when all is said and done, if they can both have resumes like those guys on Pittsburgh — with Cups, and trophies and scoring titles — it would be nice to see.”
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Tippett, who was a player closing out his career with the Philadelphia Flyers 26 years ago when five guys had 20-plus points in October, figures special teams have a lot to do with a more dynamic NHL we’re seeing this season.
“The one difference is, you’re seeing more teams with a top power play unit that spends (nearly the whole two minutes) on the ice,” he said. “In the old days, one group would take a minute and another group would take a minute? Now, you’re trying to maximize your top players there.
“Top players now are really strong, the rules of the game allow a little more freedom, power plays are really dialed in now.”
Goaltending equipment seems finally to have found its happy place: “They’re wearing a little bit smaller gear, it’s a little bit tougher for them,” said McDavid. “They don’t have those cheaters in there anymore.”
In fact, smaller gear is making for more athletic netminders, and less guys who simply square up and block pucks. So as the goals get better, so too do the saves make for a higher pedigree of highlight.
“With the salary cap, and the way teams are structured now … teams are more reliant on their top guys to produce more offence,” said Sam Gagner. “You look at the young guys coming up — at 18-years-old they’re comfortable, and playing important roles on their teams. High offensive minutes and creating a lot of offence. There’s a lot to like about the way the league is going.”
Gagner is only 30. But it wasn’t this way when he was breaking in a dozen years ago.
“Even before the Svechnikov goal, (Auston) Matthews tried it a couple of times, Svechnikov tried it. (Elias) Pettersson tried it the other night,” he said. “It’s an exciting era for hockey, with a lot of young stars putting on a show.”
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