04/08/2022 – Page 2 – CanucksBanter

* Carolina (46-17-8, 100 points) became the third team to clinch a berth in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs and secured its second 100-point season after erasing a two-goal deficit.

* Auston Matthews surpassed Rick Vaive (54 in 1981-82) for the Maple Leafs record for most goals in a single season and the most in a campaign by a U.S.-born player, passing the previous benchmark held by Jimmy Carson (55 in 1987-88 w/ LAK) and Kevin Stevens (55 in 1992-93 w/ PIT). Matthews is on pace for 65 goals in 2021-22.

* Roman Josi recorded his second straight three-point game and established a franchise record for points in a single season. The Predators captain is now on pace for 102 points, which would stand as the most by a blueliner since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 (22-80—102 in 80 GP).

HURRICANES PUNCH TICKET TO STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS WITH MULTI-GOAL COMEBACK
Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal each scored twice to help the Hurricanes (46-17-8, 100 points) complete a multi-goal comeback and earn their fourth straight Stanley Cup Playoffs berth. Carolina, which recorded its second 100-point season in franchise history, has made the postseason for the ninth time since relocating to Raleigh in 1997-98 and 17th overall.

* Aho (14-21—35 in 34 GP) ranks among the top five in franchise history for career playoff goals (t-4th), assists (3rd) and points (4th). Aho, who has the second-highest playoff points-per-game rate in club history (1.03), enters 2022 three points shy of tying his head coach Rod Brind’Amour (18-20—38 in 72 GP) for third place on the franchise playoff points list.

* Staal, who tied the game 5:12 into the third period, can become the sixth player in NHL history to go 13-plus years between Stanley Cup wins – only Chris Chelios (1986 MTL & 2002 DET), Mark Recchi (1991 PIT & 2006 CAR), Bill Guerin (1995 NJD & 2009 PIT), Craig Ludwig (1986 MTL & 1999 DAL) and Brian Skrudland (1986 MTL & 1999 DAL) have done so.

* ICYMI: The 2021-22 season has featured the debut of #NHLStats Pack: Team Clinching Notes, a running document of notes for all teams as they clinch a berth in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Click here to read more.

FRANCHISE RECORDS FALL
The Maple Leafs (46-19-6, 98 points) and Predators (41-25-4, 86 points) each had a skater continue their strings of success in 2021-22 and witnessed franchise records fall during Thursday’s action:

* In his 400th career game – a milestone contest he already holds the most goals through in franchise history and by a U.S. born skater – Auston Matthews (2-0—2) broke the Maple Leafs record for most goals in a season as he surpassed Rick Vaive (54 in 1981-82) with his 55th and 56th of 2021-22. He also boosted his road goal total to 28, which again passed Vaive (27 in 1981-82) for the most in a campaign in franchise history.

*Matthews (56-41—97), a San Ramon, Calif., native, set a record for most goals in a season by a U.S.-born player, surpassing the previous benchmark held by Jimmy Carson (55 in 1987-88 w/ LAK) and Kevin Stevens (55 in 1992-93 w/ PIT). With his 52nd career multi-goal game, the 24-year-old passed Pat LaFontaine (51) for the most by a U.S.-born player before age 25.

* ICYMI: After his famous “Bonino” call in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Harnarayan Singh was part of another monumental moment as he called Matthews’ record-setting goal Thursday.

* Roman Josi (0-3—3) factored on all three of Nashville’s goals to boost his season totals to 19-68—87 and establish a Predators franchise record for points in a single season. The Predators are the third active franchise to feature a defenseman hold a single-season record for points among all skaters. The others: Denis Potvin (1973-74 to 1976-77 w/ NYI) and Norm MacIver (1992-93 w/ OTT).

* Thursday marked Josi’s 12th three-point game of the season, the most by a defenseman in a single campaign since Paul Coffey in 1993-94 with the Red Wings (12). The last blueliner with more was Al MacInnis (13 in 1990-91 w/ CGY).

PANARIN PUTS ONE PAST PENGUINS IN 500TH NHL GAME
Artemi Panarin scored one of his team’s three goals while skating in his 500th career game and Igor Shesterkin turned aside all 30 shots he faced as the Rangers (46-20-6, 98 points) continued their chase of the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes (46-17-8, 100 points), defeating the Penguins (41-21-10, 92 points) for the third time in 14 days. New York has outscored Pittsburgh 11-3 through that span.

* Panarin boosted his career totals to 185-373—558. The only active players with more points through 500 career games are Sidney Crosby (706), Connor McDavid (680), Alex Ovechkin (633) and Evgeni Malkin (611).

McDAVID EXTENDS GOAL AND POINT STREAK ON #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES

The latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates features several notes from Thursday’s 10-game slate, including another multi-point outing from Connor McDavid (1-1—2), who extended his goal and point streaks to six and 15 games, respectively, and helped the Oilers win their sixth straight contest.

* McDavid became the first Oilers player with at least a goal in six straight games since Jimmy Carson in 1988-89 (7 GP) and the first NHL player to have multiple 15-game point streaks in a single season since Wayne Gretzky in 1990-91.

QUICK CLICKS

* Doug Wilson steps down as GM of Sharks after 19 seasons

* Marian Hossa to have No. 81 retired by Blackhawks next season

* Pittsburgh teacher Scott Caplan named NHL/NHLPA Most Valuable Teacher

* NHL announces North American partnership with FanDuel, BetMGM
* #NHLStats Pack: Team Clinching Notes

CRUCIAL ATLANTIC DIVISION DUEL SET FOR FRIDAY
The third-place Bruins (44-21-5, 93 points) travel to AMALIE Arena to clash with the fourth-place Lightning (43-20-7, 93 points) for the final time this season as the two clubs continue to jockey for position in the Atlantic Division. Boston contests nine of its remaining 12 games against teams above the playoff line, while Tampa Bay has five of its final 12 games against teams currently holding down a postseason position.

* Twenty-five-year-old David Pastrnak (38-33—71 in 69 GP) sits two tallies shy of becoming the eighth player to record multiple 40-goal seasons with the Bruins after he posted 48-47—95 in 2019-20. Of the previous seven instances, only two Boston skaters achieved the feat multiple times before their 26th birthday: Cam Neely (3x; last: 1990-91) and Barry Pederson (2x; last: 1982-83).

* Lightning captain Steven Stamkos enters the contest with points in each of his past eight games dating to March 24 (5-8—13) and has collected 471-474—945 in his career (910 GP). Already the franchise leader in goals, Stamkos is on pace to surpass Martin St. Louis (365-588—953 in 972 GP) for the most points in franchise history by the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

Attachments:

MorningSkate040822.pdf

by Alan Robinson / NHL.com Independent Correspondent

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Bo Horvat scored two goals in 38 seconds of the second period for the Vancouver Canucks in a 5-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Thursday.

Alex Chiasson had two goals and an assist and Elias Pettersson had a goal and two assists for the Canucks (34-28-10), who followed up a 5-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves for Vancouver, which trails the Dallas Stars by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“We probably weren’t as sharp as we were last night but playing back to back we obviously got off to a good start,” Chiasson said. “We’ve got to find ways to get points at this time of the year, and we got some solid goaltending and found a way to get two points.”

Alex Chiasson #39 of the Vancouver Canucks shoots the puck past goaltender Harri Sateri #30 of the Arizona Coyotes during the first periodat Gila River Arena on April 07, 2022 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)

Nick Schmaltz scored and Harri Sateri made 27 saves for the Coyotes (22-44-5) in his first NHL start since Feb. 9, 2018 with the Florida Panthers. Arizona has lost nine of 11 (2-8-1).

“We had too many breakdowns. We didn’t give up a lot, but what we gave up was quality,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “I thought we did a lot of good things. It’s the score that’s frustrating.”

Chiasson’s power-play goal made it 1-0 at 3:12 of the first period. Pettersson passed the puck through defenseman Cam Dineen‘s skates to Chiasson at the right post. Horvat had the secondary assist.

Pettersson scored seven points (three goals, four assists) in the back-to-back wins. He has seven goals in his past six games.

Horvat’s wraparound goal gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead 52 seconds into the second period. Horvat followed up at 1:30 to make it 3-0 with a one-timer off Vasily Podkolzin‘s backhand pass to the slot.

Horvat has scored 13 goals in his past 16 games. His 30 goals are the most by a Canucks player since Radim Vrbata scored 31 in 2014-15.

“I’m getting good bounces, I’m playing with confidence and definitely feel good with the puck,” Horvat said. “At the same time getting the wins are more important for sure.”

Horvat was 17-for-17 on face-offs; Vancouver won 29 of 40 draws.

“Bruce (Boudreau) sent me out there for the last one at the end (with 36 seconds remaining) and I didn’t want to ruin it,” Horvat said. “I figured I was close to perfect and I’m happy I won that last one. It feels so cool to get that.”

Schmaltz cut it to 3-1 at 7:27 with his career-high 22nd goal. Nick Ritchie appeared to make it 3-2 at 8:06, but Boudreau successfully challenged that Arizona was offside.

“At a great time, quite frankly, because they’d started getting momentum,” Boudreau said. “Then we scored to make it 4-1 not long after and that really sort of stemmed the tide.”

Pettersson made it 4-1 at 11:12 on a give-and-go with Chiasson. Chiasson’s power-play goal at 4:24 of the third made for the 5-1 final.

Sateri played one game in the Kontinental Hockey League after going 5-0-0 for gold medalist Finland in the Olympics in February. He had only a couple of practices after Arizona claimed him on waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Obviously, it’s been a little break so it wasn’t my best game, but overall felt actually pretty good,” Sateri said. “The timing is a little off. It’s a different game here than in Europe, a little bit quicker.”

NOTES: Conor Garland had two assists in his first game in Arizona since the Coyotes traded him and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Vancouver on July 23. Ekman-Larsson had an assist. … In two games against Arizona this season, Garland has one goal and two assists and Ekman-Larsson has four assists. … Canucks forward Tanner Pearson was limited to 4:28 by an upper-body injury, but Boudreau is hopeful he can play against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. … Vancouver forward Quinn Hughes (illness) missed his second straight game. … Halak is 11-3-2 in 16 games against the Coyotes. … Vancouver was 2-for-2 on the power play. … Sateri was 4-4-0 with a 2.92 goals-against average in nine games with Florida in 2017-18.