EDMONTON, Alta. – In his return to play after a three-game absence, Edmonton Oilers star center Connor McDavid became only the fourth player in NHL history to amass 100 assists in a single season, while his club defeated the San Jose Sharks.
In the long history of the NHL, only Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux had achieved the feat of setting up 100 goals for their teammates during a season.
Of this smallest group, Gretzky was the last to achieve this, more than three decades ago, during the 1990-1991 calendar as a member of the Los Angeles Kings.
No wonder because “La Merveille” has no less than eleven of the 14 seasons of 100 or more assists listed.
The Oilers captain came within one assist of the 100 mark before missing three games due to a lower body injury.
It took Albertans nine goals at the expense of the poor Sharks for McDavid to finally reach the coveted plateau, setting the table for Zach Hyman’s 54th goal late in the second period.
“ McJesus » had so far had one goal to his name in the match, having opened the scoring with his 32nd goal in the 53rd second of play in the clash.
No. 97 of the Oilers collected 32 goals and 100 assists in 75 games. This is already eleven assists more than his production last year, when he totaled 153 points (64-89) in 82 games.
Edmonton (49-25-6) will play two games in the space of 24 hours to conclude its regular schedule, Wednesday and Thursday, in Arizona, then in Colorado.
Kris Knoblauch’s men still have a mathematical chance of stealing the Pacific Division title from the Vancouver Canucks.
The latter have 107 points, three more than the Oilers, with 80 games on the clock on both sides.
In the correction inflicted on the Sharks, defender Evan Bouchard reached the 80-point plateau for the first time in his career.
The Oilers’ offensive effort was well distributed, to the point that nine different skaters scored at least two points, a first since November 1985 for the Albertans.
Kucherov gets the better of him
Earlier Monday, Nikita Kucherov added a 99th assist to his record, but was subsequently overpowered by the Buffalo Sabres, who defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2.
No. 86 from Tampa collected his assist by contributing to the 40th goal of his captain Steven Stamkos’ campaign, early in the second period.
This is how Kucherov offered himself a slightly larger cushion at the top of the points column, at 142 points, compared to 138 for his closest pursuer Nathan MacKinnon.
Dylan Cozens scored twice in Buffalo’s win, while Jordan Greenway and Zach Benson were the other scorers at the expense of Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Besides Stamkos, Erik Cernak got the Lightning’s other goal, against Eric Comrie who faced 33 shots.
The last game on Tampa’s schedule will be played at home on Wednesday, against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kucherov will therefore attempt at this time to follow the path traced by McDavid.
To see if at the same time, Auston Matthews will be in search of the last net separating him from the plateau of 70. The day before, the Leafs sniper will have played his penultimate match at Sunrise, against the Panthers.
