Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid Dominate NHL North Division

February 22, 2021
The GIST: While we’re on the topic of absolute domination, let’s swing over to the NHL’s North Division so we can fangirl over Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid for a minute.
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Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid Dominate NHL North Division
Source: NHL.com

Matthews: The Toronto Maple Leaf is en fuego. He leads the league in goals with 18, is on a 16-game points streak (one point for each goal and assist) and recently recorded back-to-back four-point games.

  • Those 18 goals have been scored in 18 games. If he can keep the goal-per-game average running for the whole season, he could be the first player to average at least one goal/game since Cam Neely in the 1993-94 season.
  • The Leafs, for their part, have rebounded nicely since last week’s collapse against the Ottawa Senators, and are on a three-game winning streak. They’ve racked up 30 points to lead the division, six ahead of the number two team: the Edmonton Oilers.

McDavid: Speaking of the Oilers, they’ve relied on their star player to lead them to a three-game winning streak of their own. McDavid leads the league in points at 37 (25 of those being assists, such a giver), over 20 games for a 1.85 point per game average.

  • If he keeps it up (and with Leon Draisaitl, the other half of the Oilers’ dynamic duo, by his side, he should be able to), McDavid will record the highest point-per-game average since Mario Lemieux in 1995-1996. In good company.

Head-to-head: We’re in for a real treat. After the Leafs complete a two-game homestand against the struggling Calgary Flames this week, they’ll travel to Edmonton for a three-game stint against the Oilers, starting Saturday night. Matthews versus McDavid on Hockey Night In Canada. How did we get so lucky?