NHL Saturday Standouts: McDavid’s Five Points and Florida’s Hat-Trick Run

Opinion

Connor McDavid got Edmonton going just 40 seconds into Saturday's 6–2 win over Utah and kept the pressure on, finishing with two goals and three assists. The Oilers can score in droves, and this was another night when McDavid got them started and the floodgates opened.

His 23 points through eight games put him on a pace well above 200 points for a full season. He probably won't finish with 200, but a career year at 29 looks possible, which is remarkable given what he has already accomplished. Nights like this leave you thinking we might be watching the second player in NHL history to reach 2,000 career regular-season points, joining Wayne Gretzky.

Florida's hat-trick run

I was in absolute shock at Brady Tkachuk's back-to-back hat tricks, and then Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett each scored three in the same game. Florida produced four hat tricks from three teammates in three games, finishing that stretch with Saturday's 8–3 win over Seattle.

Florida became the first NHL team to record a natural hat trick in three consecutive games. Brady had the first two, and Verhaeghe supplied the third Saturday. A natural hat trick consists of three consecutive goals by one player, with nobody from either team scoring between them.

Peter and Anton Stastny each scored hat tricks in Quebec's games on February 20 and 22, 1981, producing four hat tricks in two games.

Florida looks like a monster right now. Hockey is a grind, but the Panthers added another Tkachuk, and things are looking great.

"The speed of our offensive game is coming together," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after the win.

Matthew Tkachuk, Florida: Three assists against Seattle, tying McDavid for Saturday's highest assist total.

More Saturday standouts

Jet Greaves, Columbus: Stopped all 29 shots in a 1–0 overtime win over the Rangers. Opposing goalie Dylan Garand stopped 28 of 29 in the loss.

"I thought when there were rebounds around the net, the guys did a good job of clearing it," Greaves said.

Jake Oettinger and Arttu Hyry, Dallas: Oettinger stopped all 19 shots and Hyry scored twice in a 4–0 win at Chicago.

Ilya Sorokin and Simon Holmstrom, Islanders: Sorokin stopped 28 of 29 shots and Holmstrom scored twice in a 4–1 win at Toronto.

"He was our best [penalty] killer tonight, and he has to be," Islanders forward Bo Horvat said of Sorokin.

Macklin Celebrini, San Jose: A goal and two assists in a 4–3 shootout loss at Detroit, matching Mark Stone, Verhaeghe, Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk on three points.

"We had chances, but there were a couple rolling pucks and a couple missed shots that we would really like back," Celebrini said.

Mark Stone, Vegas: A goal and two assists in a 6–2 win over Pittsburgh.

Cole Caufield, Montreal: Two goals, including the overtime winner, in a 4–3 victory over Buffalo.

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay: Two goals in a 4–2 win over Vancouver.

Dan Vladar, Philadelphia, and Jeremy Swayman, Boston: Each stopped 25 of 26 shots. The Flyers beat Ottawa 3–1; the Bruins beat Los Angeles 4–1.

Clay Stevenson, Winnipeg: Led Saturday's goalies with 34 saves despite a 3–2 loss to Carolina.