It’s my Parting Shot to wonder if we are in the midst of another “Golden Age of the N-H-L?!”…..
I know the job of coaches is to devise ways to make sure the other team doesn’t score against you while hoping your players find a way to score enough to win. Back in the 1980s and the Edmonton Oilers’ dynasty with Wayne Gretzky, etcetera – that crew was about out-scoring the other team and, at times, leaving goaltender Grant Fuhr to fend for himself!
Look it up – Uncle Google is your friend – but the goal-scoring and points numbers back in the 80s and early 1990s were eye-popping and a goals against-average of three and a save percentage of 90 was a solid standard! As much as I hate to admit it, Glen Sather was the “pied piper” of a great era for exciting, high-scoring hockey games. Many teams tried, and failed, to stop them and many more tried to put together rosters of players that could go goal-for-goal with them.
And, they failed!
It seems to be happening this season – and the Oilers, with Connor McDavid leading the way, are scoring goals and piling up points at a better-than-average clip! Look at last night’s 9-2 thrashing of the woeful San Jose Sharks! McDavid reached 100 assists for the season, just the fourth player in N-H-L history to do it and the first since Gretzky in 1990-91 – 33 years ago!!
But, it’s not just McDavid and the Oilers who have put life and bounce back into the “dead puck” era! Nine players this season have 100 points with an outside shot for Toronto’s William Nylander to be the 10th! Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov could join McDavid with 100 assists for the season. He has 142 points to lead the league. McDavid had 153 points last season, but nobody had registered 153 or 142 points before that since Mario Lemieux had 161 in 1995-96!
Then, there’s Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs being one goal away from 70 with three other guys having notched at least 50 this season. Matthews would be just the ninth player in history to score 70, if he can get one more, and the first since Teemu Selanne of Winnipeg and Alexander Mogilny of Buffalo back in 1992-93!
As for goaltenders, there’s still guys with decent marks under two-and-a-half per game and save percentages around 92 per cent, but the volume of guys with those stats is down significantly!
Scoring in the N-H-L seems to be up and I hope it continues into the playoffs and for the coming years!!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!…..
