Fans of the offensive game have now been served this season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The attack is rising, the numbers are not lying.
The Florida Panthers ’strike force was impressive throughout the schedule, led by Jonathan Huberdeau. The star striker set up 85 of the team’s 340 goals, giving him an astronomical average of 1.04 assists per game. Moreover, it was the best offensive performance for a Quebec player since Mario Lemieux in 1995-1996.
No NHL team in 25 years has scored as many goals as the Panthers this season and their average is 4.15 per game.
We had to go back to the 1995-1996 campaign to find a formation with four or more goals per game. Led by Ron Francis, Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux, the Pittsburgh Penguins maintained a super -fast pace of 4.41 goals per game.
In the four corners of the NHL, the average of goals recorded per team during a game is at 3.12, a peak not seen since the same 1995-1996 season.
Before the Panthers, the best team of the millennium was the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2018-2019 edition, with 3.89 goals per game and a total of 319 wins.
By power play?
The power play on the Bettman circuit is also at its strongest. An average efficiency percentage of 20.59% is good for 13th rank since this annual statistic was counted in 1963-1964.
In this regard, there is consistency with previous periods. In 2020-2021, the average efficiency percentage (19.78%) was 20th in history, while in 2019-2020 it was slightly ahead of 18th place (20.03%).
Full left
To get back to Huberdeau, Quebecer’s 85 assists are a record for a left winger, owned by Joe Juneau (70 in 1992-1993) until recently.
In fact, the Juneau brand wasn’t just broken by Huberdeau. Two other players smashed him: Johnny Gaudreau, of the Calgary Flames, and Artemi Panarin, of the New York Rangers, his teammates this season with 75 and 74 goals.
One scorer above the others
Still on an individual level, Auston Matthews stood out for the consistency and frequency with which he reached the target. He broke the Toronto Maple Leafs record, formerly owned by Rick Vaive (54 in 1981-1982).
On his way to his 60 goals, the Maurice-Richard trophy winner, awarded best sniper, rode a heavy consecutive 51 goals in 50 calendar games. A cruising speed not maintained by the hockey player since Lemieux in 1995-1996.
The select club of 60-goal scorers is welcoming a new member for the first time in a decade. Steven Stamkos was the last in line after his spectacular 2011-2012 season with 60 goals, while Alexander Ovechkin, author of 65 wins in 2007-2008, completed the all-star trio that reached the plateau. this over the past 26 years.
Prolific Roman Josi
At one point, Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi is believed to hit the 100-point plateau. A handful of guards can claim to have compiled a hundred points in a season, including Paul Coffey, Brian Leetch, Al MacInnis, Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin. Among this star quintet, Orr (6) and Coffey (5) were the only ones to achieve more than once.
Roman Josi failed to cross the bar with 100 points. Even if the figure doesn’t have the same cachet, the 90 -point plateau isn’t easier to reach. With his 96 points, the Swiss became the ninth defender to make it, in a group where we should add Raymond Bourque, Phil Housley and Gary Suter to five producers of 100 points or more.
Brian Leetch was the last to join this important group with his 102 points during the 1991-92 campaign.
This is even more remarkable for Josi as he was the first to reach 90 points since the salary cap was established in 2005. The last player to surpass this mark before him was Raymond Bourque in 1993-1994, almost 30 years old. the past.
Source: Radio-Canada
