I know just enough about fashion to understand that styles from 25 years ago have made an Erik Karlsson-like comeback in the 2020s. As for hockey, the 1990s references are flying there, too, and the final weekend of the regular season served to underscore how amazing it has been to witness teams and players match or exceed achievements from a bygone era.
Every team in the league played on Saturday and the wonderful consequence of that was it felt like the NHL basically cleared out on Sunday — there were just two games on the slate — so David Pastrnak and the Boston Bruins could take centre stage. It sure feels like there’s something special in the air when a guy scores a hat trick to help his team secure a record-breaking 63rd win while simultaneously hitting the 60-goal mark for the season and the 300-goal plateau for his career.
Pastrnak’s game and smile can hang with any in the league and both were on full display on Sunday evening during the 5-4 victory in Philadelphia.
Boston, of course, eclipsed the 62 wins posted by both the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning and the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, a team put together at a time when, as long as the owner was willing to sign the checks, you could accumulate as much high-salaried talent as possible without any cap concerns.
By netting No. 60 — and pulling within four goals of Connor McDavid for the Rocket Richard Trophy, it’s worth at least noting — Pastrnak gave us our first season in which two guys hit 60 since, yes, 1995-96, when Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr scored 69 and 62, respectively, for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Just keep Lemieux’s stat line from that year handy as we point out McDavid, his 2-1-3 performance on Saturday versus San Jose in the Edmonton Oilers’ seventh straight win gave him the first 150-point season since No. 66 took the Art Ross in 1996 with 161. If McDavid can tack four more points onto his 151 in his final two outings of the year, he’ll join Lemieux, former Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman and his Edmonton predecessor Wayne Gretzky as the only guys in the history of the league to net 155 in a season.
One week from today, we’ll all be consumed by the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs because that’s always where the most significant achievements take place. Lemieux, Jagr and the rest of the high-powered Penguins went home in the 1996 Eastern Conference final; the 62-win Wings lost in the semis that year, too, and, good God, the 62-win Bolts didn’t even manage a single playoff victory in 2019, getting swept in shocking fashion by Columbus.
We don’t know where all this goes for Pastrnak and the Bruins, McDavid or any other amazing performer from the regular season. But before we turn the page, let’s be sure to tap those sticks for the six-month show they just put on.
Other Takeaways
• The part of the 1990s we don’t want to remember is the Dead Puck Era that choked out offence near the end of the decade. Part of Sidney Crosby’s legacy will always be co-leading us out of that dark time with Alex Ovechkin following the lost lockout season and overdue rule changes that took effect in 2005-06. Nearly 20 years on, it was great to see Crosby become the 15th player in league history hit the 1,500-point mark with a power-play goal — his third point of the contest — on Saturday during a must-have win for Pittsburgh in Detroit.
• Eight days ago, it wasn’t a complete lock the Seattle Kraken would, indeed, pin down a playoff berth in their second year of existence. The Kraken were 15-14-4 in nearly a half season’s worth of games and the notion a wonderful story could end on a sour note was at least in play. Scratch all that, as the Kraken dumped Chicago 7-3 on home ice Saturday night and are X’d into the post-season after putting together a four-game winning streak. Seattle storylines — save Vince Dunn, perhaps — definitely slip through the cracks a bit, so let’s rapid-fire highlight a few of them. Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, Daniel Sprong and Jared McCann all found the net versus the Blackhawks; Tolvanen has basically scored at a 30-goal pace since joining the Kraken from the waiver wire mid-season; Eberle hit the 20-goal mark for the second straight year in Seattle and is enjoying one of his most productive seasons overall since the early days in Edmonton; Sprong has 21 goals playing just 11:19 a night and McCann needs one more tally to hit 40 for the season.
• It’s tough not to feel for the Carolina Hurricanes, who were downed 4-3 by the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Including the March 11 game in which Andrei Svechnikov injured his knee and was subsequently lost for the year, the Canes are 7-8-1 in their past 16. New Jersey is just one point back for the Metro lead and — though extremely unlikely — it’s not impossible that both the Devils and third-place Rangers could pass Carolina this week. A lot of teams deal with injuries, but it’s so hard not to think about what this team’s potential would be with Svechnikov — to say nothing of cursed Achilles tendon man Max Pacioretty — in the lineup versus without.
Weekend Warrior
There are overtime winners to clinch a championship, then there are overtime winners that come 10 seconds into extra time on a play that nearly melts your face and conclude with a referee bowled over in the corner. Wow, what an end to the Frozen Four final, as tournament MVP Jacob Quillan delivered Quinnipiac its first-ever NCAA title with his fantastic overtime tally to beat Minnesota 3-2.
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Edmonton Oilers (48-23-9) If nothing else, the Oilers have clinched home-ice in either their first-round rematch with the Los Angeles Kings or a showdown with Seattle. That said, Edmonton probably needs to run its seven-game winning streak to nine to have any chance of snatching the Pacific from Vegas.
2. Toronto Maple Leafs (47-21-11) Knies out! Matthew Knies has signed his ELC with the Leafs and will, presumably, draw into one of Toronto’s final three games…and maybe some more in the playoffs?
3. Winnipeg Jets (44-32-3) In a game they had to have, Mark Scheifele notched his 40th of the year and Connor Hellebuyck pitched a shutout during a 2-0 whitewash of the still-in-the-race Nashville Predators. That’s the definition of big boys stepping up.
4. Calgary Flames (37-27-16) Credit the Flames for clawing back in with two third-period goals, but they absolutely had to have the extra point that was lost in the Saturday night shootout loss to Vancouver.
5. Vancouver Canucks (36-36-7) After his tally on Saturday, Elias Pettersson is one point shy of his first 100-point season and two goals shy of a first 40-goal campaign.
6. Ottawa Senators (38-35-7) The NHL has 39 point-per-game players and Tim Stützle, who picked up two apples on Saturday, is the youngest among them. His 1.13 ppg is also only eclipsed by 18 guys.
7. Montreal Canadiens (31-43-6) At this point, the only question is will Montreal stay where it is — fifth from the bottom — or will the Habs slightly hurt their lottery chances by making up a one-point deficit on the Arizona Coyotes?
The Week Ahead
• One last ’90s reference; with two more points, Erik Karlsson can become our first 100-point defenceman since Brian Leetch (102) in 1991-92. The Sharks are in Winnipeg on Monday night before moving west to Alberta to close out the year in Calgary and Edmonton.
• The best rivalry in hockey re-ignites on Monday night, as Canada and the U.S. square off at the women’s worlds.
• Joe Pavelski (999) and Claude Giroux (998) could both hit 1,000 career points this week instead of dragging it into the fall.
• The Bruins can further write their way into history by recording their 133rd point of the season when they host the Capitals on Tuesday. If it doesn’t come then, Boston could do it Thursday against the team that posted the record 132, the Montreal Canadiens.
• Thursday is the last big night of regular season action before the calendar officially concludes with two games on Friday.
