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The Weekly 5-on-5: Matthews can't stop scoring, Avs getting reinforcements on defense

Jesse Montano Avatar
Jesse Montano
April 11, 2022
USATSI 18027900 1

Auston Matthews

I wrote last week about Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl both eclipsing the 50-goal threshold. Well, Auston Matthews hasn’t stopped scoring since. 

Matthews now has 58 goals on the year, with 10 games still remaining, and is now the Toronto Maple Leafs’ single-season record holder for most goals in a season. Perhaps the most impressive feat though is that Matthews, with his two goals against Montreal on Saturday, now has scored 50 goals in his last 50 games. That’s ridiculous. Matthews is the first player since Mario Lemieux did it in the 1995-96 season to score 50 goals in any stretch of 50 games.

Perhaps even more impressive, 43 of Matthews’ goals have come at even strength. He’s not just feasting on special team’s points. Regardless of how you feel about Toronto, what Matthews is doing this season is straight-up historic. 

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby get goony

We’ve seen an uptick in star players taking matters into their own hands on the ice in the last couple of seasons. While still somewhat uncommon, there’s no doubt we’ve seen the likes of Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid mix things up in a way you don’t normally see superstar players get into it, and this week both Crosby and Malkin decided to get in on the action, though they both probably went a step too far. 

Now, Crosby got away with his without so much as a penalty, while Malkin wasn’t so lucky. The Russian forward will have a hearing on Monday and it’s expected he’ll get the first suspension of his career, and absolutely got his money’s worth on that one. 

You kind of figured that was coming, after all, Matthews was handed a two-game ban just recently for a very similar-looking altercation. 

I like big-name players standing up for themselves, but maybe fewer cross-checks to the face?

Brenden Gallagher and Tim Stützle

Okay this one was really interesting to me. Admittedly, I don’t watch a TON of Senators games, I don’t know if my mental health could handle me doing that to myself, so I can’t say I’m super familiar with Stützle’s antics, but Brenden Gallagher seems to see something he doesn’t like. 

I’ll be honest, regardless of how often Stützle does it, I’m with Gallagher here. If you are the reason the play stopped, and you need assistance on the ice, I don’t think you should be able to be on the ice for the ensuing shift. How many times have we all seen videos of guys in the NBA or MLS rolling around on the ground, writhing in pain, until they see a foul was called and they just pop right back up.

We’ve all seen it, and we all make fun of it. Now, I’m not saying Stützle wasn’t hurt, he very well could have been, and I’m not even necessarily saying it wasn’t a penalty, but if you are going to lay on the ice accentuating how hurt you are, you should not be allowed to be on the ice at the next puck drop.

Again, I’m more of talking about the principle here, and not so much about Stützle in particular. 

Owen Power

After being eliminated by The University of Denver Pioneers (more on that in just a second) in the Frozen Four, the Buffalo Sabres wasted no time in getting 1st overall draft pick Owen Power signed to a three-year entry-level contract. 

After two seasons as a Michigan Wolverine, Power decided to leave the college scene and head for the pros after an extremely eventful season that saw him represent Canada at both the World Juniors, and the Olympics. Power is 6’6”, 214 lbs and is a really good skater who has some nice offensive upside. 

I cannot wait to see what this kid looks like at the NHL level. I won’t lie, I have my doubts. When someone is as physically dominant as Owen Power has been, you worry about them having somewhat of the “I’m just bigger and better than anyone else” syndrome, which 100% of the time does not translate to super high-level NHL success. 

There’s a great chance my doubts are for nothing, as Owen Power could be an absolute stud at his size. 

Western Conference Playoff Race

Woof, mostly dropping this one in here just so that everyone is up to speed on what has become a crazy playoff race in the West. 

Teams that we thought were out of it, are clinging to life, and teams we thought were safe are suddenly fighting for their lives. 

Dallas has squandered opportunity after opportunity to but the pack away, Vancouver is hanging around just enough, Vegas has won just enough that suddenly they’re within striking distance of multiple teams, and actually have a game in hand on Los Angeles, and those very Kings have started to collapse after being right on Calgary’s heels just a couple weeks ago.

This should be a fun finish. 

Back to Back OT Wins

The Avalanche have had a tricky relationship with bonus hockey this year. They started the season by getting just run out of the building immediately after every overtime period started, then had a stitch where they seemingly couldn’t lose and have kind of flip-flopped back and forth. 

This week though, two straight wins past regulation. The first coming on the heels of Winnipeg getting the game tied late. It was impressive to me because Winnipeg was one of those teams trying desperately to stay in the playoff picture, and they had all the momentum, at home, after scoring multiple goals late to push the game to overtime, and yet the Avs just went out and took care of business. 

The second win, the credit goes to Darcy Kuemper. He was absolutely brilliant in the overtime periods against the Edmonton Oilers, stopping all 11 shots he faced and made 3 or 4 show-stopping saves during the Oilers 4-on-3 man advantage. 

Your 3-on-3 OT record means less than nothing come playoff time, but just two more examples of some tremendous resilience we’ve seen from the Avs group this season. 

Byram returns

Bowen Byram got back into game action this week, playing in all three games that were part of the Avs’ road trip. I liked him. It didn’t look to me like he was playing timid, or afraid of contact at all. The kid had four months off, so we were absolutely expecting some rust in his game, but he flashed just enough to let you know that all the great play from him we say earlier this season is still in there. 

He looks good, and he seems comfortable, all good things for Byram.

Girard gets back at it

He wasn’t out as long as Byram, and he only played in one of the three road games, but Sam Girard also returned to the ice on Saturday, giving Colorado their first look of the entire season at the high-end blue line they’ve carefully built. 

It was an interesting game for Girard, because like Byram, you expected some rust. You expected him to take some time to get back up to game speed, but I was wanting to see what kind of decisions he was making. 

Before he left the lineup with his injury, you could tell he was playing hurt. He just wasn’t making the same plays we’ve become so used to seeing him make. The quick escapability was gone, the agility along the wall just wasn’t the same, and he was trying to force pucks into areas that he normally would skate through. 

So I was wanting to see if he was back to his old self or not, despite the rust that was always going to need to be shaken off. For the most part I would say I wasn’t disappointed. 

By no means flawless game for Girard, but he just seemed to be way more comfortable out there. It looked like he had his mobility back, and his legs were moving. With Byram coming back, a fully healthy Girard is massive for this Avs team. 

Odd Man Out

Well, with those two defensemen coming back into the lineup, that meant someone had to go out. That someone was Erik Johnson.

Lots of conversation and controversy around who was going to be sent to the press box once the team’s d-corps returned to full health. If you’re going fully based on on-ice results, it was obvious the choice was EJ. It’s not even that he’s been that bad lately, in fact, I think his best game in a while came against Winnipeg on this current trip. It’s largely just because he has been outplayed by Ryan Murray (when healthy) and Jack Johnson.

Jack Johnson has been a pleasant surprise for the Avs this year, filling the role they’ve asked him to play perfectly, and Murray was playing his best hockey of the season before getting a puck to the wrist a couple weeks ago. 

Look, EJ will get a shot. He’s earned that. Given all the time he’s put in as an Av, he will absolutely be given the opportunity to earn his spot back in the lineup, but this is a message being sent. One that says “we’ll give you the opportunity to earn it, but you have to EARN it”. No free roster spots on this team. This team is trying to win and Jared Bednar is making it clear that he will put the group he thinks gives him the best chance to win on the ice every night. Period. 

At the end of the day, it really just speaks to the absurd amount of depth on the back end this team has when fully healthy, the fact that former #1 overall pick Erik Johnson is your seventh D… teams around the league are green with jealous rage. 

DU Pioneers are National Champions

Nothing else to say here other than congratulations to the University of Denver on their 9th National Title, tying them with the University of Michigan for most all-time. 

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