Hockey

Top-4: Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard top the NHL scoring charts
Mathis Therrien
Top-4: Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard top the NHL scoring charts
Credit: Twitter screenshot

It was a rather quiet Friday night in the National Hockey League last night, with only four games on the schedule.

Despite this, there were some good highlights.

Here they are.

1. Connor Bedard scores four points and climbs to 2nd in the NHL

The Chicago Blackhawks' young prodigy is currently playing in his third NHL season, and let's just say that so far in his career, he hasn't yet impressed as much as one might have thought.

Bedard is undoubtedly very good, but he hasn't yet produced at the level we saw him dominate in the NHL.

However, this season, the Hawks' #98 seems to have made great strides, and more importantly, he seems to be growing in confidence, as Chicago boasts a better line-up than in the last two seasons.

Things are going so well for Bedard, that last night, with his four points in a 4-0 Hawks victory over the Calgary Flames, he climbed to the top of the NHL scoring charts for a while on the night.

Everything finally seems to be clicking for Bedard, and it shows, as evidenced by his magnificent goal last night.

The Hawks forward now has 22 points, including eight goals, and a plus-10 rating in 15 games.

That was good for first place in the NHL, until a certain Macklin Celebrini stepped in and took over the scoring lead.

2. Two points for Macklin Celebrini at the top of the scoring charts

Celebrini was back at the top of the NHL scoring charts last night, scoring two points in the San Jose Sharks' 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

He also scored a magnificent goal, in the same style as Connor Bedard.

Celebrini then added an assist on Will Smith's game-winning goal to take sole possession of the NHL scoring lead with 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists).

It's pretty crazy that the NHL's two current top scorers are the first overall picks of 2024 (Celebrini) and 2023 (Bedard) respectively.

The two youngsters are 19 and 20 respectively, and they're dominating the NHL this season, playing for two of the league's worst teams.

But so far, the Sharks (6-6-3) and the Hawks (7-5-3) are showing great progression, which helps both young stars shine.

In short, let's hope that both continue to produce at this impressive rate, and that they fight it out for the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the top scorer of the regular season.

3. Emil Heineman scores his 6th goal of the season

The Montreal Canadiens veteran is having a fine season so far with the New York Islanders, even if the team as a whole is struggling with its 6-6-2 record after 14 games.

Heineman is producing, and finding the back of the net with ease, as he did last night when he scored his 6th goal of the campaign on a superb passing play.

This now gives him nine points and a plus-5 rating in 14 games, which is a very good haul, considering that last season he scored 18 points, including ten goals, in 62 games with the Habs.

4. Second straight regular-season loss for the Red Wings

The Canadiens have lost their last two games in overtime, which has slowed them down somewhat in their battle for the top of the Atlantic Division.

Fortunately, the Habs' closest pursuers have also lost their last two games in regulation time.

The Detroit Red Wings suffered their second consecutive defeat last night, losing 4-1 to the New York Rangers.

What hurts the Wings even more is that they have scored just one goal in their last two games, having lost 1-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.

In short, the Red Wings are two points behind the Habs and the top of the Atlantic Division with one more game to play.


Overtime

– Here are yesterday's results.

– Here are yesterday's top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today's NHL schedule: 13 games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)
(Credit: Google/NHL)
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