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Top-5: Connor McDavid now has 89 assists this season
Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Last night was a rare hockey Saturday without a Montreal Canadiens game.

Even so, there was plenty of action in the National Hockey League, across the 11 games on the schedule.

Here are the day’s highlights.

1. Connor McDavid has 89 assists this season

Although not as dominant as last season, McDavid is having another excellent season.

After scoring 64 goals last season to claim the Maurice Richard “Rocket” trophy, it looks like McDavid has set himself the challenge this season of getting as many assists as possible.

Indeed, with yesterday’s game, in which he picked up three assists on three Edmonton Oilers goals, McDavid is now up to 89 assists.

To give you an idea, that’s two more assists than Jamie Benn’s total of 87 in the 2014-2015 season, when he won the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the top scorer in the regular season.

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Times have really changed since then.

In short, McDavid is as dominant as ever, as evidenced by picking up three assists on all three Oilers goals in a 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs.

2. Huge Islanders victory over mighty Jets

Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders are currently in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

They had a good run not so long ago, which put them back in contention for a playoff spot.

However, before yesterday’s game, the Islanders had just lost six in a row, which had pretty much wiped out their playoff hopes.

But yesterday, against the mighty Jets, the Islanders came out strong and won 6-3.

It’s a big, rather unexpected win against a big club, putting the Islanders three points out of the playoffs with a game in hand on the Detroit Red Wings.

3. Filip Forsberg and Mortiz Seider throw down the gloves

NHL fights are usually between two tough guys who are known to fight.

It’s part of their job, and they put on a show.

On the other hand, sometimes two players who aren’t known for their fighting skills come to blows.

Well, that’s exactly what happened last night, when Filip Forsberg and Mortiz Seider dropped the gloves.

This battle between two talented players took everyone by surprise.

In short, you can feel the tension mounting as the playoffs approach, as evidenced by this 1-0 Predators win over the Red Wings.

4. Mika Zibanejad scores Peter Forsberg-style in shootout

Two of the NHL’s top teams faced off last night, as the Florida Panthers visited the New York Rangers.

And let’s just say we weren’t disappointed by the spectacle of the game.

It was a very close game that ended in a shootout.

Mika Zibanejad came up with a superb Forsberg-style feint.

The Rangers won 4-3 to join the Vancouver Canucks atop the NHL standings with 98 points.

5. Four-goal comeback for the Blackhawks

After a duel between two of the league’s best teams, we now move on to a duel between the NHL’s two worst, as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the San Jose Sharks.

In this battle for Macklin Celebrini, it was the Sharks who dominated the first half of the game, taking a 4-0 lead.

The carrots seemed to be cooked for the Blackhawks, but they found a way to come back and force overtime.

In the end, they won 5-4 thanks to Seth Jones.

Will Blackhawks fans be happy with this comeback?

Surely not, given that the Sharks are now five points behind the Blackhawks, and therefore firmly ensconced in last place in the NHL.

Extension

Jack Eichel reaches 500 career points.

– Hat trick for Jordan Kyrou.

– A michigan goal for his 60ᵉ of the season. Firkus finished the game with five points (three goals and two assists). Note also that this was the last game of the season, and so the Seattle Kraken prospect completed the regular season with 126 points (61 goals and 65 assists) in 63 games. That’s exactly two points per game.

– Very funny.

– Here are yesterday’s results.

– Here are yesterday’s top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today’s NHL schedule: ten games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)

This article first appeared on Dose.ca and was syndicated with permission.

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