This Week in the NHL: Jake Guentzel returns to Pittsburgh to face Penguins
So many games. So little time. What should you focus your NHL hockey fandom on if your favorite team’s games don’t scratch the itch enough?
Welcome to This Week in the NHL. From now until April, we’ll lay out a collection of key games, events and deadlines to watch on the league calendar each week.
So what’s on tap for March 25-31?
Auston Matthews’ chase for 60 goals
Matthews paces the NHL with 58 goals in 69 games. The Leafs have a three-game slate this week, meaning he’d need just two to get there by the end of the week. When he notched his 50th last month in his 54th game, he became the fastest to hit the milestone since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. If Matthews gets to 61 goals, he’ll break his own single-season franchise record of 60, set in 2021-22. For what it’s worth, he has 16 multi-goal games compared to 19 single-goal games – so when he scores, he often does it in bunches.
Peter Laviolette eyes 800 wins
The third-place New York Rangers helped inch their head coach to 799 career wins by the end of last week. That puts Laviolette just one victory away from becoming the seventh member of the 800-win club when it happens. If he does it in one of the team’s three games this week, he’ll Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969), Barry Trotz (914), Lindy Ruff (864), Paul Maurice (862) and Ken Hitchcock (849).
March 26: Jake Guentzel returns to Pittsburgh
Carolina Hurricanes @ Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:00 p.m. ET
Guentzel accrued 500-plus games and won a Stanley Cup during his eight-season tenure with the Pens. But GM Kyle Dubas couldn’t risk losing him for nothing as a UFA this offseason and sent him to Carolina in a trade deadline blockbuster three weeks ago. The move was emotionally gutting for mainstays of the Penguins’ core, none more than captain Sidney Crosby, so the knife will be twisted even more with Guentzel back at PPG Paints Arena to face his old teammates so soon.
March 30: John Carlson’s 1,000th game
Boston Bruins @ Washington Capitals, 7:00 p.m. ET
A week after his longtime teammate T.J. Oshie reached the honor, stalwart Caps defenseman Carlson is on track to play game No. 1,000 by Saturday night when Washington hosts Boston. Carlson has spent his entire 15-year career with the Caps, who drafted him 27th overall in 2008. He will become the 128th defenseman to reach the milestone after the St. Louis Blues’ Nick Leddy became the 127th last week.
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