Henrik Sedin snapped a super-long goalless streak, the Blue Jackets have now won 10 in a row and Anze Kopitar is on another planet.
Here are four things we learned in the NHL.
Henrik Sedin gets a monkey off his back
Henrik Sedin scored his first goal since Nov. 14, 2017 — a span of 55 games. He now has three on the season.
Despite the long goal drought, Sedin hasn’t necessarily been bad this season. He still has 42 assists and has appeared in all 74 games the Canucks have played.
Henrik and his brother Daniel are both set to be unrestricted free agents this summer. Daniel has 21 goals and 49 points this season. While their future is murky, and a 55-game goalless streak isn’t good, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Canucks bring them back for one more season.
Anze Kopitar puts stamp on season with four-goal game
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a late contender for the Hart Trophy.
Anze Kopitar has quietly had one of the best seasons of his career, and he punctuated that with a four-goal performance against the Colorado Avalanche.
Kopitar is now up to 33 goals and 86 points, which puts him smack dab in the middle of the MVP conversation with the end of the season coming up fast. Kopitar is having a career year, scoring 30 goals for the first time since 2009-10 and he’s now set a career high in points.
Kopitar is also the first King to score four goals in a game since Luc Robitaille did in 1993. Kopitar now leads Drew Doughty by 31 points for the team scoring lead and has been easily their best player all season.
The Kings and Ducks are battling for the third spot in the Pacific Division and with the win Thursday L.A. has moved back in front with 89 points. This is a battle that will go down to the wire, but we find it hard to bet against the team that has Kopitar on it.
Blue Jackets get to 10 wins again
The Columbus Blue Jackets are getting hot at just the right time.
With a 4-0 shutout against the Florida Panthers, the Jackets became the third team this season to win 10 in a row. On top of that, they are the third team ever to put together 10-game winning streaks in back-to-back seasons.
The Blue Jackets now have tied the Pittsburgh Penguins for second in the Metro Division with 89 points (although the Penguins have a game in hand).
The Jackets are all but locked into a playoff spot now, especially since the only team still really in the hunt is the same Panthers team they beat on Thursday. Still, matchups aren’t set yet and Columbus could finish anywhere from atop the division to the second wild card spot. So while they’ve been hot, they’ll have to keep it going for a couple more weeks.
Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen extend streaks to seven
While it might be too little too late for the Carolina Hurricanes, one positive they can take away from this season is the emergence of the two-headed Finnish monster in Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen.
The duo both extended their point streaks to seven games by scoring two points each in Thursday’s wild 6-5 win over the Coyotes.
During the streak, Aho has three goals and seven assists for 10 points while Teravainen has four goals and five assists for nine points. Both are already on career years too with Aho now up to 26 goals and 61 points while Teravainen now has 23 goals and 61 points.
The two have also formed great chemistry, combing to both get a point on seven goals during the streak. With Teravainen 23-years-old and Aho only 20, the Hurricanes have one of the best young offensive duos in the game.
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