Each has a little more runway remaining on the season, but Tuesday’s performances on one of the final meaningful nights of the regular season felt like the final meaningful edit on the Hart Trophy submissions for Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid.
Matthews wrapped up things rather tidily. He scored twice versus the Detroit Red Wings to become just the 21st player in NHL history — and the first in franchise history — to score 60 goals in a single season as the Maple Leafs clinched home-ice advantage and the second seed in the Atlantic Division.
There was a real feeling of the mission being accomplished. Matthews could exhale. His teammates —and general manager — were overjoyed.
In Pittsburgh, meanwhile, McDavid scored his 44th goal and added three assists in an incredible individual performance as the Edmonton Oilers clinched the second seed in their division themselves in a 5-1 victory over the Penguins. Both his 44 goals and 122 points are career highs. He is six points shy of matching Nikita Kucherov’s high-water mark for the most points accumulated in a season over the last quarter century with two games to play.
So perhaps his resume isn’t finished yet.
His goal was sensational, too.
In any other season, the performances from Matthews and McDavid would stand alone individually. Matthews is having a goal-scoring season that compares to the greatest ever in the salary-cap era. McDavid is having one of the single-most productive seasons this era has ever seen.
Maybe the two best hockey players on the planet are having career seasons simultaneously.
It’s been wonderful to watch. It will be painful to choose between.
The case for Matthews
Matthews shouldn’t have trouble convincing voters and fans who value goals more than assists. His 2.39 goals per hour is miles better than anything we have seen in the NHL over the last decade, but is also demonstrably higher than the other two scorers to reach 60 goals in the salary cap era. Alexander Ovechkin scored more than…