The final day of the NHL regular season consisted of multiple milestone watches across the league's four games in action on Wednesday. The Tampa Bay Lightning's 6-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs was the main event, as superstars Nikita Kucherov and Auston Matthews vied for their 100th assist and 70th goal of the season, respectively.
Matthews fell short despite firing 12 shots in the contest, but Kucherov joined an exclusive club as the fifth NHL player to record 100 assists in a season with his second-period helper on a Brayden Point power-play goal.
Kucherov follows three Hall of Famers and a fellow current star in accomplishing the feat. Bobby Orr was the first to do it during the 1970-71 season, while Wayne Gretzky ripped off 11 consecutive seasons with 100 assists from 1980-81 to 1990-91. Mario Lemieux finished even with Gretzky in 1988-89 with 114 assists.
Ironically, Kucherov and Connor McDavid – who achieved the feat on Monday – also finished deadlocked with 100 assists each.
“It's a special moment,” Kucherov said, per Corey Long of NHL.com. “Thanks to my teammates and coaching staff for putting me in position to have success. I'm fortunate to play with great players. It's a good moment.”
It was a fitting end to a career year for Kucherov, who also scored his 44th goal of the season for his 41st multi-point game.
Kucherov doing it all for the Lightning
As if netting 144 points in 81 games wasn’t enough to warrant some MVP talk, consider Tampa's record when Kucherov did not record a point. It was rare, only happening on 13 occasions this season, but the Lightning were 4-7-2 when their best player failed to contribute a point.
Kucherov not only joined the 100-assist club, he also set an NHL record for most assists in a season by a wing. That's not to mention he shattered his own Lightning record for points in a season, giving him the top three slots in Tampa's history in that statistic. His 128-point campaign in 2018-19 led to a Hart Trophy.
The 30-year-old has been doing this for years, but his Lightning teammates are still in awe of his work ethic and abilities on the ice.
“Forty-four goals this year for himself to go along with 100 assists,” Point said. “It's remarkable. Just watching ‘Kuch’ every day and seeing how he works, it's an amazing number, but it's not surprising with how hard and how smart he works.”
Unlike that 2018-19 season, Kucherov is not a runaway for MVP. Nathan MacKinnon is the betting favorite at the moment, while Matthews and McDavid have cases after spectacular seasons themselves.
It's hard to deny just how important Kucherov is to the Lightning's success though. Tampa might not be in the playoffs without him, and they likely wouldn’t be given any chance against the Florida Panthers in the first round if Kucherov was sidelined.
With Nikita Kucherov's ability to notch a multi-point game with ease, the Lightning won’t be pushovers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Perhaps he can will a seasoned Tampa squad to another deep postseason run.
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