For most of this season, Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers has been ahead of the pack in goal scoring.
While Draisaitl still leads the league with 26 goals, this gap has been shrinking, thanks in part to Auston Matthews’ hot streak, which included another goal Wednesday night against the Arizona Coyotes.
This wasn’t only Matthews’ 24th goal of the season. It was also his 14th goal in his last 12 games dating back to Dec. 1, pulling him into a tie with Alex Ovechkin for second in the league, just two behind Draisaitl for the league lead.
However, with Ovechkin’s pace having cooled off over the last six weeks — five goals in his last 14 games — and the Oilers struggling as a whole, both Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna said on Thursday’s episode of "The Daily Faceoff Show" that they consider Matthews the favorite.
Seravalli: “My money, Mike, is on Auston Matthews winning the Rocket this year. He’s obviously played a few less games. But look at the tear he’s been on since Dec. 1. 14 goals in 12 games.”
McKenna: “I think it’s Matthews as well.
“I thought that even as far back as a month ago, a month and a half ago, when we looked at this the last time. You looked at his pace at the beginning of the year and puck just weren’t going in the net. He was still getting chances, the advanced metrics that we had seen said: ‘Hey, Auston Matthews is really going to start to put some pucks in.’
“We’re seeing it. He’s got 17 goals in his last 15 games and they’ve come in bunches.
“What I find interesting about it, though, is the last three games he’s played without Mitch Marner. Marner hasn’t been in the lineup. It hasn’t affected Matthews at all. He can do this on his own. He’s got four goals in those three games and they’ve all been 5-on-5.
“When you watch him play, that’s where you see the biggest asset to his game. He’s so big and rangy, but still so explosively quick. He can do it in so many different ways.”
You can watch the full episode here…
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