In what should be a surprise to nobody, Connor McDavid has been named one of the NHL’s three stars of the month.
The Oilers’ captain had an unbelievable last 12 games in February, registering a league-leading 25 assists and 27 points, good for over two-points-per-game. McDavid was also the first player to record 25 or more assists in an month since Mario Lemieux in 1992, who record 28 in the same number of games.
The Richmond Hill born star was held pointless in just one game in February, and recorded multi-point games in six consecutive outings, good for second in league history behind former Oiler Wayne Gretzky, who had eight consecutive multi-point games in 1984-85.
McDavid is on a tear right now, sitting third in league scoring with 94 points in 55 games. Only Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon sit ahead of him in the Art Ross standings. While he only had two goals this month, he did notch his 600th career assist, becoming the fourth fastest player to reach that plateau in NHL history, and the fastest in the salary cap era in 616 games.
Who else was named an NHL Star this month?
McDavid finished ahead of Igor Shesterkin, who picked up the third star honours. The Rangers’ goalie did not lose a single game this month, finishing with a 1.72 GAA and a whopping 0.53 save percentage. The team went 10-1-0 in their last 11 games, moving up to second in the NHL standings.
The player who beat McDavid to take home the first star nod was Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The American finished with 13 goals and 20 points on the month, including potting his 50th goal of the season in his 54th game. He also had back-to-back hat tricks this month and became the fastest player to hit 50 games since Lemieux went 50-for-50 in 1995-96.
Is 13 goals and 20 points better than McDavid’s 25 assists and 27 points? That’s up to you to decide, but McDavid being named the second star of the week is definitely worth celebrating.
