Tampa Bay Lightning leading scorer Nikita Kucherov has one more chance to join Connor McDavid.
EDMONTON -- There isn't a lot on the line tonight for the Edmonton Oilers.
Many hockey lovers will be taking in the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning game tonight. It doesn't hold any implications for playoff seeding - as the match ups are already set - but there are two players who are on the cusp of significant milestones who will be playing against one another.
Auston Matthews and Nikita Kucherov will go head to head.
Auston Matthews.Matthews is one goal away from notching 70 on the season - while Kucherov is one assist away from 100. In doing so he would join Connor McDavid, and become the fifth player in the history of hockey to collect that many assists in one season.
While the 70 goal mark is impressive, eight other players have reached that milestone. Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Mario Lemieux, Alexander Mogilny, Phil Esposito, Teemu Selanne, Jari Kurri, and Bernie Nicholls have all scored 70 or more goals in a season.
Nikita Kucherov.Bobby Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux and McDavid are the only players ever to collect 100 assists in a season.
According to reporting from my colleague David Alter (Site Editor of the Toronto Maple Leafs team site) - Sheldon Keefe said, "we'll talk about it, we've got 12 healthy forwards," when it comes to whether or not Matthews will play tonight against the Lightning. Kucherov is expected to be playing.
Will Kucherov make hockey history and collect his 100th assist? The hockey world waits to find out.
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