* Nikita Kucherov reached 12 points through the first three games of the Lightning’s road trip and passed Connor McDavid for first place in the Art Ross Trophy race.
* Cole Caufield continued to shine during Hockey Night in Canada games this season and moved within two goals of Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race leader Nathan MacKinnon.
* The Rush to the Playoffs continues during Sunday’s slate, which features a pair of pivotal Metropolitan Division matchups when the Penguins host the Hurricanes and the Blue Jackets visit the Islanders.
Art Ross Trophy race has new leader for first time in nearly two months
Nikita Kucherov (2-2—4) converted on a second-period breakaway to record his first career shorthanded point and added another goal to conclude the contest two points ahead of Connor McDavid (116) atop the Art Ross Trophy race. McDavid had held the outright scoring lead through each day since Jan. 24.
* Kucherov has 12 points through the first three games of the Lightning’s northwest road trip. Kucherov trailed McDavid by eight points before the journey began on March 17.
Saturday night’s alright FOR “ROCKET” contender CAUFIELD THIS SEASON
Cole Caufield (3-2—5) collected his third career hat trick (also Jan. 24 & April 29, 2022) as well as his first five-point game as the Canadiens (38-21-10, 86 points) scored a season high-tying seven goals and kept pace with the Lightning (43-21-4, 90 points), who occupy second place in the Atlantic Division.
* Caufield reached 43 goals on the campaign to climb within two of idle Nathan MacKinnon (45), who has led the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race (outright or tied) through each day since Nov. 8, 2025 – when Caufield and MacKinnon had a dozen tallies apiece. Caufield’s 19 goals on Saturday lead the League and tied the highest single-season total by Maurice Richard (19 in 1950-51 & 1946-47), who the trophy is named after.
PREDATORS CLIMB INTO PLAYOFF POSITION FOR FIRST TIME SINCE OCTOBER
Steven Stamkos (2-1—3) notched his 238th career power-play goal (7th), 106th career multi-goal game (t-22nd) and finished with his 101st career game-winning goal (t-10th) to lift the Predators (32-28-9, 73 points) to their third straight win. Nashville, which now occupies Wild Card 2 and moved into a playoff spot for the first time since Oct. 25, trailed the playoff line by as much as 11 points this season (last: Nov. 25, 2025) – the largest deficit among any team in the mix for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
* Nashville is no stranger to overcoming significant standings deficits to earn a playoff berth, after securing a position in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs following an 11-point disadvantage on March 6, 2021. Overall, the Predators can become the ninth team to qualify for the postseason after being outside the playoff picture at the Olympic break – the 2005-06 Sharks (6 points) overcame the largest standings deficit en route to doing so.
WILD, BRUINS EARN IMPORTANT WINS OVER DIVISION RIVALS
The Wild skated to an overtime win against the Stars in a potential preview of the 2026 First Round, while the Bruins defeated the Red Wings in a battle between the two Wild Card teams in the East. Minnesota (40-19-12, 92 points) moved within five points of Dallas (43-15-11, 97 points) for second place in the Central and Boston (39-23-8, 86 points) built a two-point cushion over Detroit (38-24-8, 84 points) for the Eastern Conference’s first Wild Card spot. Elsewhere in the East, the Senators (36-24-9, 81 points) and Flyers (34-23-12, 80 points) each picked up wins to move within three and four points, respectively, of Detroit for the second Wild Card position.
* Quinn Hughes (0-2—2) recorded his 12th multi-point outing in just his 39th game with Minnesota and tied Brock Faber (12 in 2025-26) as well as Ryan Suter (12 in 2018-19) for the most in a season by a Wild defenseman. Hughes’ 42 assists are also the third most in a season by a Minnesota blueliner, trailing only Suter (45 in 2017-18 & 43 in 2015-16).
* David Pastrnak (1-1—2) scored his 132nd career power-play goal and passed Patrice Bergeron for fourth most in Bruins history before adding his 500th career assist and becoming the sixth Czech player in NHL history to reach the milestone. Jaromir Jagr, who collected seven of his 1,155 career assists with the Bruins,leads the list.
DAHLIN HELPS SABRES SKATE CLOSER TO TOP OF EAST STANDINGS
Rasmus Dahlin (1-0—1) scored one of three third-period goals to help the Sabres (44-20-6, 94 points) skate to a fourth straight win and move into a tie with the Hurricanes (44-19-6, 94 points) for the most standings points in the Eastern Conference. Carolina maintains first place by virtue of holding a game in hand.
* Dahlin recorded his fourth straight 15-goal campaign and became the second Sabres defenseman with a run of that length, alongside Phil Housley (8 from 1982-83 – 1989-90). The Sabres captain also tied Erik Karlsson (4 from 2013-14 – 2016-17) for the longest run in NHL history by a Swedish blueliner.
* The Sabres, who improved to 12-1-0 since returning from the Olympic break, recorded their 44th victory of 2025-26 and tied 2005-06 (44-21-5, 93 points) for their second-highest win total through 70 games of a season, behind 2006-07 (45-19-6, 96 points). Buffalo is on pace to record its third 50-win campaign in franchise history, following 2006-07 (53-22-7, 113 points) and 2005-06 (52-24-6, 110 points).
CRUCIAL CONTRIBUTORS FOR TOP METROPOLITAN CLUBS FEATURED IN LIVE UPDATES
Saturday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes from the 11-game slate, including Pittsburgh and Columbus clipping opponents ahead of divisional matchups today:
* The Jets erased a 2-0 deficit but Erik Karlsson (2-0—2) scored a pair of goals for the Penguins and Sidney Crosby scored one of two tallies in the shootout as Pittsburgh (35-18-16, 86 points) bolstered their cushion on second place in the Metropolitan Division. Karlsson is one of six players – and the only defenseman – with 20 points since Feb. 1 and became the first blueliner in franchise history with consecutive multi-goal games.
* Karlsson (11-43—54 in 64 GP) has also benefited from four consecutive multi-point games en route to reaching the 10-goal mark for the third straight season with Pittsburgh (11 in 2023-24 & 2024-25). He joined Paul Coffey (5 from 1987-88 – 1991-92), Sergei Gonchar (3 from 2005-06 – 2007-08) and Kevin Hatcher (3 from 1996-97 – 1998-99) as the fourth defenseman to score 10+ goals in each of his first three seasons with the Penguins.
* Zach Werenski (0-3—3) potted his fourth three-assist game of the season, and second in as many outings to help the third-place Blue Jackets (37-21-11, 85 points) extend their point streak to 12 games (8-0-4 since Feb. 28). Columbus sat six points back of a postseason position prior to its point streak but now sits one point back of second-place Pittsburgh for home-ice advantage in the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
* Werenski, who matched the franchise record for assists in a period, became the third player in Blue Jackets history to record multiple three-assist periods alongside Artemi Panarin (3x) and Cam Atkinson (2x). Overall, Saturday was his fourth three-assist game of the season and also tied the most in a single campaign in franchise history (last: Sean Monahan in 2024-25).
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KEY METROPOLITAN MATCHUPS SET FOR SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE
A pair of pivotal Metropolitan Division matchups headline a nine-game Sunday of NHL action when the first-place Hurricanes (44-19-6, 94 points) and second-place Penguins (35-18-16, 86 points) meet at PPG Paints Arena while the third-place Blue Jackets (37-21-11, 85 points) look to fend off the fourth-place Islanders (39-26-5, 83 points).
* The Blue Jackets and Islanders continue to jockey for positioning in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, with hopes of returning to the postseason for the first time since 2019-20 and 2023-24, respectively. Columbus and New York are among a handful of teams in the East looking to end their absences in the Stanley Cup Playoffs – a Conference that currently features a five-team turnover from 2024-25. The 2025-26 campaign can match the highest season-to-season playoff turnover in a single conference since their introduction in 1974-75, alongside 2016-17 (MTL, TOR, BOS, OTT & CBJ in East).
* The Penguins, who have captain Sidney Crosby (1,096) closing in on 1,100 career assists, are no strangers to success against Metropolitan Division teams this season in their quest to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2021-22. Pittsburgh is 11-1-9 against divisional opponents in 2025-26, which includes an 18-game point streak dating to Oct. 25, 2025 (their lone regulation loss: Oct. 11, 2025 vs. NYR).
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