The storied rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, squared off in their season’s final game on Saturday night at the Bell Centre. Toronto capitalized on two injuries to Montreal’s blue line that kept Arber Xhekaj and Kaiden Guhle off the field. With a 4-2 victory, Toronto also commemorated Mitch Marner’s comeback.
What a fantastic season Nick Suzuki has had. For Montreal supporters, the highlight of the game was when Juraj Slafkovsky passed to Suzuki for goal number thirty-three. In an attempt to gain extra leverage on the shot, Suzuki went to his knee.
As Mike Matheson set up Cole Caufield from behind the net for the second goal for the Canadiens, Suzuki also had an assist. With number 23, Caufield is on track to score a fair amount of goals.
For Suzuki, it’s a career-high in goals and points. He wants to become just the second player for Montreal this century to score 82 points a game. The only other is Alex Kovalev, who scored 84 points in 2008.
Suzuki’s previous year’s high of 66 has already been easily eclipsed, but he still needs to close games out strongly to earn a point every time. With six games left, Suzuki has to finish with eight points.
Even though games these days tend to be higher scoring, Suzuki is one of the top two-way centers in hockey, and his 74 points may not seem like much. It has been rumored that Suzuki will be the defensive shutdown center for Hockey Canada at the Olympics.
Some of the top scorers this season have been frustrated by Suzuki. He is significantly more important than other 75- to 80-point players in the league because he is as intelligent as a guy can be in this game. In the presence of greater skill, he ought to be able to score one point per game.
