The Week In Review is a weekly compilation of hand-picked NHL stories selected by members of WinColumnSports deemed important or impactful from the week that was. Additionally, there is also a running pool amongst the contributors based on our picks for Saturday’s match-ups.
Stories From the Past Week
Spencer Love
The Nashville Predators are officially headed to the second season after defeating the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Friday night. The win gave the team points in 14 straight games, tying a team record; however, the important part is the Nashville squad now has a chance to redeem themselves after last year’s loss in the Stanley Cup Finals.
“Every team has that goal at the start of the year, to make the playoffs,” said Preds forward Fillip Forsberg in a piece on NHL.com Obviously, the higher you finish, the better. In the end, all that matters is making it in, and we’re happy we did that.”
Now, after having it’s magical run as a wild-card seed ended at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins last year, Nashville enters this year’s playoffs as the potential Presidents Trophy winner. Will it change the end result? That remains to be seen, but Nashville look primed for a playoff run.
Arik Krause
#600vi
Alexander Ovechkin scored his 599th and 600th goal Monday night in a game against the Winnipeg Jets becoming the third-youngest and fourth-fastest player in NHL history to hit the 600-goal mark.
Youngest to 600 Career Goals in #NHL History:
Wayne Gretzky - 27 years, 302 days
Mario Lemieux - 31 years, 122 days
Alex Ovechkin - 32 years, 176 days— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 13, 2021
So that leads to the question, will he pass Gretzky? Gretzky currently sits at 894.
Ovechkin has been asked before whether he thinks he will pass Gretzky for the NHL record and simply answered “In this hockey right now, in this league, I think it’s impossible.”
Ovechkin, who will turn 33 at the beginning of next season, needs to maintain a pace of roughly 37 goals a year through his age 40 season, which isn’t completely impossible. Just unlikely.
I may just be an Ovechkin homer because I’m a Capitals fan, but in my opinion it’s almost not debatable that he’s the best goal scorer in NHL history.
WinColumnSport’s Saturday Picks
| Games | Spencer Love | Arik Krause | Doug Lakusta | Ben Ferguson |
| Blackhawks @ Sabres | Sabres | Blackhawks | ||
| Oilers @ Panthers | Panthers | Panthers | ||
| Devils @ Kings | Kings | Kings | ||
| Flyers @ Hurricanes | Flyers | Hurricanes | ||
| Senators @ Blue Jackets | Senators | Blue Jackets | ||
| Canadiens @ Maple Leafs | Canadiens | Maple Leafs | ||
| Bruins @ Lightning | Lightning | Lightning | ||
| Rangers @ Blues | Blues | Blues | ||
| Wild @ Coyotes | Coyotes | Wild | ||
| Sharks @ Canucks | Sharks | Sharks | ||
| Last Week’s Record | 8-3 | 4-7 | 6-5 | |
| Record to Date | 74-44 (63%) | 66-52 (56%) | 13-9 (56%) | 65-52 (55%) |
This running pool is open to readers and WinColumnSport contributors. If you are interested in joining you can contact me on twitter (@WCS_BFerg). Ultimately, if you join the pool, you must be willing to contribute a developing story from the week that was.
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