NHL Star Power Index: Auston Matthews finding his scoring groove, Jonathan Marchessault producing at will

Welcome to the NHL Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of the players who are controlling substantial buzz around the league. When a player is included on this list it may not be a good thing — it means that they are capturing a large amount of the hockey world’s attention.

These players are in no particular order when it comes to the amount of buzz that they’re creating. We’ll revisit the Star Power Index every week throughout the regular season.

Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews has been limited by injury in multiple stretches this season. However, Matthews is now back in the lineup and excelling at a high rate on the offensive end of the ice.

Matthews is currently on a five-game goal streak and scored his 20th goal of the season in Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Maple Leafs center reached the 20-goal mark for the ninth consecutive season, and tied Darryl Sittler (9) for the fourth-most 20-goal seasons in team history behind only Mats Sundin (13), Dave Keon (11) and Ron Ellis (11). 

In addition, Matthews also is now tied for fifth among American-born players for the most consecutive 20-goal seasons. Only Brett Hull (17), Patrick Kane (13), Keith Tkachuk (12) and Phil Kessel (11) have more 20-goal campaigns than Matthews.

Matthews has racked up six goals and an assist in his last five games. That includes a strong performance in a 5-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.

During the first period of Monday’s contest, Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson sent the puck up into the neutral zone where forward Matthew Knies redirected it to a surging Matthews. With a huge burst of speed, Matthews charged into the offensive zone, and ripped a shot through the five-hole of Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson.

Matthews also showed off his sensational playmaking skills later in the game.

At the 19:37 mark of the second period, Matthew possessed the puck in the neutral zone and dropped it off to teammate Matthew 
Knies. Knies actually ended up passing the puck back to Matthews, who brought it into the Lightning zone before giving it up to Mitch Marner near the blue line. Shortly after receiving the puck, Marner found Knies cutting towards the goal, and Knies was able to corral it for the spectacular goal.

Matthews is arguably one of the league’s most gifted playmakers, and will get the opportunity to showcase that ability on the world stage at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament when he plays for the United States.

It’s fair to say that the Nashville Predators‘ spending spree in free agency hasn’t exactly netted the results that the franchise was hoping for. While the team is currently outside of the Western Conference playoff picture, star forward Jonathan Marchessault is leading the charge in the hopes of righting the ship.

Marchessault signed a four-year, $27.5 million contract with the Predators this past offseason after spending the previous seven seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights. Nashville also signed veteran forward Steven Stamkos and defenseman Brady Skjei in an attempt to make a run at the Stanley Cup.

Marchessault had a pedestrian start to the season as he tallied just four goals and eight assists in the first two months. However, the talented winger has really turned his game around in a big way.

The 34-year old currently has a 10-game point streak, while also getting onto the score sheet in 18 of his last 19 games. Marchessault recently recorded a goal and three assists en route to the Predators overcoming a 5-2 deficit in a 7-5 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

Marchessault factored into four of the Predators’ six unanswered goals in the comeback. In fact, Nashville had a 0-173-0 all-time record when trailing by at least four goals prior to Tuesday’s victory.

After falling behind 5-1, the Predators did cut into the deficit with goals from Fedor Svechkov and Justin Barron in the second period. Over the final 20 minutes, Marchessault affected the game on countless occasions.

Just 28 seconds into the third period, Predators defenseman Adam Wilsby got the puck over to Stamkos, who put the back on net. After the puck briefly deflected off of Sharks defenseman Jake Walman, Marchessault was able to swat the puck into the net to make it a 5-4 game.

Marchessault also tallied secondary assists on third period goals from Roman Josi and Nick Blankenburg, and ultimately helped will his team to a massive come-from-behind win.

Despite entering his mid 30s, Marchessault has still provided that he hasn’t lost any of his goal-scoring ability. The Predators obviously have a long way to go if they wanted to reach the postseason as they’re currently 10 points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Still, if Marchessault can continue to rack up goals like he did in Vegas, then the playoffs could still be an attainable goal for Nashville.

The Colorado Avalanche possess a lethal offensive unit that includes the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, but Cale Makar continues to prove that he might be the most integral part of that unit.

Makar makes an impact on both ends of the ice, but it’s hard to argue that he is one of the most gifted offensive-minded defensemen across the league. As of late, the 26-year old has displayed his offensive acumen with three goals in his last three games.

Makar produced a highlight-reel goal when the Avalanche were trailing the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 in the third period of Wednesday’s contest. 

At the 7:05 mark of the third period, Rantanen brought the puck into the offensive zone and appeared as though he knew exactly where Makar would be. As Rantanen entered the zone, he uncorked a backhanded pass that found a cutting Makar, who made his way towards the net. Despite losing an edge on the play, Makar was still able to go backhand-to-forehand, and flipped the puck over the shoulder of Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck.

One of the things that made that tremendous goal possible was Makar’s spectacular skating ability. The Avalanche defenseman is able to turn on the jets at a moment’s notice and that led to him being able to get to the net.

Makar currently looks like he could be the frontrunner for the Norris Trophy to honor the league’s top defenseman. After all, the Avalanche standout currently ranks first in points (53), goals (16), while being tied for third in assists (37) among NHL defensemen on the season.

The Washington Capitals have put together quite the goaltender tandem between Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren this season. In fact, Thompson has placed himself among the NHL’s best during the first half of the season.

Entering Friday, Thompson currently ranks third among NHL goaltenders in wins (22), goals-against-average (2.09), and save percentage (.925). 

In his most recent outing, Thompson stopped 30 of 32 shots that he faced in a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers. 

The former Vegas Golden Knights netminder has allowed two or fewer goals in five consecutive games. During that stretch, Thompson has recorded five wins, a 0.80 goals-against-average, and a .969 save percentage, and recorded shutouts against the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators in back-to-back games.

Thompson has really thrived since being acquired in a trade with the Golden Knights during the offseason. In fact, he’s one of the big reasons that the Capitals find themselves sitting atop the Metropolitan Division at this point in the season, given his stabilizing presence in between the pipes.