Welcome to Quadrelli: Who’s hot and who’s not — a column in which David Quadrelli will break down who’s trending in the right direction around the league and who’s on the downswing.
Who’s Hot
Auston Matthews
Nobody in the NHL has scored as many goals as Auston Matthews over the last six games.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward is running hot lately, with eight goals and four assists in his last six games.
This included a hat trick against the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 1 and a two-goal, one-assist effort against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 7.
Matthews has at least a point in every game since being held off the scoresheet in back to back games on Nov. 20th and 21st, and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Auston Matthews gets the Leafs on the shootout board with a beauty and a stick twirl pic.twitter.com/N2FeujxfVU
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) December 5, 2021
Brady Tkachuk
The only player who’s scored almost as many goals as Matthews over their last six games is Brady Tkachuk.
The Ottawa Senators captain has seven goals in his last six games, including a hat trick performance against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
After scoring just one goal in eight games from Nov. 9-27, Tkachuk is on a bit of a tear and is giving Senators fans reason to believe in the future.
Brady Tkachuk sends this puck into the empty net from below the #Sens blue line to get the 4-goal lead, and more importantly, his first career hat-trick.
— Pesky Sickos (@PeskySickos) December 11, 2021
Captain Tkachuk!
4-0 game.#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/gs13sA7rFe
Sebastian Aho
Much like his team as of late, Sebastian Aho is red hot right now.
The Carolina Hurricanes forward has found the scoresheet multiple times in his last five straight games, which is one shy of the longest run in Hurricanes/Whalers history.
Sunday night in Vancouver, Aho will have an opportunity to make history as another multipoint game will etch his name in the Hurricanes’ record books.
With 12 points in his last six games, Aho is certainly a player to keep an eye as the season continues.
Seabass literally can't stop scoring pic.twitter.com/e7cKKonbKF
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) December 12, 2021
Who’s Not
Blake Coleman
With just one goal and zero assists in his last 13 games, Blake Coleman is cold as ice on a Calgary Flames team that has certainly cooled off a bit from the beginning of the season.
The Flames signed Coleman to a six-year deal with an annual average value of $4.9 million as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason, and both parties are going to hope for better results than what’s occurred so far.
Victor Olofsson
Don’t look now, but the once-proficient goal scorer Victor Olofsson hasn’t scored a goal since Halloween.
With five goals on the season, Olofsson hasn’t put the puck in the back of the net a ton and has just one assist over his last five games.
Olofsson still has 15 points in 19 games played this season, but he’s certainly hoping to break out of this mini scoring slump sooner, rather than later.
Leon Draisaitl
Make no mistake about it — he still leads the league in points, but lately, Leon Draisaitl’s production has taken a dip.
Three goals and one assist in your last five games sounds great to most players around the league, but for Draisaitl, it means a decrease in efficiency.
The Oilers have lost five straight games. When they were winning games earlier in the season, Draisaitl was turning in multi-point efforts on a near-nightly basis.
It’s no secret that if the Oilers want to find success, they need both Draisaitl and captain Connor McDavid to carry the bulk of their offense, which just hasn’t happened over the club’s past five games.
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