Gaudreau becomes first Flames player in 29 years to eclipse 100 points

Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

Johnny Gaudreau has officially hit the century mark.

Gaudreau became the first Flames player in almost three decades to breach the 100-point mark in a 5-3 come-from-behind win against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.

Twenty-nine years, to be exact.

“It’s cool. It was an exciting game,” Gaudreau said.

“I just made a little pass down to [Matthew Tkachuk] and he tried to go seam to Lindy and it bounced right back to him and fired it in the net. It was a big one.”

A moment we won’t ever forget. pic.twitter.com/BS3w6Ah9WB

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) April 13, 2022

Overall, he is just the ninth player in Flames franchise history to reach the century point mark in a season, and first since Theo Fleury reached exactly 100 points in 83 games in the 1992-93 campaign.

The 28-year-old had 34 goals and 67 points this season to establish a new personal best in the process.

“I know us as linemates and teammates would be lying to you if we said we weren’t trying to get it for him and thinking about it for most of the last couple of games when he’s sitting at 99,” said Tkachuk, whose empty-netter put Gaudreau at 101 points after his power play goal at 3:10 of the third period put Gaudreau at at even 100.

“It’s pretty cool to be linked to that with him, so that’s very cool for me and it just speaks to the year he’s having and we’re not done yet.”

Gaudreau’s season is already tied for 10th-best in franchise history with nine games remaining in the regular season.

Should he keep pace, the left winger is on track to hit 112 points.

That figure would be the second-most ever recorded by a member of the Flames. It would trail only an incredible franchise-record 131 points (49 goals, 82 assists) in 80 games by Kent Nilsson in the 1980-81 season.

The best. pic.twitter.com/9smTeKR6Vs

— Ryan Dittrick (@ryandittrick) April 13, 2022

“He’d probably say it was on the back of his mind,” coach Darryl Sutter said postgame. “Hopefully he’s got about 20 more in him.”

Gaudreau sits fourth in the Art Ross Trophy race behind Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid (108 points), Florida Panthers winger Jonathan Huberdeau (105 points), and Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (102 points).

He leads the NHL with 79 even-strength points. Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs is second with 71.

Gaudreau already bested his NHL career-high of 63 assists in 2018-19 with his effort against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday. It moved him up to 67 helpers this year, and into fifth all-time on the single-season franchise record mark. Nilsson’s 82 assists, unsurprisingly, remains the pace-setter.

Gaudreau has 49 primary assists on the season, second only to Nilsson’s 61 in 1981.

In all, Gaudreau, who was selected in the fourth round (No. 104) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, has 595 points (204 goals, 391 assists) in 592 games to rank fifth all time in Flames franchise scoring.

You might also like: