And there we are!
Despite scoring being up around the League, this is the second year in a row where we fell below 100 first goals..!
-Anaheim had 7 first time goal scorers this year, to lead the League (Mintyukov, Carlsson, Luneau, LaCombe, Vaakanainen, Zellweger, Colangelo)!
Los Angeles followed up in second with 6 goals (Laferriere, Englund, Turcotte, Clarke, Moverare, Thomas).
-Los Angeles' 0 goals against also gave them best differential with +6. Chicago, Edmonton, Montreal, and Winnipeg all also had 0 goals scored against.
The next best differential was a +4 from Chicago and Vegas.
-Dallas had the worst luck getting scored on 8 different times by first-timers this year! Closest anyone else got was 6 against for Anaheim, Buffalo, and San Jose.
-Dallas' 1 goal for and 8 against also gave them the worst differential with -7.
-Detroit and Vancouver were the only teams without any first time scorers.
-This year's 24 first time hattricks is a pretty impressive showing, however 7 first time wins is a slow year for the rookie goalies. there were 8 first time shutouts, though.
I'll keep tracking any first goals, hattricks, wins, or shutouts throughout the playoffs.
As we close out the season, our leaderboard doesn't actually look that to wildly different than what we started with...
-Olofsson only played one game this year and Fitzgerald and White didn't see any NHL action at all this year, yet all 3 stayed in the Top 5.
-Much to his chagrin surely, Lagesson squeezed in his 100th(!) career GP in the very last game of the season, and sits comfortably in the lead.
-Fitzgerald, White, and Lagesson are all UFAs this summer, so if they don't sign an NHL contract, it may be the end of their pursuit.
-Waiting in the wings for next year are Florida's William Lockwood (54GP) and Boston's Parker Wotherspoon (53GP).
-. Gustav Olofsson (D) - SEA - 63 GP
4. Casey Fitzgerald (D) - FLA - 63 GP
3. Scott Perunovich (D) - STL - 73 GP
2. Colton White (D) - ANA - 84 GP
1. William Lagesson (D) - ANA - 100 GP