Jakob Chychrun continued his torrid start to the season, scoring twice against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. He’s having such a big year that he would lead a quarter of the league’s teams in goals despite being a defenseman.
Chychrun’s first goal against the Leafs came at 16:16 of the first period. After a Connor McMichael point shot got deflected by Ethen Frank off the end boards, Chychrun collected the ricochet and fired a shot into the yawning net past Leafs goaltender Dennis Hildeby.
His second of the night came 4:02 into the third period, where he beat Hildeby clean with a snap shot to the far side of the net.
Chychrun just missed out on his second career hat trick late in the third period, hitting the crossbar after going coast-to-coast down the ice.
The Florida-born rearguard, who is beginning to receive chatter for a possible Team Canada Olympic bid, now has 14 goals and is on pace for 33 by season’s end, which would be a career high. Not only does Chychrun lead the league in goals scored by a defenseman, but he would be the leading goal-scorer on eight different NHL clubs right now.
Jakob Chychrun has more goals than these team leaders
As of December 19 at 1 am
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Jakob Chychrun | Capitals | 14 |
| Zach Werenski | Blue Jackets | 13 |
| Adrian Kempe | Kings | 13 |
| Kiefer Sherwood | Canucks | 13 |
| Timo Meier | Devils | 11 |
| Artemi Panarin | Rangers | 11 |
| Matt Coronato/Blake Coleman | Flames | 10 |
| Jordan Eberle | Kraken | 10 |
| Justin Faulk | Blues | 8 |
Chychrun would also be tied with the team’s leaders from the Philadelphia Flyers (Trevor Zegras), Toronto Maple Leafs (Auston Matthews), and Vegas Golden Knights (Pavel Dorofeyev).
Chychrun trails only the Washington Capitals’ Tom Wilson in goals, who has 17 on the year. He’s tied for second with Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer, who also has 14.
