In a lineup full of stars like the Vegas Golden Knights, including Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, and others, Brett Howden has been a diamond in the rough in these Stanley Cup playoffs.
Howden wasn’t a big-time contributor for the Golden Knights in the past regular season. In 58 appearances, the 28-year-old recorded 12 goals and 22 points, a decrease from his 23 goals and 40 points in 80 games the year before.
But in this post-season, Howden has been a scoring machine. He’s recorded more goals in these playoffs than his regular-season total, putting up league-leading 13 goals, as well as three assists for 16 points.
With his emergence as a massive contributor for the Knights in these playoffs, he’s become the true ‘unsung hero’ of the NHL post-season.
No one expected Howden to perform the way he has, but he’s been a pleasant surprise for Vegas, and a big reason why they are in the Cup final. He’s single-handedly provided the secondary scoring that any team requires for a deep playoff run.
There are a couple of factors that play into Howden’s success in the playoffs.
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The biggest reason is his ice time. Howden’s ice time has grown substantially compared to previous playoff averages and the regular season, for that matter.
This past year, he averaged 14:54 of ice time, which is the second-most Howden has averaged in his eight-year career. In these playoffs, his ice time has jumped to 16:36, which towers over any other ice time he’s logged in his career.
He hasn’t let that extra ice time go to waste, and as coach John Tortorella trusts him more and more, Howden has capitalized when he’s on the ice. This post-season, Howden has scored on 13 of his 33 shots on goal, a 39.4 shooting percentage.
Along with more ice time comes the opportunity to play with better players, and that has been the case for Howden.
Being bumped up to the second line in this post-season, he’s shared a line with Marner, the NHL’s leading point scorer in the playoffs. The two of them have found undeniable chemistry, as Marner has assisted on seven of Howden’s 13 goals so far.
Plenty of big moments will be needed from Game 3 onward in this Stanley Cup final, and Tortorella will probably be looking to get Howden over the boards and onto the ice at any chance he gets.