{"id":606644,"date":"2026-04-15T22:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606644\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T22:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:20:09","slug":"here-are-the-nhls-top-5-goal-scorers-in-the-maurice-richard-trophy-race-without-empty-net-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606644\/","title":{"rendered":"Here are the NHL\u2019s top 5 goal scorers in the Maurice Richard Trophy race without empty-net goals"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nHere are the NHL\u2019s top 5 goal scorers in the Maurice Richard Trophy race without empty-net goals
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Montreal Hockey Fanatics has no direct affiliation to the Montreal Canadiens, NHL or NHLPA<\/p>\n


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\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Montreal <\/p>\n

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Maurice Richard Trophy race kept Montreal Canadiens fans engaged until the final seconds of the regular season.<\/p>\n

He decided to subtract all empty-net goals to determine who the NHL\u2019s true top sniper is against actual goaltenders.<\/p>\n

“Caufield finishes the season with 51 goals. His achievement is even more impressive considering he did not score a single empty-net goal.<\/p>\n

For fun, here is the goal-scoring leaderboard with empty-net goals removed:<\/p>\n

51 Caufield
45 MacKinnon
44 Robertson
44 Johnston
42 McDavid
39 Kaprizov<\/p>\n

– Luc G\u00e9linas<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

Cole Caufield leads NHL goal scoring without empty-net goals, redefining the race<\/p>\n

By removing those much easier goals, the Canadiens\u2019 undersized forward stands alone at the top of the NHL with 51 goals.<\/p>\n

Empty-net goals this season:<\/p>\n

8 MacKinnon
7 Kucherov
7 Ovechkin
7 Hagel
6 players tied<\/p>\n

In this revised ranking, Nathan MacKinnon drops to second place with 45 goals, having scored 8 empty-net goals this season (a league-high).<\/p>\n

Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston follow with 44 goals each, just ahead of Connor McDavid (42 goals) and Kirill Kaprizov (39 goals).<\/p>\n

Knowing that the Canadiens\u2019 star forward has beaten a real goaltender more often than any other top player in the league is a major point of pride.<\/p>\n

Scoring 51 legitimate goals in this manner shows he is simply in a class of his own.<\/p>\n

He clearly does not need to inflate his stats late in games to prove his value.<\/p>\n

Martin St-Louis also knew exactly what he was doing in recent weeks when sending other players onto the ice to protect a lead.<\/p>\n

Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

1 HOUR AGO|82 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Here are the NHL\u2019s top 5 goal scorers in the Maurice Richard Trophy race without empty-net goals<\/p>\n

Should the Maurice Richard Trophy exclude empty-net goals?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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