The jury is still out on Corey Perry being the odds-on winner to nab the Hart Trophy, but if there was an award for the league’s second-half MVP, he would be a natural choice. Many people wondered if there would be a 50-goal scorer in the NHL this season once Sidney Crosby was injured and Steven Stamkos ran out of steam, yet Perry made sure that the 2010-11 season would include at least one.
Perry did so in convincing fashion, too, scoring his fiftieth on a hat trick goal in the second period as the Anaheim Ducks bombarded the San Jose Sharks 6-2 (more on that later tonight).
As Scott Cullen points out, Perry’s ridiculous run includes a whopping 19 goals in his last 14 games. Who knows if hitting the half-century mark in goals will be enough to woo voters to go his way against Henrik Sedin - you cannot really play the linemates game involving the Sedin twins when Perry skates with two elite forwards in Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan - but those kind of numbers definitely seem to jump out to many voters.
Either way, it’s an impressive jump in quality for a guy who already ranked among the league’s better forwards. Perry has progressed from a pest with serious goal scoring ability to a genuine force in the NHL. Watch this video clip to witness his impressive hat trick.
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