Despite being told he was too small to play hockey since childhood, Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau keeps putting up big numbers.

The 22-year-old scored his 30th goal of the year in just his second NHL season Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers, and the diminutive winger is just as surprised by his production as anyone.

"I never thought I was going to score 30 goals in the NHL," Gaudreau admitted, according to Postmedia's Kristen Odland. With the power-play marker, the 5-foot-9 New Jersey native became the 24th player in Flames history to reach the 30-goal mark in a season.

He also became just the second Flames player to score 30 at age 22 or younger, joining his linemate Sean Monahan, who scored 31 goals last season at age 20.

After putting up 64 points in his rookie campaign, Gaudreau is averaging close to a point per game this season, and is currently tied for seventh in league scoring with 75 points in 76 games.

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Though a touch paradoxical, tanking ethically is a real thing in the NHL.

The Toronto Maple Leafs tore their roster down to the studs over the course of this season, but that didn't stop the organization, from upper levels of management down throughout the farm system, from learning, working, improving. The season's been about more than just lottery balls.

And it's shown on the ice. The Maple Leafs have made massive gains to their overall structure, schemes, and overall performance, despite who's in or out of the lineup, as their entire rank and file continues to learn, and execute the Mike Babcock possession-friendly brand.

For this reason, and also because of the fact that they aren't guaranteed a generational talent with a last-place showing, the Leafs haven't really been dragged through the mud and accused of doing wrong by the sport.

Of late though, Toronto's been guilty of not putting its best foot forward. And its weakness is not-so accidentally at the most important position on the ice.

Since James Reimer was dealt to the San Jose Sharks, Jonathan Bernier and Garret Sparks have pretty much split duties down the middle and have yielded markedly different results.

We're paraphrasing, but Babcock suggested throughout the season that he wanted one of his goalies to take the ball and run. But while Bernier has been sprinting downhill since Reimer's departure, stopping pucks at an .952 rate over the last six games and continuing to balance out his horrific start, he's taken fewer carries.

As they set out to do, Lou Lamoriello and the Leafs have figured out what they have, right now, in Garret Sparks, in his 10 starts since Reimer was shipped away. And that's a minor-league goalie not performing at a level on par with the rest of the team, in turn preventing them from making strides in the standings.

That's OK, really. Even if keeping Bernier planted on the bench may challenge the greater ethical good.

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Members of the Philadelphia Flyers' power-play unit must have been happy to see the month of March come to an end. The team converted on eight of 56 (.143) opportunities with the man advantage in March, closing the month on a 4-for-32 (.125) run - well below their season average.

The unit came alive Saturday afternoon in a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators, with all three goals coming on the man advantage.

Flyers coach Dave Hakstol noted the importance of the team's power play after the game.

"They did a great job today and that was the difference in the game for us," Hakstol said.

It looked like it would be more of the same for the Flyers' power-play unit Saturday. After failing to convert on their first opportunity with the man advantage, the group looked disorganized following a high-sticking call on the Senators' Alex Chiasson.

The group's fortunes changed when a bad clearing attempt by the Senators landed right on the tape of Jakub Voracek's stick. Voracek immediately spotted Wayne Simmonds speeding toward the goal mouth and threw the puck on net where it was re-directed home.

The next goal began with Simmonds (17) stealing the puck behind the Ottawa net and sending it in front where a mad scramble ensued, with Sean Couturier (14) winning the puck battle and flipping it over an outstretched Andrew Hammond.

The Flyers' presence in front of Hammond paid off again on the eventual game-winner. A trio of Flyers were in position to jump on the rebound from a Brayden Schenn point shot.

When the puck fell to Simmonds, he was able to fire an uncontested shot into the back of the net for his second tally of the game.

For Simmonds, the goals are his 27th and 28th of the season, with 13 of his goals coming on the power play. The Flyers finished 3-for-4 on the power play Saturday, with all three of those goals scored from just outside the blue ice.

"Other than their power-play goals it was probably a 50-50 game, up for grabs," Senators forward Mike Hoffman said. "Sometimes special teams can win you games."

(Images courtesy: NHL)

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The Edmonton Oilers have won just once in the past six games after suffering a 5-0 blowout loss to the rival Calgary Flames on Saturday, but they may be primed for another win on April 30.

That is the date of the NHL's draft lottery, in which the Oilers now have the best odds at securing their fifth No. 1 pick in the past seven years, with just two games left on the schedule - both against the Vancouver Canucks.

* - Still in playoff contention

The Toronto Maple Leafs are tied with the Oilers in the standings but have two games in hand, limiting them to the second-best odds. The Columbus Blue Jackets round out the top three, and have the best chance of bringing presumed No. 1 pick Auston Matthews to an American market.

Meanwhile, Matthews' hometown Arizona Coyotes now have a six percent chance at the first selection. The 18-year-old watched them play in Glendale on Saturday, and shared he had always been a Coyotes fan to Todd Walsh of FOX Sports, who gave him weighted ping-pong balls with the team logo on it to take to the lottery.

The 2016 NHL draft will take place from June 24-25 in Buffalo.

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The Edmonton Oilers are going out with a whimper. Again.

The club was spanked 5-0 in the Calgary Flames' final visit to Rexall Place, and the Oilers played with little emotion and even less pride. After the game, head coach Todd McLellan gave a memorable presser, ripping his team and its effort to shreds.

McLellan couldn't believe what he saw from his group in game 80 of the season, saying there wasn't a number big enough to describe how unhappy he was with the Oilers' display.

"That's the exact crap we're trying to eradicate from this group," he said. "That's really disappointing after 200 days together.

"Forget about the win and the loss, just the effort. That's frickin' embarrassing. That's the exact attitude and bullshit we're trying to eliminate here."

You can watch McLellan's entire presser here.

The players, meanwhile, were singing a familiar tune.

"We can't let that happen again," Taylor Hall said. "These fans are passionate. They're loyal. They deserve a good show."

"We had days off," Patrick Maroon added, "we should have been rested and we should have played a lot better than that."

"We've got to find a way to regroup," Jordan Eberle concluded.

With only two games left on the schedule, that likely won't be happening.

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