Century Club

When you ask about what it takes to succeed in the post-season, you'll hear about the need to elevate your game. You'll hear about being able to survive the grind of the playoffs. You'll hear about character and leadership at key times.

Or you may just hear about Jaden Schwartz.

Of the 677 active NHL skaters who've played in a playoff game over the last 10 years, only 26 have played more post-season games than Schwartz and only 36 have more points (31-34-63).

Now, in his ninth NHL post-season and on the eve of what will be Schwartz's 100th NHL playoff game, he's once again reminding everyone what a valuable piece of a team he can be.

Even before scoring the first two Kraken goals in Tuesday's Game 4 versus Dallas (the fifth multi-goal playoff game of his career), the assistant captain has been a catalyst for Seattle in their inaugural post-season campaign.

Through 11 games, Schwartz leads all Kraken skaters in goals (5) and when you add in his four assists (all of which are primary) he's tied with Yanni Gourde for most points this postseason by a Seattle skater (9). That's tied for the third most points of Schwartz's career in a postseason and his .82 points per game played is a career high.

Looking at the building blocks of that success on the scoresheet, according to Natural Stat Trick, Schwartz has the second-largest amount of shot quality of any of the 331 skaters who have played this postseason (4.56 expected goals, all situations) and has fired the seventh most shots on target (36).

He's been a possession driver as well. Only two other players have more takeaways than the 2019 Stanley Cup winner (13) and throughout the postseason, Schwartz has only been called for one minor penalty.

That brand of leading by example on the ice is what evolves into the intangible, but essential, elements that spark a team to give even more, and potentially take over a game.

Although the Kraken lost Game 4, afterward, head coach Dave Hakstol credited Schwartz with being a key part of how and why Seattle was able to mount an offensive push in the third period.

"He was one of the guys that if you watch the second (period) he had 'it,'" Hakstol said Tuesday. "He raised his level. That's a big part of it. (I) saw our guys feed off of that and follow his lead.

"It doesn't take a lot to pull momentum - it's hard to continue to drive that momentum. A shift where there's an extra effort play, or a guy goes out and shows his will is a little bit above his opponents that has a way of building and shifting momentum. I thought Schwartz had that tonight."