was named an NHL All-Star for the fourth consecutive year, but would not participate in the playoffs as the Flames came up short of a late-season push for the last wild card spot in the Western Conference. 2018–19 The 2018–19 season proved to be Gaudreau's best regular season to date. He finished with a career best 99 points, including career highs in goals (36), assists (63), and points (99). He was tied for seventh place in league scoring. The Flames won the Pacific Division, and were the Western Conference's top seed heading into the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. Gaudreau finished fourth in voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association to the league's most valuable player. However, in the first round of the playoffs, the Flames lost to the Colorado Avalanche. Gaudreau managed only one point, an assist, in the five-game series, which was singled out as a key weakness for the Flames in the postseason. 2019–20 Following his success in 2018–19, Gaudreau had a disappointing season, hitting career lows of only 18 goals and 40 assists in 70 games. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic lead to the regular season being prematurely halted in March. The NHL eventually arranged to hold the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in a bubble in Edmonton and Toronto. The Flames had been eighth in the Western Conference at the time the regular season was suspended, and so played the ninth-place Winnipeg Jets in a special qualifying round. In Game 1 of the series, Gaudreau scored his first playoff goal since 2015, helping the Flames win the game 4–1. After ousting the Jets 3–1 in the qualifying round, the Flames faced the Dallas Stars in the first round. Gaudreau again struggled to produce in the playoffs, and the Flames lost the series four games to two. 2020–21 Due to the ongoing pandemic, the NHL realigned its divisions temporarily for a shortened season. To eliminate cross-border travel, all seven Canadian teams played in the North Division. The year began slowly for Gaudreau, and further difficulties arose when coach Geoff Ward was replaced midway through the season by Darryl Sutter. Adjusting to Sutter's style was challenging, and Gaudreau posted only seven points in a span of fifteen games following the switch. However, his scoring improved dramatically during the final months of the regular season, alongside general improvement of the team. He recorded