There was action last night in the NHL.
Goals, saves, big hits…
Let’s see what happened in the eleven matches that were played across the four corners of the league:
1: Five-point night for MacKinnon and Rantanen
When Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen are in shape… They are hard to stop.
The Penguins had nasty proof of that last night.
The duo had fun against the poor Pittsburgh team as both players each collected five points.
A goal and four assists for MacKinnon… And three goals and two assists for Rantanen, who completed his hat trick:
Sidney Crosby and his gang had no chance in the match.
The Avalanche finally won by a score of 6-2… And note that Scott Wedgewood was again solid in front of his net by stopping 25 of the 27 shots aimed at him.
2: Well yes, again…
I’ve seen enough.
Matvei Michkov is already one of the excellent players in the NHL.
The Flyers player took advantage of his club’s visit to Columbus to add two assists to his record, so that he now has 27 points in as many games.
This pass on Morgan Frost’s goal is really sick:
This is (already) the 9th time of the season where we have seen Michkov have a match of two points or more.
We will hear his name often in Montreal in the coming years…
Note that the Flyers won the game by a score of 5-3.
Sean Monahan (a goal) and Kent Johnson (a goal and an assist) stood out for Columbus.
3: Sacred McDavid
Connor McDavid has accustomed us all to some simply crazy highlights.
We’ve seen him score goals in any way possible… And he added one to his collection last night.
The Oilers captain created a path through the Lightning defense and then beat the goalie.
Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay defenders looked a little crazy on the sequence:
Leon Draisaitl scored the Oilers’ other goal in the game and it was enough to beat the Lightning 2-1.
Note that Draisaitl’s goal is his 20th of the season: he is the first NHL player to reach the 20-goal mark since the start of the campaign.
He doesn’t slow down.
4: Things are brewing in Winnipeg
There was emotion on the ice during the game between the Bruins and the Jets.
Visibly frustrated at being washed out in Winnipeg, the Bruins lost control in the third period and it led to a pretty special moment.
Several consecutive fights, coaches who shout at each other and seem to want to come to blows, referees who no longer know where to turn…
It stirred:
There was clearly frustration on the part of the Bruins, who were never in the game in the end.
The Boston team lost by a score of 8-1 (!!!) and the Jets, with the victory, regained 2nd place in the general NHL rankings.
Note also that in the victory, Mark Scheifele (two goals and an assist) and Kyle Connor (one goal and two assists) were the most productive players for the Jets.
5 : Boom !
We don’t know Max Pacioretty as a super physical player.
But he’s enjoying his new supporting role in Toronto and yesterday he did what he could to help his club.
The former CH captain served a borderline check to Jack Hughes, who never saw it coming:
Both clubs played close hockey throughout the game.
The Devils and Leafs are two offensive teams, after all… But it was 1-1 at the end of the third period and overtime was needed to determine a winner.
It was Leafs captain Auston Matthews who ended the debate:
Anthony Stolarz had a good game, stopping 38 of the Devils’ 39 shots.
It was a little more complicated for Jacob Markström (14 saves on 16 shots)…
In burst
– Wow.
– Beau but.
– It’s coming.
– Let’s see!
– He’s good.
– It takes talent!
– The best scorers of the evening:
– Only two matches this evening:
