Nikita Kucherov ejected from match for vicious knee strike on Matthew Tkachuk

Yesterday, on this last day of action in the National Hockey League before the holiday break, we were treated to 13 games.

26 teams were in action one last time before unwrapping their gifts.

Here are the various highlights that caught attention yesterday.

1. Kucherov ejected from the match for a vicious knee strike on Matthew Tkachuk

The Battle of Florida was on the agenda last night, and true to form, it did not disappoint.

Indeed, we know that the two teams do not like each other, and this therefore always gives rise to a lot of intensity and a lot of animosity.

Even the star players get involved in the physical and dirty play in this type of match.

This was also the case last night, when after scoring his 15th goal of the season and 50th point in 30 games, Nikita Kucherov delivered a vicious knee strike to Matthew Tkachuk.

Here's the goal.

And here is Kucherov's dirty move, which cost him a five-minute major penalty and an expulsion from the match.

Fortunately for the Panthers, Tkachuk returned to the game, so more fear than harm.

Now let's see if Kucherov will be suspended for this clearly deliberate and disgusting gesture.

As for the game itself, the Lightning won 4-0, while Jonas Johansson stopped all 36 Panthers shots.

2. Sidney Crosby joins a franchise record held by Mario Lemieux

Last night, while the Pittsburgh Penguins had a blast in a 7-3 victory against their great rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, Sidney Crosby achieved quite a feat.

Sure, he had four points, but what stands out is the fact that he had three assists.

With his three assists, Crosby joined Mario Lemieux and thus tied the franchise record for the most passes in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Crosby and Lemieux each have 1,033.

Here is the pass that allowed Crosby to reach Lemieux.

It's quite an achievement to catch Mario Lemieux in a statistic.

This says a lot about Sidney Crosby's career and how much of a sports legend he is.

3. Jacob Markstrom records second straight 12-save shutout

The New Jersey Devils are back with a bang this season, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that they fixed their big problem in net from last season, which cost them a playoff appearance.

Indeed, Jacob Markstrom (and even Jake Allen) is really solid in front of the Devils net, regardless of the action he receives.

Sometimes Markstrom needs to save a game, but other times he barely has to do anything to help his team.

This was the case in the last two games, as the Devils goaltender has just obtained two shutouts with 12 saves in a row.

Saturday in a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and last night in a 5-0 victory over the New York Rangers.

Speaking of the Rangers, things are not currently looking up in New York, while even by shaking things up by trading Kaapo Kakko or leaving out Chris Kreider, the Rangers are losing miserably.

The Rangers are currently five points from the playoffs, and they only have two points more than the Montreal Canadiens, with the same number of games played.

In short, things are really bad for the Blue Shirts, and the New Jersey Devils didn't hesitate to make fun of it last night.

Indeed, we mocked the selection of Kaapo Kakko in 2019 by showing on the giant screen the reaction of Rangers supporters during this selection, to then show Jack Hughes on the players' bench smiling.

Devils fans also chanted Kaapo Kakko's name during the evening.

In short, nothing is going well for the Rangers, much to the delight of their rivals.

4, The Sabers finally end their horrible losing streak

And there you have it, the Buffalo Sabers finally won a hockey game, as they ended their 13-game losing streak by destroying the New York Islanders by a score of 7-1.

The Sabers will therefore have succeeded in making the Islanders fans leave well before the end of the match.

It's a tough defeat for Patrick Roy's Islanders, who remain five points from the playoffs while having the worst special teams in the entire NHL.

Patrick Roy still tried everything this evening to put his team back in the match, as he withdrew his goalie with 11 minutes left in the match trailing 5 to 1 in the score.

Also note that despite the 7-1 defeat, Roy claimed that his team had only played as poorly as the score showed.

5, Hat trick for Dylan Holloway

Since joining the St. Louis Blues via hostile offers made to the Edmonton Oilers, Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg have really blossomed.

The two former Oilers really seem to like it with the Blues, especially in the case of Holloway.

In 89 career games with the Oilers, Holloway had just nine goals and 18 points in the regular season.

And now this season, before yesterday's game, Holloway had already collected more goals (10) and more points (19) in 35 games with the Blues.

And yesterday, well, the former Oilers scored his first career hat trick in a 4-0 victory for the St. Louis Blues against the Detroit Red Wings.

In short, Holloway really seems to be enjoying it in St. Louis, and it's great to see the 14th overall pick in the 2020 auction blossom like this at 23 years old.