Player Of The Night: Jonathan Bernier, Colorado Avalanche
After losing six out of their past seven games the Colorado Avalanche finally got back into the win column on Saturday night by crushing the Florida Panthers. They followed up that performance by marching into Pittsburgh and stealing two points from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 2-1 win that was highlighted by a stellar showing from starting goaltender Jonathan Bernier.
Bernier was the Avalanche’s best player on Monday night, turning aside 39 of the 40 shots he faced.
It was not until the final 11 seconds, when the Avalanche were already holding a two-goal lead, that he finally surrendered a goal.
It was probably Bernier’s best performance of the season and just the fifth time in 12 starts that he managed a save percentage higher than .900 in a game.
Wasted Effort Of The Night: The New York Rangers
Maybe “wasted” is too strong of a word considering the Rangers did get a point out of the night in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars, but let’s be honest be here. They did not even deserve that.
The Rangers were thoroughly dominated by the Stars and only managed to get the game to overtime thanks to a stellar performance from goaltender Ondrej Pavelec.
Pavelec stopped 44 of the 45 shots he faced and almost single handedly got the Rangers to overtime.
After the game Rangers coach Alain Vigneault had this to say about the game: “There are two positives, Pavs played unreal and because of his performance we were able to get a point. Other than that....we weren’t good.”
That was it.
Ducks Get Some Help Back In The Lineup
The Anaheim Ducks got some much needed help back in their lineup on Monday night when Ryan Getzlaf and Jakob Silfverberg both returned to the lineup.
Silfverberg made an immediate impact after missing the past five games. He scored his sixth goal of the season in the Ducks’ 3-2 win.
Getzlaf did not factor into the scoring, but having him back in the lineup was still a huge lift for the Ducks. He played 20 minutes in the win.
Highlight Of The Night
The Winnipeg Jets have an outstanding offense. It was on display here with some nifty tic-tac-toe passing to take the lead against the Vancouver Canucks.
Tic-tac-toe. @NHLJets edition. #VANvsWPG https://t.co/wf4AyinzcD
— NHL (@NHL) December 12, 2017
Factoid Of The Night
Brock Boeser scored another goal for the Canucks in their loss to the Winnipeg Jets. He is having a tremendous rookie season.
Brock Boeser of the @Canucks is the eighth rookie in the past 28 years to score 16+ goals within his first 28 games of a season. #NHLStats #VANvsWPG pic.twitter.com/G4NYQ9Wv6k
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 12, 2017
Scores
New York Islanders 3, Washington Capitals 1
Dallas Stars 2, New York Rangers 1
Colorado Avalanche 2, Pittsburgh Penguins 1
Florida Panthers 2, Detroit Red Wings 1
Winnipeg Jets 5, Vancouver Canucks 1
Anaheim Ducks 3, Carolina Hurricanes 2
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.