Player Of The Night: Joonas Korpisalo, Columbus Blue Jackets
It hasn’t been a great week for the Columbus Blue Jackets. They lost three of their previous four games, two of them in blowout fashion including an ugly 7-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday night. They were able to bounce back on Wednesday night with a 4-2 win agains the Toronto Blue Jackets and it was a huge performance from backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo that helped get them there.
Korpisalo stopped 39 of the 41 shots he faced in the win.
He has now won each of his past three decisions but Wednesday’s game was by far his best performance of the season.
It was the fourth time in his young career that he has made at least 38 saves in a single game.
Claude Giroux Is Still Dominating
With his three assist performance in the Flyers’ 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night Claude Giroux continued his hot streak for the. He is now up to 18 points in his past 14 games. That stretch includes six multi-point games, including four in his past seven games.
Two big Points For Flames
The Calgary Flames had been in a bit of a slump lately with wins in just three of their past nine games. But thanks to their 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night they have now won two games in a row and are back into a top-three spot in the NHL’s Pacific Division.
Michael Frolik and Dougie Hamilton provided the offense for the Flames on Wednesday night with Hamilton getting the game-winner midway through the third period.
Highlight Of The Night
It came in a losing effort but check out the wheels on Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner as he goes coast-to-coast for the goal. After going through a pretty lengthy goal drought Marner is starting to put up numbers again. After a four-point day on Tuesday, including his first goal in 15 games, he followed that up on Wednesday with perhaps the goal of the night.
Factoid Of The Night
Sean Couturier scored the game-winning goal for the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night to give them their seventh win in their past eight games. It was his 16th goal of the season. That is now a new career high. It is only December 20. He is having an absolutely remarkable season for the Flyers.
Sean Couturier’s game-winning tally marked his 16th goal of the season, eclipsing his previous career high of 15 established in 2014-15 (82 GP). #DETvsPHI pic.twitter.com/CtrDGNMnRa
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 21, 2017
Scores
Columbus Blue Jackets 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 2
Philadelphia Flyers 4, Detroit Red Wings 3
Calgary Flames 2, St. Louis Blues 1
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.