Players of the Night:
Patrick Marleau, Toronto Maple Leafs: Marleau scored two more goals, his 13th and 14th goals of the season. It was the 67th multi-goal game of his long career. It’s been a great season for the former Sharks forward. The man is timeless, everyone. Timeless.
James Reimer, Florida Panthers: Reimer stopped 29 of 31 shots for his fourth consecutive win. Reimer has put up a .935 save percentage or better in each of those four games.
Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek, Vancouver Canucks: Each player had a pair of goals to their respective names in a 5-2 win for the Canucks over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Highlights of the Night:
Marleau’s second goal of the game came off a pretty slick deke after getting the puck alone in front:
Derek MacKenzie goal finished off this slick cross-ice pass. It was a short-handed goal to boot.
.@FlaPanthers GOAL!!! Derek MacKenzie gets a shorty off the pass from Colton Sceviour to put the Panthers up by 2 on the Flyers! #FlaPanthers #OneTerritory #NHL pic.twitter.com/wLfsaVJrkC
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) December 29, 2017
Nikita Kucherov’s no-look pass found Steven Stamkos for some Sedin-like magic:
The @86Kucherov ➡ @RealStamkos91 chemistry is just uncanny. pic.twitter.com/lvwUhEIsvw
— NHL (@NHL) December 29, 2017
Joonas Donskoi in a short film that needs no explanation:
What a Finnish! #CGYvsSJS pic.twitter.com/QAmkV5L3sl
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) December 29, 2017
Factoids of the Night:
James Reimer is doing things in Florida:
James Reimer has earned the victory in each contest during the @FlaPanthers’ four-game win streak, posting a 1.50 goals-against average, .957 save percentage and one shutout in that span. #NHLStats #PHIvsFLA pic.twitter.com/JF3ckeVEjq
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 29, 2017
Brock Boeser is re-writing the Canucks’ rookie record book:
Brock Boeser becomes the fastest player in #Canucks history to score 25 goals (44 career games)
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) December 29, 2017
MISC:
- The Winnipeg Jets took a big hit to their forward contingent on Thursday.
- The Blackhawks didn’t fare too well without Corey Crawford tonight.
- The Vegas Golden Knights continued their assault on every possible record for an inaugural team.
Scores:
Lightning 3, Canadiens 1
Capitals 4, Bruins 3 (SO)
Panthers 3, Flyers 2
Maple Leafs 7, Coyotes 4
Canucks 5, Blackhawks 2
Golden Knights 3, Kings 2 (OT)
Sharks 3, Flames 2 (OT)
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck