Be sure to visit NBCOlympics.com and NBC Olympic Talk for full hockey coverage from PyeongChang.
Players of the Night
- Much like Jaroslav Halak with his 50-save shutout last night, Thomas Greiss stole the show - and a shutout - for the New York Islanders, stopping all 45 of the Hurricanes’ shots on Friday. He probably deserves the top spot; you can read about his performance here.
- Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele helped the Jets dominate the Avalanche 6-1. Wheeler collected two goals and one assist, while Scheifele generated three assists. Since returning from an injury, Scheifele is on a three-game point streak, collecting two goals and five helpers. Wheeler continued to produce without Scheifele, but like peanut butter and chocolate, they’re even better together.
Note: if you go after them, you may have to answer to Dustin Byfuglien. That’d probably bad news for you.
Highlights of the Night
This was Patrik Laine’s 16th power-play goal of 2017-18. Looks like his office covers a lot of ground/ice:
Sean Couturier continues to be a revelation as a top-line center for the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring the overtime-winner against the Blue Jackets:
SEAN COUTURIER WINS IT FOR THE FLYERS IN OVERTIME! pic.twitter.com/WJEqDGY5Ox
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) February 17, 2018
Columbus carried a substantial shot advantage over Philly, but Sergei Bobrovsky made some great stops:
It's Bob's world and we just live in it. pic.twitter.com/PFq3Ir5rXK
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) February 17, 2018
Factoids
Again, the Islanders’ shutouts are especially impressive because the defense has not been impressive.
Six NHL teams have given up 45+ shots in a game 10+ times in a season in the 30 years of available data. One has done it in the past 22 years (2008-09 FLA). The Islanders have 9 this year ... all in the past 22 games.
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) February 17, 2018
Quite a start to Patrik Laine’s career.
Select company for John Klingberg.
Over the last 30 seasons (1987-88 to present), Klingberg's 279 NHL games are the 5th fewest needed by a defenceman to reach the 200 career point mark https://t.co/oEEydmUvwy
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 17, 2018
Jay Bouwmeester: 1,100 games, countless surprised facial expressions.
You learn a lot in 1,100 career games. Congrats, Jay!#NHLMilestones via @SAPSports: https://t.co/dQJZhzyPVy pic.twitter.com/z6RC3yI8qn
— NHL (@NHL) February 17, 2018
Scores
Flyers 2, Blue Jackets 1 (OT)
Islanders 3, Hurricanes 0
Jets 6, Avalanche 1
Stars 2, Blues 1
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.