Players of the Night:
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets: Hellebuyck’s sixth shutout of the season -- a 34-save effort in a 4-0 win against the St. Louis Blues -- set a new franchise record. He’s now just two wins away from tying the team’s franchise record for wins by a goalie at 32.
Eric Staal and Mikael Granlund, Minnesota Wild: Staal and Granlund basically had their way with the New York Rangers in a 4-1 win. They each scored twice and also assisted twice on each other’s goals. Feasting on the Rangers is pretty easy these days, but it was an impressive night for the duo nonetheless.
William Karlsson, Vegas Golden Knights: Goals No. 32 and No. 33 tonight, including quite the rip on his second one. Added an assist as well in a 6-3 win for the Golden Knights over the Vancouver Canucks. What a player he’s turned into.
Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins: Kessel has two goals and an assist and Malkin and Guentzel each had a goal and two assists. The Penguins are already scary on offense, and they just added Derick Brassard on Friday. Three-peat, anyone?
Highlights of the Night:
Saucy little number:
Nonna would be proud of that sauce. 👌 https://t.co/uHps8LyIyd
— NHL (@NHL) February 24, 2018
Patrik Laine makes it look so easy:
Public Service Announcement:@PatrikLaine29 can straight up snipe. 🎯 https://t.co/nl31MRLNYQ
— NHL (@NHL) February 24, 2018
Miller ➡️ Fast ➡️ 🚨 pic.twitter.com/EXLbae3vWQ
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) February 24, 2018
Slick feed game:
Look at that passing! pic.twitter.com/fmjCoOsHgV
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) February 24, 2018
Ugly suit night for the Winnipeg Jets:
Trade of the Day:
The three-team deal that happened, then it didn’t and then happened again
Penguins land Derick Brassard on second try in wild three-team deal.
Own goal of the night:
Troy Stecher got a little unlucky on this one:
Factoids of the Night:
Connor Hellebuyck notched his 6th shutout of 2017-18 Friday, continuing not only the best goalie season in Jets/Thrashers history but perhaps the best in Winnipeg NHL history too pic.twitter.com/hKbJI91EW2
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 24, 2018
Patrik Laine is now in sole possession of 8th & still climbing on this list, as he continues to establish himself as one of the great teenage goal scorers ever pic.twitter.com/ToBqQxvdOh
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 24, 2018
Every night, the @GoldenKnights grab another expansion-team stat, or that's what it feels like...
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 24, 2018
Tonight's? This is their 18th game this season with 5+ goals. That surpasses the 1992-93 Lightning for most such games by an expansion team in its first season.
Evgeni Malkin's game tonight was his NHL-high 10th effort of 3+ points this season. 8 of those have come in a 25-game span since Dec 27
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 24, 2018
Scores:
Wild 4, Rangers 1
Penguins 6, Hurricanes 1
Jets 4, Blues 0
Blackhawks 3, Sharks 1
Golden Knights 6, Canucks 3
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