Player(s) of the Night
Jaden Schwartz, St. Louis Blues: Entering play on Saturday the St. Louis Blues had won just one of their past 10 games and managed to score just 14 goals during that stretch. That included three shutouts and two other games where they scored just a single goal. They put all of that behind them on Saturday afternoon by absolutely crushing the Los Angeles Kings, 7-2, to help keep their playoff hopes alive. It was a big game for Schwartz as he finished with a goal and two assists.
Nazem Kadri, Toronto Maple Leafs: Toronto extended its home winning streak to a franchise record 10 games on Saturday night with a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Frederik Andersen made 38 saves in the win while Nazem Kadri helped drive the offense with a pair of goals.
David Krejci, Boston Bruins: No Patrice Bergeron? No Charlie McAvoy? No big deal for the Boston Bruins. They won their sixth game in a row on Saturday afternoon and continued to put up huge offensive numbers without two of their best players. Krejci had a huge game for the Bruins on Saturday with two goals in the 7-4 win.
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche: Thanks to their 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes and the Los Angeles Kings losing to the St. Louis Blues, the Colorado Avalanche were able to move back into a playoff position for the time being in the Western Conference. As usual, MacKinnon played a big part in the win by assisting on a pair of goals, giving him 49 assists and 81 total points on the season. He has only played in 60 games. That moves into fourth in the NHL in scoring. His 1.35 points per game average is tops in the NHL and would be a 110-point pace over 82 games.
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers: The Edmonton Oilers are not going anywhere this season but they still have a chance to get Connor McDavid the scoring title. He added three more points on Saturday night (two goals, an assist) in the Oilers’ 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. That gives the Oilers three consecutive wins, while McDavid has pretty much single handedly delivered each of the past two. After scoring the lone goal in regulation earlier in the week and then getting the game-winning goal in the shootout against the New York Islanders, he had a hand in three of the four goals on Saturday night including scoring the first two. He is now third in the NHL scoring race with 84 points, four behind Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov.
Panthers win again
The Florida Panthers’ late season surge continued on Saturday night with a 4-3 shootout win over the New York Rangers. Vincent Trocheck scored the winner in the shootout to help lift Florida to its 15th win in the past 19 games. The Panthers are also now on an eight-game point streak to help pull them to within two points of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with still three games in hand on the second Wild Card team, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It also helped them keep pace with the New Jersey Devils.
Speaking of which...
Devils put an end to Predators’ winning streak
The Devils are entering a brutal stretch of games here and it started on Saturday night with a trip to Nashville to take on a Predators team that entered the night having won 10 games in a row.
After allowing a late game-tying goal to Ryan Johansen to send the game to overtime, the Devils were able to come away with two huge points in the standings and put an end to the Predators’ winning streak. Brian Boyle scored the game-winning goal in the shootout after an exciting overtime period that saw Jusse Saros and Keith Kinkaid put on a goaltending clinic. Along with the shootout winner Boyle also scored a goal during regulation.
The most bizarre part of the overtime period though was probably when the Predators were given a power play with a minute to play in the extra period and came out with a power play unit that consisted of three defenseman (P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis) and one forward (Ryan Johansen).
The Predators did not score on the man advantage, sending the game to the shootout where the Devils were able to come away with the win.
Highlight of the Night
Nicklas Backstrom does not score a lot of goals with his slap shot but he scored a big one for the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon when he absolutely wired this shot by San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones. What a shot.
.@backstrom19 absolutely wires it. pic.twitter.com/HmXR6QY6BX
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) March 10, 2018
That would be the only goal the Capitals would need in a 2-0 win to move back into first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Factoid of the Night
Another milestone for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights thanks to their 2-1 shootout win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. What a season. What a story.
The @GoldenKnights established an NHL record for most road wins by a team in its inaugural season. #NHLStats #VGKvsBUF pic.twitter.com/kPk9TCK0ht
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 10, 2018
Scores
Vegas Golden Knights 2, Buffalo Sabres 1
Tampa Bay Lightning 3, Montreal Canadiens 2
Philadelphia Flyers 2, Winnipeg Jets 1
Colorado Avalanche 5, Arizona Coyotes 2
St. Louis Blues 7, Los Angeles Kings 2
Washington Capitals 2, San Jose Sharks 0
Toronto Maple Leafs 5, Pittsburgh Penguins 2
Florida Panthers 4, New York Rangers 3
New Jersey Devils 3, Nashville Predators 2
Edmonton Oilers 4, Minnesota Wild 1
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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.