Three Stars
1. David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins. The Boston Bruins’ top trio of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak dominated once again on Saturday night in a 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. That trio was on the ice for four of the Bruins’ five goals, with Pastrnak having a hand in all four of them, scoring three for his second hat trick of the season. The four-point night is already Pastrnak’s third of the season, more than any other player in the league. Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars and Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche are the only other players with two.
2. Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers. After a breakout season offensively in 2017-18, Sean Couturier got off to a bit of a slow start for the Philadelphia Flyers. He has been starting to get back on track over the past couple of games and had a huge breakout performance on Saturday afternoon in a 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks where he recorded three points (two goals, an assist) and was a plus-four. He is now up to 11 points in 16 games this season, with eight of those points coming in the past six games. The Flyers are 5-0-1 in those games, having earned 11 out of a possible 12 points.
3. Matt Duchene, Ottawa Senators. Matt Duchene and the Ottawa Senators have been in the news quite a bit lately, but it is probably not the kind of attention they want. They should get some of that attention on Saturday night after rallying with four consecutive third period goals against one of the best teams in the league to pick up a 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Duchene had a huge night for Ottawa by recording three points, including a pair of assists in the third period. One of those assists set up Ryan Dzingel’s game-winning goal.
The Hurricanes lost in the most Hurricanes way possible
Carolina is on a record-setting pace this season in terms of their ability to register shots on goal. This is not always leading to victories. Take Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings as an example. Even though they recorded 52 shots on goal (and only allowed 32) they were still unable to come away with a win, losing in a shootout by a 4-3 margin after allowing a 3-1 third period lead to slip away. This game was already Carolina’s 10th game this season with at least 40 shots on goal. No other team in the NHL has more than five. During the entire 2017-18 season there were 14 teams that did not record 40 shots on goal in a game for the entire season. The Hurricanes have dominated the shot chart for several years now but keep getting the same mediocre results in the standings.
Highlights of the Night
The Pittsburgh Penguins entered Saturday’s game against Arizona riding a five-game losing streak and trying to avoid their first six-game losing streak in 12 years. They were able to accomplish that with a 4-0 win over the Coyotes. The first goal of the game belonged to captain Sidney Crosby as he scored on another absolutely ridiculous backhand shot. There might not be a better backhand shot anywhere in the league.
The Buffalo Sabres rallied for a 4-3 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday afternoon, erasing what had been a 3-1 third period deficit. That makes this first period glove save by Carter Hutton to rob Bo Horvat of what looked like a sure goal that much more important. This is one of 36 saves Hutton made during the game.
Factoids
Remember when the Montreal Canadiens traded P.K. Subban for Shea Weber? Of course you do. Since that trade P.K. Subban has recorded 111 points with the Predators, including his assist on Saturday’s game-winning goal against the Dallas Stars. That point total is more than the number of games that Weber has played in for Montreal. Safe to say, that trade has worked out spectacularly for the Predators (stick-tap to @JJFromKansas for that statistic).
Mike Hoffman helped the Florida Panthers beat the New York Islanders on Saturday night, and in the process extended his current point streak to 11 games. That is the second-longest streak in Panthers history behind only Pavel Bure.
Mike Hoffman tied the game in the second period to extend his point streak to 11 contests. Only Pavel Bure (13 GP in 1999-00) has posted a such run in @FlaPanthers franchise history. #NHLStats #FLAvsNYI pic.twitter.com/ct2GpNq7WC
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 11, 2018
The Detroit Red Wings picked up another come-from-behind win.
The @DetroitRedWings have overcome a multi-goal deficit to win three consecutive regular-season games for the first time in franchise history. #NHLStats #DETvsCAR pic.twitter.com/H4sB4SEMyO
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 11, 2018
The Calgary Flames were 1-0 winners over the Los Angeles Kings thanks in large part to a 22-save shutout from David Rittich, the first shutout of his career.
David Rittich turned aside all 22 shots he faced to record his first career shutout. #NHLStats #CGYvsLAK pic.twitter.com/25921LXHSd
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 11, 2018
Scores
Buffalo Sabres 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 (SO)
Philadelphia Flyers 4, Chicago Blackhawks 0
Nashville Predators 5, Dallas Stars 4 (OT)
Boston Bruins 5, Toronto Maple Leafs 1
Florida Panthers 4, New York Islanders 2
Pittsburgh Penguins 4, Arizona Coyotes 0
Ottawa Senators 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 4
Montreal Canadiens 5, Vegas Golden Knights 4
New York Rangers 5, Columbus Blue Jackets 4 (SO)
Detroit Red Wings 4, Carolina Hurricanes 3 (SO)
Calgary Flames 1, Los Angeles Kings 0
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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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.