Line of the night/season: Vladislav Namestnikov - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov
Holy smokes, that Tampa Bay Lightning top line is on fire. Actually, is there something hotter than fire? What’s the temperature of lightning?
Anyway, the San Jose Sharks had no answer for the Lightning’s top line on Wednesday, as that trio powered a 5-1 laugher. Namestnikov grabbed some of the spotlight with two goals and an assist, but Kucherov and Stamkos remain the show-stealers.
With a goal and two assists, Kucherov padded his Maurice Richard edge, as he now has 15 goals in 16 games. In this age, if people can make “50 goals in 50 games” references without snickering, you’re accomplishing something special. The budding superstar now has 26 points in 2017-18.
Stamkos grabbed three assists, continuing his metamorphosis to a taller Martin St. Louis. Stamkos now has 21 assists and 28 points, putting him in the Art Ross lead.
(Do you think those two agreed to split the NHL’s biggest individual awards coming into the season? Hockey doesn’t get quite that Lebron James allegedly plotting the decision years in advance-ish, does it? Anyway, Namestnikov has 17 points on the season in his own right, which is impressive for most humans.)
In his 10 NHL seasons, Steven Stamkos has never been known as a supreme playmaker. However tonight he's got just the 5th game of 3+ assists in his career. Two of those performances have come this season already (the other was on October 21 vs PIT in a 7-1 win)
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) November 9, 2017
Highlights of the Night:
Let’s plunk the highlights of the Lightning drubbing the Sharks as sort of a montage pick.
Again, this Pavel Buchnevich goal from the Rangers’ 4-2 win against the Bruins was something else, too:
Factoids of the Night:
Patrick Marleau helped the Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota Wild, and in doing so passed NBC’s own Jeremy Roenick in career goals:
Patrick Marleau of the @MapleLeafs scored his 514th career goal to surpass Jeremy Roenick for sole possession of 39th on the NHL's all-time list. #MINvsTOR #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/9tOzFlMl2h
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 9, 2017
... The Leafs needed all the help they could get, considering how much they depend on an absent Auston Matthews, whose injury status remains murky.
Auston Matthews will not play tonight (upper-body injury). He has a point on 19 of the #Leafs 60 goals this season (31.7%).
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 8, 2017
One more Stamkos bit, and this came after he notched his 20th assist of the season, so he added another before the night was over:
With a pair of helpers so far tonight for the @TBLightning vs San Jose, Steven Stamkos becomes the 1st player to reach the 20 assist mark within his team's first 17 games of a season since Evgeni Malkin did it for the Penguins in 2008-09
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) November 9, 2017
Scores and more
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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.