Three Stars
1. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers. There really is not anything to say other than what we said earlier: He took over and he single handedly stole a win for the Oilers. Read about it here.
2. Kevin Shattenkirk, New York Rangers. Just now entering the second year of his four-year contract, the Kevin Shattenkirk experience has not been what the New York Rangers were hoping it would be when they signed him due to injury and some ineffective play. On Tuesday night they finally got a glimpse of the player they thought they were getting. Shattenkirk was outstanding for the Rangers in their 3-2 shootout win over the Colorado Avalanche, assisting on two goals and then scoring the game-winner in the shootout. He was also one of the team’s best possession players on the shot attempt chart and was not on the ice for either of the Avalanche goals. In other words: He did what a top-pairing defenseman is supposed to do.
3. Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning prevented the Carolina Hurricanes from matching their best start in franchise history with a 4-2 win that was highlighted by a Tyler Johnson hat trick. The Lightning have now won three of their first four games and should still be one of the best teams in the league thanks to their incredible depth up front. Johnson’s hat trick is the fourth of his career in the regular season.
Here come the Golden Knights
The Golden Knights did not have a great start but there was also an awful lot of bad luck at play there, too. They were playing a lot better than their early record might have had you believe and now the results are starting to match the way they were playing. They were 4-1 winners over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night, giving them their second win in a row. As always seems to be the case with them, it was their top-line doing the damage. Jonathan Marchessault scored a pair of goals in the win, giving him four on the year, while William Karlsson finally had a breakout game finishing with three points. After scoring 43 goals a year ago he finally got his first of the year on Tuesday night while also adding a pair of assists.
Barkov helps Panthers rally, gain point in wild game against Flyers
The Florida Panthers had a terrible second period in Philadelphia, giving up five goals to face three-goal deficit. They managed to rally and force overtime -- where they would lose in a shootout -- thanks to a big-time performance from team captain Aleksander Barkov as he scored a pair of goals including the game-tying goal in the third period. This was also a perfect representation of what the Philadelphia Flyers are this season: A chaotic team that can score a ton of goals and give up just as many. Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds both scored a pair of goals for the Flyers in the win, while Jordan Weal recorded two points (goal, assist) and scored the decisive goal in the shootout.
Highlights of the Night
Connor McDavid is amazing and borderline unstoppable when he gets going at full speed. He showed that on Tuesday night with this goal in the first period.
With that goal, as well as his third period goal and two assists, McDavid had scored or assisted on each of the Oilers’ first nine goals of the season, and each of their past 13 goals dating back to the end of the 2017-18 season.
This save by Darcy Kuemper bailed out the Arizona Coyotes on a 3-on-1 rush. This is tremendous goaltending, even if it was not enough to get a win.
Jamie Benn and the Dallas Stars did not score a goal against the New Jersey Devils but he did take part in vicious fight with Miles Wood.
Brock Boeser helped the Vancouver Canucks continue their surprising start with a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road. Boeser scored the game-winner in overtime.
Factoids
Kyle Palmieri is on quite the roll for the New Jersey Devils and with his first period goal on Tuesday did something no player in NHL history has ever done before.
Kyle Palmieri of the @NJDevils is the first player in NHL history to score his team’s opening goal in four consecutive games to begin a season. #NHLStats #DALvsNJD pic.twitter.com/uAfGMZ5LkG
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 16, 2018
The Devils are now 4-0-0 on the season.
Marc-Andre Fleury continues to climb the NHL’s all-time wins list.
Marc-Andre Fleury of the @GoldenKnights earned the 407th win of his NHL career to move into a tie with Glenn Hall for 10th place on the League’s all-time list among goaltenders. #NHLStats #BUFvsVGK pic.twitter.com/w6HHEs6UQr
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 17, 2018
Henrik Lundqvist has won a lot of shootouts in his career. He picked up another one on Tuesday night.
Henrik Lundqvist of the @NYRangers earned his 59th career shootout win to tie Ryan Miller for first place on the NHL’s all-time list among goaltenders. #NHLStats #COLvsNYR pic.twitter.com/ubNaFdizdh
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 17, 2018
Scores
Canucks 3, Penguins 2 (OT)
Devils 3, Stars 0
Rangers 3, Avalanche 2 (SO)
Flyers 6, Panthers 5 (SO)
Lightning 4, Hurricanes 2
Wild 2, Coyotes 1
Oilers 5, Jets 4 (OT)
Golden Knights 4, Sabres 1
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.