Three stars
1. Esa Lindell, Dallas Stars
Lindell scored his second and third goals of the season on Sunday, with the latter being the game-winner as the Stars demolished the New York Islanders 6-2.
This spot could have easily gone to either Alexander Radulov, Tyler Seguin or Jamie Benn, each who came away with three-point nights in the win. Dallas has won two straight and are 6-2-2 in their past 10 games.
Gotta love on the defensemen sometimes though.
2. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
Crawford was struggling pretty bad prior to this past week after losing five straight. Since then, Crawford is 2-0-1 and has allowed just two goals in those three games.
Crawford’s recent surge was highlighted on Sunday after he stopped 39 shots on Sunday en route to a 3-1 Blackhawks win against the Minnesota Wild. The Hawks are just 2-5-3 in their past 10, so a better Crawford could go a long way as they try to position themselves in a tough Central Division.
3. Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas Golden Knights.
It looks like every game in the Pacific Division is going to have deeper meaning this year with how poor those teams can be at times.
Marchessault, with two goals and an assist, ensured that Vegas got back to winning ways with a three-point night in a 6-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers. Marchessault was riding a three-game pointless streak coming into Sunday.
Other notable performances:
- Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist and Mikko Rantanen padded his stats with two more apples and the game-winner on the power play in overtime. That line is just silly.
- Three-point night in a losing effort for Ducks defenseman Brandon Montour.
- Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist in a losing cause himself.
- Curtis McElhinney steered aside 33 shots to help the Hurricanes to a 2-1 win.
Highlights of the night
Tremendous:
#OneMoreShift for Eddie Olczyk on #HockeyFightsCancer night in Chicago. 💜 pic.twitter.com/jJoCO8n8fu
— NHL (@NHL) November 18, 2018
That shot, though. 👌 pic.twitter.com/lsJYaC8YRI
— NHL (@NHL) November 19, 2018
Slick feed:
Extra finesse on the pass from @88PKane... the man can really thread the needle. https://t.co/oXMPHXLNEp
— NHL (@NHL) November 18, 2018
Factoids
Carolina's first period goals from Justin Williams (0:22) and Micheal Ferland (0:30) marked the fastest two goals to open a game in franchise history. The Hurricanes are the sixth team in NHL history to score twice in the first 30 seconds of a game.
— Hurricanes PR (@CanesPR) November 18, 2018
Mikko Rantanen is the eighth different player in @Avalanche / Nordiques franchise history to reach the 30-point mark in the first 20 team games in a season. #NHLStats #COLvsANA pic.twitter.com/ulQzY4N7Bg
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 19, 2018
Scores
Stars 6, Islanders 2
Hurricanes 2, Devils 1
Blackhawks 3, Wild 1
Avalanche 4, Ducks 3 (OT)
Golden Knights 6, Oilers 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