Headlines from a hectic NHL night:
- Blues fire Mike Yeo.
- Vincent Trocheck suffers frightening injury, leaves on stretcher.
- Ben Bishop day-to-day with lower-body injury.
- One fun thing: Alex Ovechkin squares off against Carey Price.
Three Stars
1. Matthew Tkachuk
Let’s consider this a dual top star pick with Johnny Gaudreau (1G, 3A), as both players collected four points as the Flames raced out to a 7-0 lead and an eventual 7-2 win against the Golden Knights.
Giving Tkachuk the slight edge over “Johnny Hockey” because he got an extra goal (2G, 2A) and both of his assists were primary points.
Gaudreau earned the rare distinction of grabbing his four points in one period, matching an Olli Jokinen achievement, but Tkachuk only needed 24 seconds into the second period to hit four points in the contest. Perhaps the Flames’ big guns could have poured it on even more against a Golden Knights team that might have been a little fatigued in closing out a back-to-back? Either way, impressive stuff.
2. Kyle Connor
Patrik Laine got the glory in collecting yet another hat trick as the Jets held off the Canucks on Monday, but Connor could have selfishly bagged his second goal of the night by aiming at an empty net instead of sending the puck to Laine.
Connor generated an extra point for Winnipeg, scoring one goal and three assists.
The sophomore winger was part of the Jets’ barrage of Vancouver, as Connor fired seven of Winnipeg’s 49 shots on goal, a team-high mark for Monday.
3. Juho Lammikko
Raise your hand if you weren’t super-familiar with this Finnish Florida Panthers forward before Monday. (C’mon, put it up.)
The third-rounder from 2014 (65th overall) came into the night with zero goals and six assists in 16 NHL games. Lammikko generated four assists in Florida’s wild win vs. Ottawa. Lammikko gets dinged a bit for being in a losing effort.
In case you’re wondering, here’s how to pronounce his name, via Hockey Reference: \YOO-hoh lah-MIH-koh\.
Highlights of the Night
- Check this post for that memorable Carey Price save.
- One can debate how much of a distraction Mike Hoffman was for a “broken” Senators locker room. Maybe some will grumble that he received a friendly ovation during his return to Ottawa. What you can’t deny is that he scored against his old team, and you might not even be able to argue against the notion that he did so with serious style:
(More on Hoffman in a moment.)
- Tyler Ennis might need to turn up the difficulty level:
- Jack Eichel with the “just won $50 on that scratch-off ticket” celebration. Eichel hit 200 points on his young career, by the way.
When you win it in OT. @Jackeichel15 pic.twitter.com/gQWe5Vdue7
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) November 20, 2018
- Anthony Duclair owns the sprawling highlight reel goal category for 2018-19, yet this is nifty work from Jimmy Vesey.
Factoids
Yes, Patrik Laine is earning “Hat Trick Laine” references for good reason.
20-year-old @PatrikLaine29 scored his 6th career hat trick (174 GP).
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 20, 2018
Only one player in NHL history scored more hat tricks before his 21st birthday: Wayne Gretzky had 12 (in 210 GP). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/5T2g4VnLU0
Another astounding tidbit:
Most Hat Tricks since start of 2016-17#NHLJets Patrik Laine: 6 (including tonight)
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 20, 2018
Alex Ovechkin: 5
Filip Forsberg: 4
Connor McDavid: 4
John Tavares: 4
Yes, Monday’s goal was special to Hoffman, but it was also part of an outstanding run:
Hoffman, who spent his first seven seasons with the Senators (107-123—230 in 342 GP), scored to become the sixth different player in NHL history to record a point streak of at least 16 games in his first season with a franchise. #NHLStats #FLAvsOTT pic.twitter.com/vMPAgRucQW
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 20, 2018
Hot take: as impressed as you might be by Pekka Rinne tying Miikka Kiprusoff, it probably means way more to Rinne.
With tonight’s win, Pekka Rinne has tied Miikka Kiprusoff (319) for the most wins by a Finnish-born goaltender in NHL history. Rinne is now 9-0-1 in his career against Tampa Bay. #Preds pic.twitter.com/sHgBOqScfH
— Nashville Predators PR (@PredsPR) November 20, 2018
Scores
TOR 4, CBJ 2
NYR 2, DAL 1
BUF 5, PIT 4 (OT)
WSH 5, MTL 4 (OT)
FLA 7, OTT 5
LAK 2, STL 0
NSH 3, TBL 2
CGY 7, VGK 2
WIN 6, VAN 3
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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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.