Three Stars
1. Steven Stamkos
The Lightning did not take it easy on the other team from Florida in the first full game since Vincent Trocheck’s jarring ankle injury. They hung seven goals on the Panthers, and Stamkos was leading the charge with a goal and three assists for four points.
After a relatively quiet start to 2018-19, Stamkos is heating up, even if there are still some scoreless nights here and there. Wednesday’s surge represents Stamkos’ fifth multi-point game since he generated three on Oct. 30.
Tampa Bay can win in a lot of different ways, and they might need more offense here and there as Andrei Vasilevskiy heals up. A keyed-in Stamkos could make a big difference in that regard.
The Lightning needed this win to maintain their lead in the competitive Atlantic. They’ve played the same number of games (22) as the Maple Leafs and Sabres, maintaining a slim one-point lead.
2. Sidney Crosby
After anxiously awaiting a return from an upper-body injury, Crosby wasted little time in making an impact for the struggling Penguins.
Number 87 generated a goal and two assists as Pittsburgh handled the Stars on Wednesday. Crosby extended his point streak to four games (three goals, five assists for eight points) with one of his better performances of 2018-19.
Will the Penguins right the ship? Outputs like these sure provide optimism.
3. Alexandar Georgiev
The 22-year-old Rangers goalie earned the first shutout of his NHL career, making 29 stops. He’s now won four of his last five games.
There are a lot of things to point to when you explain how the surprisingly strong Rangers are winning games, but noting that they’re currently able to stay in games even when Henrik Lundqvist is getting a breather is a good place to start.
The Rangers are on a dizzying 9-1-1 tear in their last 11 games, including an active three-game winning streak. How much longer will this go before we should forget any notion of a rebuild?
Factoids
This is bad ... but at least the Senators are scoring enough goals to make their stumbles more palatable to watch than some expected.
The #Senators have had plenty of struggles on defence, but their efforts on the road have been worst of all as they rank among these poor defensive squads from much higher-scoring eras pic.twitter.com/9WZqQVk0vb
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) November 22, 2018
Through thick and thin, Mike Hoffman is scoring for his new team, the Panthers:
Mike Hoffman became just the fifth player in NHL history to record a point streak of at least 17+ games with a new club. #NHLStats #FLAvsTBL pic.twitter.com/76r1gEcCdQ
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 22, 2018
Pekka Rinne’s been awesome so far this season, and he’s also enjoyed an outstanding career. Need more to cement that? He broke his tie with Miikka Kiprusoff for the all-time record for Finnish goalie wins:
Pekka Rinne now holds the record for most wins by a Finnish-born goaltender. 🇫🇮
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) November 22, 2018
🐐 pic.twitter.com/Ybee7jjkfN
Highlight of the Night
It’s been a tough season for the Ducks, who’ve had to lean on John Gibson way too much most nights. Still, Ryan Getzlaf alone means you can’t take them lightly, either.
Lowlight
Bad hit by Stars forward Brad Ritchie on Jusso Rikkola of the Penguins:
Scores
NJD 5, MTL 2
NYR 5, NYI 0
PIT 5, DAL 1
WAS 4, CHI 2
CAR 5, TOR 2
BUF 5, PHI 2
DET 3, BOS 2 (OT)
TBL 7, FLA 3
NSH 4, STL 1
MIN 6, OTT 4
VGK 3, ARI 2 (OT)
ANA 4, VAN 3
CGY 6, WPG 3
COL 7, LAK 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.