Three Stars
1. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals. What else can you say about him at this point? He scored three goals in the Washington Capitals’ 6-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night and now leads the league with 25 goals this season. Read about all of it here, including how he has never scored this many goals 30 games into any season.
2. Jeff Skinner, Buffalo Sabres. The Buffalo Sabres snapped their five-game losing streak on Tuesday night with a come-from-behind win against the Los Angeles Kings. It was yet another one-goal game that needed overtime, and it was yet another game where Jeff Skinner came through for them when they needed it. Fourteen of the Sabres’ past 16 games have been decided by just one goal, with 10 of them going to overtime. With that many close games the bounces are not always going to go your way, and the Sabres have experienced both the highs and lows of that randomness during this recent stretch with a 10-game winning streak and a five-game losing streak mixed in. On Tuesday, though, things went the Sabres’ way. Skinner’s goal was his already his 21st goal of the season and his fourth game-winning goal. Three of those game-winning goals have come in overtime, with all of three of those coming since Nov. 23 when this recent stretch of close games began.
3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers. The Edmonton Oilers won again on Tuesday night and officially moved back into a playoff spot thanks to their 6-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was one of the stars of the night for them with three points, including a pair of goals. The Oilers are now 8-2-1 under new coach Ken Hitchcock.
Other notable performances from Tuesday
-- William Nylander is officially on the stat sheet for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season thanks to a pair of assists in their 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
-- The Colorado Avalanche did not get the win on Tuesday night, but Mikko Rantanen became the first player in the NHL this season to hit the 50-point mark with a four-point effort. He and Nathan MacKinnon, first and second in the points race, are still chasing some rare feats this season.
-- Elsewhere in that game Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl both had three points to continue their outstanding play in the Edmonton Oilers win.
-- Brad Marchand, playing alongside David Pastrnak and David Krejci on the Boston Bruins’ top line, scored two goals in their 4-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes. All three players on the top line had three points in the win.
-- Kyle Connor played a big role for the Winnipeg Jets in their win over the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring two more goals to continue his strong season.
Highlights of the Night
It was another bad performance with yet another slow start by the Chicago Blackhawks but at least Cam Ward made one of the best saves of the season.
Charlie Coyle helped lead the Minnesota Wild to a much-needed 7-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens by making Shea Weber look really bad on this play.
The Boston Bruins needed Tuukka Rask to make a big save at the buzzer to secure their win over the Arizona Coyotes.
The Vancouver Canucks rallied late for the win in Columbus with Jake Virtanen’s goal being the game-winner. Just make sure you get it at the net and good things might happen for you.
For some highlights of the weird check out the glass randomly shattering after a fight in Colorado, and the St. Louis Blues having a goal disallowed on the weirdest play of the season so far.
Factoids
Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have been a huge part of the Chicago Blackhawks’ success over the years, and they made some history on Tuesday night. That was probably the highlight of the night for the team in their 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
When Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith take the ice against Winnipeg tonight, they'll be the first pair of defensemen to skate in 1,000 @NHL games together in league history. #MilestoneMoment https://t.co/YhlGknAUaA
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 11, 2018
Alex Ovechkin is a force that will not slow down.
With his 3-goal performance for the @Capitals vs DET tonight, Alex Ovechkin passed Pavel Bure for the most career hat tricks by a Russian-born player in NHL history (21)
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 12, 2018
Big start to the season for Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba.
Matt Dumba of the @mnwild leads all defensemen with 12 goals in 2018-19 (30 GP), two shy of his single-season career high set in 2017-18 (14 in 82 GP). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/BaGLpM1r8U
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 12, 2018
Scores
Boston Bruins 4, Arizona Coyotes 3
Buffalo Sabres 4, Los Angeles Kings 3 (OT)
Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Carolina Hurricanes 1
Vancouver Canucks 3, Columbus Blue Jackets 2
Washington Capitals 6, Detroit Red Wings 2
St. Louis Blues 4, Florida Panthers 3
Nashville Predators 3, Ottawa Senators 1
Minnesota Wild 7, Montreal Canadiens 1
Winnipeg Jets 6, Chicago Blackhawks 4
Edmonton Oilers 6, Colorado Avalanche 4
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.