Three Stars
1. Jack Eichel
Remember when people were really worried about Jack Eichel receiving $10 million per season? (Cups ears.) Hmm, not hearing much of that these days.
Eichel gave the Bruins more than they can handle on Sunday, collecting two primary assists (including a beauty on Jeff Skinner’s game-winner) and two goals to help Buffalo beat Boston. He was really all over the place in this one, firing six shots on goal, enjoying a +3 rating in what was mostly a tight contest.
Buffalo’s captain now has 14 goals and 45 points in 34 games in 2018-19. A healthy portion of that total came during this current six-game point streak, as Eichel has nine goals and four assists for 13 points during that span.
The win was notable for the Sabres, as they at least briefly passed Toronto for second in the Atlantic.
Skinner’s two goals give him 24 for this season, matching last year’s total in just his 34th game of 2018-19.
2. Mark Scheifele
Once you go beyond Eichel, you really start splitting hairs, as there were a lot of three-point games on Sunday.
One tough call is Scheifele vs. his Jets linemate Nikolaj Ehlers. After all, while Scheifele’s three points came from one goal and two assists, Ehlers grabbed two goals and one assist. Under certain circumstances, you’d go Ehlers.
Scheifele assisted on Ehlers’ second goal, which sent the game into overtime. Scheifele then cleaned up a loose puck created by a nice drive to the net by Patrik Laine, ending the game with an overtime game-winner. It’s his second consecutive game with an OT-clincher, apparently.
It sounds like Scheifele has a knack for these situations.
.@NHLJets topped the #TBLightning 5-4 in a battle of NHL elites today, capped off by a winner from the always dangerous Mark Scheifele that put him atop this historical list pic.twitter.com/5zd4S2m6vM
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 17, 2018
3. Brent Burns
When in doubt, make a significant milestone a tiebreaker. Burns is a rare breed even when you ignore the notion that he could nest baby birds in his beard:
Brent Burns of the @SanJoseSharks is the 38th player in NHL history listed as a defenseman to reach the 600-point milestone.#NHLStats: https://t.co/czbFpeGZP2 #SJSvsCHI pic.twitter.com/PMttnkyqWU
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 17, 2018
Brent Burns generated three assists as the Sharks took down the Blackhawks on Sunday. With that, he now has 600 points in his career. One can only imagine how many points Burns would have if he had blossomed earlier/a coach as smart as Peter DeBoer came along sooner and optimized his unique set of skills earlier. (His stats with Minnesota vs. San Jose are resoundingly stark, and he really started to get monster minutes around the time DeBoer took over, though Todd McLellan did get that started.)
Other highlights
Maybe a 48-save game wasn’t enough for Andrei Vasilevskiy? The Lightning’s ultra-talented goalie earned a second assist on Sunday, and it’s one of the primary reasons this is such a fun highlight. Just a fantastic goalie-pass:
If Linus Ullmark pans out like Buffalo hopes, opponents better watch out for the Sabres.
More Factoids
Marc-Andre Fleury continues to climb the list of all-time wins for goalies.
For those that like milestones......
— 🏆 - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) December 16, 2018
Marc-Andre Fleury has tied Tony Esposito for 9th in all-time victories with 423 career wins!!! 🌸#VegasBorn
In case you’re wondering, Jacques Plante ranks eighth all-time with 437 wins.
Few teams can match the Flames’ top-end talent, and this Johnny Gaudreau/Matthew Tkachuk stat really drives that point home. Gaudreau’s one of those players who had three points on Sunday, by the way.
While Johnny Gaudreau had already done it, Matthew Tkachuk hit 40 points earlier today. With that, the @NHLFlames own a 1-2 punch of scoring prowess not seen in CGY in over 25 years pic.twitter.com/9Updc4o4VC
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 17, 2018
Scores
VGK 4 - NYR 3 (OT)
CAR 3 - ARI 0
CGY 7 - STL 2
BUF 4 - BOS 2
SJS 7 - CHI 3
WPG 5 - TBL 4 (OT)
VAN 4 - EDM 2
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.