Three Stars
1. Matthew Tkachuk
Matthew generated his first NHL hat trick at age 21 ... and 89 days. His father, Keith Tkachuk, generated his first hat trick at age 21, but at 209 days. Getting to that mark sooner than Keith? That’s impressive stuff.
Tkachuk’s third goal was an empty-netter, but he also had an assist in Calgary’s 6-3 win against Vegas, so that’s an impressive four-point night overall. He now has 29 goals and 67 points in 69 games this season, lining himself up for a substantial second contract.
The Flames were so potent offensively, they deserve at least two of the top three spots. At least since no one else really produced on the same scale on Sunday.
As a bonus, there’s this remarkable photo from Getty Images, with also includes Brady Tkachuk, who’s basically unmistakable:
2. Michael Frolik
As is often the case with the three stars, your preference likely comes down to what you weigh the heaviest. It seems too boring to just reward the entire “3M Line” with all three stars, really, so we’re going to need to make a distinction here.
Again, Mikael Backlund has a strong case. He scored two goals and one assist, with his helper being a primary assist. All of those points came before Tkachuk’s empty-netter.
One of Frolik’s four assists were on that empty-netter, but ... four assists, everyone. That’s quite impressive.
It’s been an up-and-down season for Frolik, as this four-point outburst ended what was a six-game pointless streak. Frolik has been a healthy scratch this season, and has generally struggled to convince Bill Peters that he should maintain the 3M-edness of “The 3M Line.” Nights like Sunday argue that, maybe, Peters should take the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) approach here.
3. Pheonix Copley
No goalie generated a shutout on Sunday, but there were some nice performances nonetheless.
Both Jaroslav Halak and Matt Murray provided strong performances in an exciting Penguins win against the Bruins, with Murray stopping 39 out of 41 shots. It’s tempting to give Murray something of a “weekend achievement” award after he made some astounding stops on Saturday, too.
Yet, Copley gets the slight nod. Copley made 33 out of 34 saves to help the Capitals beat the Jets on Sunday. As sparsely used as Copley is, he’s now on a five-game winning streak.
Highlight of the Night
From the great Sidney Crosby pass to the fantastic goal by Jake Guentzel, the GWG from the Penguins - Bruins game gets the nod:
Factoids:
- Carl Grundstrom has goals in his first two NHL games, becoming the first Kings forward to do so since Brian Boyle accomplished that task in 2007-08.
- This stat is cool for Aleksander Barkov and Mike Hoffman, but maybe not as cool for the Panthers.
Aleksander Barkov joined Mike Hoffman as the second @FlaPanthers player with at least 30 goals in 2018-19.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 10, 2019
Only one other season in franchise history has featured two 30-goal scorers: 2006-07 (Olli Jokinen and Nathan Horton). #NHLStats #DETvsFLA pic.twitter.com/NaXXEVLgNZ
- The Bruins’ 19-game winning streak ended on Sunday. Read more about that game here.
Scores
FLA 6 - DET 1
WSH 3 - WPG 1
PIT 4 - BOS 2
CGY 6 - VGK 3
LAK 3 - ANA 2
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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.