Three Stars
1. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
It’s hard to imagine there being all that many hot takes sizzling out there about MacKinnon not being able to dominate on his own, but if they existed, they’ve gone ice cold as the speedster continues to score with Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog on the shelf. (Among others.)
The Blackhawks had little hope of slow MacKinnon down - literally and figuratively - as he scored one goal and three assists, with two of those helpers being of the primary variety.
J.T. Compher had a strong game as well with a goal and two assists, while Pavel Francouz made 34 out of 36 saves.
2. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
The Predators have an elite defense, but at times, that label is more about how much they can drive offense (and serve as a net-positive) more than it is about always locking teams down, at least now that we’re firmly in the Peter Laviolette era.
With that in mind, Rinne, in particular, has been crucial to Nashville’s success. So, when he struggles (18 goals allowed in his last four games heading into Friday, with only one full game during that time), it’s a Rinne-sized worry.
Maybe Friday can serve as a confidence-booster? He made 31 saves to shut out a tough Hurricanes team, hitting some significant milestones in the process. Consider these some early factoids: Rinne became the 22nd goalie to reach 350 career wins, and this marked his 58th shutout, tying him for 19th in NHL history.
3. Gustav Nyquist, Columbus Blue Jackets
For all the CBJ lost during the offseason, they made a reasonable pickup by adding Nyquist’s skill and smarts to their mix.
After a respectable-but-unspectacular October, Nyquist scored 12 of his 18 points during 13 November games. Friday was the highlight, as Nyquist generated a hat trick as the Blue Jackets beat the Penguins. Considering how much John Tortorella seems to dislike the Pens, that’s a triply delicious accomplishment.
The only thing that keeps Nyquist from advancing up this list is that one of his three goals was an empty-netter.
Highlights of the Night
David Pastrnak’s fantastic overtime setup can be seen in the overall highlights of the Bruins’ OT win against the Rangers:
To spread the wealth a little bit, enjoy Brenden Dillon setting up Noah Gregor for one heck of a first NHL goal. This is like a ... well, luckier version of Erik Karlsson’s memorable setup for Mike Hoffman from a few years back.
Factoids
- NHL PR notes that Henrik Lundqvist is the only goalie with more shutouts (63) than Pekka Rinne (58) since Rinne came into the league in 2005-06.
- David Pastrnak scored 12+ goals for the second consecutive month. Via NHL PR: only three other players have managed that during the first two months of a season: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Mike Bossy.
- Maybe don’t sit on a lead against the Capitals? Washington already has five wins in games where they trailed by multiple goals in 2019-20, the most of any team, according to NHL PR. Alex Ovechkin scored his 255th career power-play goal, tying Teemu Selanne for third-most in NHL history. Brett Hull is second all-time with 265 PPG, while Dave Andreychuk has the record with 274. Feels like a healthy Ovechkin could blow those totals out of the water, right?
- Sportsnet stats with another interesting Ovechkin nugget:
#ALLCAPS Alex Ovechkin is 2nd on this list for youngest players to reach the 675-goal plateau.
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 30, 2019
Will he catch Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time goal scorer? pic.twitter.com/1VvJfZootD
Scores
BOS 3 - NYR 2 (OT)
BUF 6 - TOR 4
PHI 6 - DET 1
COL 5 - CHI 2
MIN 7 - OTT 2
WPG 3 - ANA 0
SJS 4 - LAK 1
WSH 4 - TBL 3 (OT)
VGK 2 - ARI 1 (SO)
CBJ 5 - PIT 2
NSH 3 - CAR 0
STL 3 - DAL 1
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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.