Three Stars
1. Jeff Petry, Montreal Canadiens
In ruminating on the red-hot Canadiens, people will linger on Marc Bergevin’s offseason moves. Beyond that, they’ll lavish praise on rising star Nick Suzuki.
Suzuki ties in a different point: it’s not all about offseason additions. In some cases, the Canadiens are taking off because holdover players are reaching new levels.
Count Jeff Petry among the Canadiens who are truly feasting on their high-tempo, high-skill start. Petry scored two goals and one assist on Monday, pushing his already-impressive point total to 11 in just nine games.
Petry’s shooting percentage? A cool 17.4 percent. (Note that superhuman Mario Lemieux finished his career with a 19 shooting percentage, and that Petry’s career percentage is 5.7.)
So, sure, some of this is bound to slow down. But if you’re a Canadiens fan reveling in all of this right now, keep marinating in this. While Petry & Co. can’t count on this kind of puck luck forever, there’s a lot of talent, and a lot of underlying numbers were pointing to their rise.
Frankly, it’s been a lot of fun to watch, too.
2. Kyle Connor / Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets
On one hand, the Jets squandered a 2-0 lead. But nights like Monday serve as a reminder that many of Winnipeg’s top players are producing.
Beyond some great work (and a gaffe or two) from Connor Hellebuyck, the Jets can chalk up getting a standings point to the work of Connor and Wheeler. Really, your taste likely dictates which of the two had the better night.
On one hand, Connor scored the Jets’ first two goals, and he also generated a shootout goal. Connor created plenty of offense with six shots on goal for the evening. On the other hand, Blake Wheeler had more “actual” points, assisting on all three Jets goals. That included an assist on a late Mark Scheifele goal that sent the game to overtime.
3. Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
OK, Panarin’s empty-net goal does kind of artificially inflate his three-point night. If it helps his case, he legitimately tried to set someone else up for an ENG before Panarin had to do the job himself.
When you add his two assists, Panarin nonetheless powered the Rangers’ narrow victory over the Penguins on Monday. This gives Panarin six points during a three-game point streak, and 12 points over nine games this season.
NWHL SCORES
The Connecticut Whale forfeited their game against Minnesota, becoming the second NWHL team to withdraw from the tournament. With that, the Pride and Beauts battled for seeding.
As a result, tonight’s game between Boston and Buffalo is no longer an elimination game. Boston and Buffalo have been notified by the NWHL that they are playing for the third and fourth seeds in the playoffs.
— PHF (@PHF) February 2, 2021
Boston Pride 7, Buffalo Beauts 1
The Pride ran away with this game from the start, opening things up with a 3-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. Between Sunday’s 6-0 thrashing and this 7-1 result, the Pride outscored the Beauts 13-1 in back-to-back games. Meghara McManus (1G, 2A) and Kaleigh Fratkin (3A) topped Pride scorers with three-point outputs. Remarkably, Fratkin registered a +6 rating in this game.
NWHL SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY
NBCSN will carry the single-elimination Isobel Cup Semifinals at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 4. Scroll for more information.
NWHL STANDINGS: Four playoff teams determined
1. Toronto Six
2. Minnesota Whitecaps
3. Boston Pride
4. Buffalo Beauts
Whale – 4 points (2-2-0; -3 goal differential) (withdrawn)Riveters – 4 points (2-1-0; +3 goal differential) (withdrawn)
The single-elimination Isobel Cup Semifinals will be shown live on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the Isobel Cup Final on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. ET. In addition to coverage on NBCSN, live coverage will stream exclusively on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.
Highlights of the night for Monday in the NHL
If lesser players were involved, there’d be a serious risk of over-passing. With more nerves involved, Brayden Point and Mathieu Joseph would’ve failed to beat the buzzer. Point and Joseph pulled it off, though, and it was impressive:
While it’s a fairly nondescript goal, it’s Zdeno Chara, with the Capitals, scoring against the Bruins:
The Capitals ended up squandering that lead, though.
NHL lowlight of Monday: Hellebuyck allows center-ice goal
Connor Hellebuyck won the Vezina Trophy last season, and rightfully so. Considering some of the Jets’ lapses on Monday, he was mostly great. So keep that in mind when you see that Hellebuyck allowed a center-ice goal. These things happened even to the best of the best:
Kinda makes me you feel better about dropping toothpaste on my your shirt, eh?
NHL scores from Monday
Rangers 3, Penguins 1
Bruins 5, Capitals 3
Lightning 5, Predators 2
Canadiens 6, Canucks 2
Flames 4, Jets 3 (SO)
—
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.