Three Stars
1. Kaapo Kahkonen, Minnesota Wild. Shutting out the Golden Knights is no easy task, even when they’re missing Mark Stone. Kahkonen earned his first career shutout with a 26-save performance after allowing just a single goal to the Coyotes last time out on March 5. Impressive stuff from the 24-year-old goalie in his first full season. He’s won seven games in a row, a franchise high, and the longest goalie win streak in the league this season.
2. Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles Kings. What a run Kempe has been on for the Kings. He stepped up on Monday with the game-tying goal with less than three minutes to play against the Ducks, adding to his big night with a hat trick to reach nine goals this season. He’s playing some of the best hockey of his career in this recent stretch.
3. Max Comtois, Anaheim Ducks. Comtois has been one of the lone Ducks bright spots all season, and he was sharp again on Monday night against the Kings. He picked up three assists en route to a 6-5 overtime victory in one of the Ducks highest offensive outputs all season. It’s also points in three of his last four games.
Monday Notables
• The NWHL announced its season re-start, with the semi-finals and Isobel Cup in Finals with Toronto, Minnesota, Connecticut and Boston returning.
• David Perron extended his seven-game point streak since February 24, the longest active streak in the league. He assisted on Brayden Schenn’s then-go ahead goal in the second period.
• Connor McDavid nabbed two assists on Monday against Montreal, and in doing so this season became the quickest he has ever reached the 30 assist mark, in just 27 games.
• With two assists on Monday night against the Avalanche, Clayton Keller extended his points streak to five games. It also extended the Coyotes road winning streak to nine games for the ninth time in franchise history.
• Evander Kane scored the overtime winner for the Sharks, the fourth of his career. Ironically enough, the last time he did it was in 2017 as a member of the Sabres, against the Sharks.
• Nice offensive night for the Ducks. Adam Henrique picked up the overtime winner and rookie Trevor Zegras had the primary assist, the second helper of his NHL career.
Highlights Of The Day
Evgenii Dadonov put the Senators ahead 1-0 just 56 seconds into Monday’s bout with the Oilers. It was the second time this season the Sens opened their lead less than a minute into the game, the other instance also occurring against Edmonton.
You can always count on Dad(onov). pic.twitter.com/ZPmjwg3COm
— NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2021
Blues rookie Niko Mikkola opened the scoring for the Blues with his first career goal.
Niko Mikkola will never forget career goal No. 1.
— NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2021
Welcome to the show!
NHL x @MGMResortsIntl pic.twitter.com/xS2Vzl03vt
Kevin Fiala netted a pretty goal to aid Kahkonen on the way to his first career shutout.
Little shimmy and Kevin Fiala gets the @mnwild on the board. pic.twitter.com/ld7eQGENYn
— NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2021
Scores
Wild 2, Golden Knights 0
Sharks 3, Blues 2 (OT)
Coyotes 3, Avalanche 2
Oilers 3, Senators 2
Ducks 6, Kings 5 (OT)
Canucks 2, Canadiens 1 (SO)
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Marisa Ingemi is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop her a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Ingemi.