Top player from Sunday in the NHL
Andre Burakovsky, Colorado Avalanche
The injuries keep mounting for the Colorado Avalanche, but they keep winning games. Their 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday night was their fourth in a row and improved them to 12-2-1 in their past 15 games. Leading the way in this one was Andre Burakovsky who recorded his first career NHL hat trick, providing all of the offense in the win. With that performance Burakovsky now has 12 goals on the season, tying him for the team lead with defenseman Cale Makar and forward Mikko Rantanen. The Avalanche remain the highest scoring team in the league by a significant margin.
Highlights from Sunday in the NHL
Burakovsky completes the hat trick for the Avalanche.
Troy Terry scored two more goals for the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night in a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues, including this game-winning goal in overtime on a penalty shot.
The Vancouver Canucks are suddenly on a roll under new coach Bruce Boudreau, and Elias Pettersson is starting to find his game again.
Three Takeaways from Sunday in the NHL
Bruce, there it is
It is not taking long for Bruce Boudreau to make an impact on the Vancouver Canucks. They improved to 4-0-0 since the coaching change on Sunday night, this time beating one of the league’s best teams in the Carolina Hurricanes. Their big stars were the difference makers on Sunday with Brock Boeser and Pettersson providing the offense, while Thatcher Demko stopped 28 out of 29 shots. The Canucks are still facing quite the uphill battle when it comes to getting back into playoff contention, but they have to start somewhere and the hiring of Boudreau has at least started that push.
Troy Terry’s incredible season rolls on
This remains one of the more improbable success stories in the league this season. Terry was always a pretty useful player in Anaheim but never had the offensive numbers to make anybody take notice. This season he does. He scored two more goals on Sunday night, including the overtime game-winning penalty shot seen above, to give him 17 goals and 28 total points this season. Keep in mind before this season he had never scored more than seven goals and 20 total points (in 48 games) in a single season. He also had scored just 15 total goals (in all seasons combined) before this season. He is one of the biggest reasons the Ducks are in playoff contention this season.
Juuse Saros leads Predators to a fifth consecutive win
Just when you think the Nashville Predators are trending in the wrong direction, they put together a five-game winning streak. They were 1-0 winners against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, thanks to a goal from Philip Tomasino and a 32-save shutout from Juuse Saros. Saros was the biggest reason the Predators turned their season around a year ago and stormed back to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he looks to be trying to do that again this season. Goaltending masks a lot of flaws if you have a great one, and the Predators look like they do.
Monday’s big story
Quite honestly the big story in the NHL on Monday is the only story in the NHL on Monday as far as games are concerned, as the Calgary Flames play the Chicago Blackhawks in the only scheduled game. Calgary will be looking to snap its current four-game losing streak against a Blackhawks team that has shown some modest improvement since Derek King replaced Jeremy Colliton as head coach. The Flames have been one of the league’s best, most dominant defensive teams in the league this season but have allowed 17 goals in their past five games. Chicago, meanwhile, has been alternating wins and losses for the past 12 games.
Sunday’s NHL Scores
Anaheim Ducks 3, St. Louis Blues 2 (OT)
Nashville Predators 1, New York Rangers 0
Colorado Avalanche 3, Florida Panthers 2
Vegas Golden Knights 6, Minnesota Wild 4
Vancouver Canucks 2, Carolina Hurricanes 1
—
Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.