Top players in the NHL on Sunday
Ville Husso, St. Louis Blues
Husso has been the hot hand for the Blues in goal over the past few weeks and turned aside 38 out of 39 shots in a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night. He has now won each of his past five starts, allowing just six goals in the process. Going back to the start of December he has a .946 save percentage in his past eight appearances. The Blues are 6-1-1 in those eight games.
Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins
Tristan Jarry entered the season as a major question mark for the Pittsburgh Penguins following his 2020-21 Stanley Cup Playoff performance. They stuck with him, believed in him, and he is rewarding them with a great 2021-22 performance that not only has him going to his second career All-Star game, but has seen him be one of the league’s best performing goalies through the first half of the season. He played one of his best games of the season on Sunday, stopping 27 of 29 shots through regulation and overtime and all three shots he faced in the shootout of a 3-2 Penguins win. It is not the number of saves that stands out. It is that he made highlight reel save after highlight reel save early in the game to keep his team in it while they gave up several odd-man rushes through the first period of the game. The Penguins have now won five games in a row and are just one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Highlights from around the NHL on Sunday
Goaltending has been a big problem for the Seattle Kraken this season, but Phillip Grubauer is starting to play better recently and he made this game-saving stop late in the third period on Anthony Duclair to help get them a surprising win against the Florida Panthers. For as good as Florida has been this season, and for as much as Seattle has struggled, the Kraken still managed to sweep the season series. Sometimes hockey is a weird game.
The Pittsburgh Penguins scored two goals in nine seconds early in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit against the Winnipeg Jets to help them get the game to overtime.
The Ottawa Senators have been playing much better hockey lately and have some real young talent that offers some hope for the future. Tim Stutzle, currently in his second season, is one of those bright young stars and he scored a beauty of a goal on Sunday to help lift the Senators to another win, this time against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Three takeaways from the NHL on Sunday
Kings snap losing streak
The Los Angeles Kings are still fighting for a playoff spot in the Western Conference but needed to snap their three-game losing streak to help keep pace. They did that on Sunday by rallying for two goals, including a third period winner from from Carl Grundstrom, to get a 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils. Viktor Arvidsson also scored his 10th goal of the season to tie the game in the second period. With Sunday’s win they still have one of the top-three points percentages in the Pacific Division.
P.K. Subban speaks
After that game Devils defenseman P.K. Subban spoke rather extensively about the racist incident directed at his brother, Jordan Subban, in an ECHL game on Saturday as well as racism in hockey and beyond. It was the second such incident in pro hockey this week alone.
Canucks goalie depth put to test
The Vancouver Canucks had to turn to their fifth-string goalie on Sunday night after their top four goalies were all placed in the league’s COVID protocols. Michael DiPietro got the start against the St. Louis Blues and allowed three goals on 17 shots in a 3-1 loss. The Canucks put fort a spectacular effort to try and get the win, putting 39 shots on goal against Ville Husso, but were unable to get more than one goal.
Monday’s big story
The two big stories on Monday are the Philadelphia Flyers looking to put a stop to their current losing streak, now at 11 games for their second losing streak of at least 10 consecutive games this season, and the Washington Capitals hosting the Vegas Golden Knights in a rematch of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.
Sunday’s NHL Scores
Pittsburgh Penguins 3, Winnipeg Jets 2 (SO)
Ottawa Senators 2, Columbus Blue Jackets 1
Los Angeles Kings 3, New Jersey Devils 2
Seattle Kraken 5, Florida Panthers 3
St. Louis Blues 3, Vancouver Canucks 1
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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.