Dominik Simon

The Buzzer: Crosby’s return, Matthews’ hat trick, Kubalik’s hot streak

By Adam GretzJan 15, 2020, 12:02 AM EST

Three Stars

1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins. He made his return to the lineup on Tuesday night and dominated the Minnesota Wild with four points (one goal, three assists) in a 7-3 win. Along with his sixth goal of the season, he also made one of the plays of the night (see it below) to set up Dominik Simon for a highlight reel goal. Read more about his return to the lineup here.

2. Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs. This seems like the type of game the Maple Leafs are going to be winning a lot of, especially given the current state of their defense. They score seven goals, had one of their stars (Matthews) record a hat trick, they gave up a hat trick (to Blake Coleman) and held on for a 7-4 win. Matthews’ three goal performance on Tuesday gives him 34 goals for the season and puts him on pace for 59 goals over 82 games. He is just six goals away from matching his career high (40). He is also just two goals behind David Pastrnak (36 goals) for the league lead.

3. Dominik Kubalik, Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks appeared to be on their way to an ugly loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night after giving up two early goals. The trio of Kubalik, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane was not going to let that happen. Kubalik extended his current goal-scoring streak to five consecutive games by netting a pair of goals to send the game to overtime, setting the stage for Toews’ game-winning goal early in the extra period. Kubalik is having an outstanding rookie season for the Blackhawks and has now scored 18 goals on the season. That is second best on the team, trailing only Kane. The Blackhawks still sit six points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference but they really needed this win given how difficult their upcoming schedule is.

Other notable performances from Tuesday

Elvis Merzlikins recorded his second straight shutout for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they beat the Boston Bruins 3-0 to move back into a tie for the second Wild Card spot with the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask was injured in this game after being hit in the head. Read more about that here.
Brock Nelson scored two goals and was one of seven Islanders to record at least two points in an 8-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 41 shots he faced on Tuesday night (and tried to score a goal!) to help lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
The Tampa Bay Lightning overcame a 2-0 deficit to rally for a 4-3 shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Big night for the Coyotes as Phil Kessel, Taylor Hall, Conor Garland, and Derek Stepan all had three points in a 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks to move them into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division.
Leon Draisaitl scored a pair of goals to help lead the Edmonton Oilers to a big 4-2 win to help them keep pace with the rest of the teams in the Pacific Division race.
Esa Lindell‘s overtime goal completed the Dallas Stars’ against the Colorado Avalanche, giving them a 3-2 win.

Highlights of the Night

Filip Forsberg scores with the Lacrosse-style goal for the Nashville Predators. Read all about it here.

Sidney Crosby passes to himself off the back of the net then sets up Dominik Simon for the goal.

Jack Eichel scored the game-winning goal for the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights with this incredible display of speed and skill.

Blooper of the Night

No video to share, but it has to be Wild coach Bruce Boudreau making a pre-game mistake on his lineup card and forcing his team to play with a shorthanded defense for the entire game. Read all about it here.

Honorable mention goes to this crazy sequence at the start of the Jets-Canucks game where the Jets put the puck in the net three times within only 37 seconds, only to have just one of the goals actually count on the score board.

Factoids

Hellebuyk’s shutout is the 18th of his career and puts him in first place in Jets franchise history. [NHL PR]
Kris Letang became the first Penguins defenseman to record 400 career assists with the team. [Penguins PR]
Eichel reached the 60-point mark in the Sabres’ 46th game of the season. He is the first Sabres player to record 60 points in 46 games or fewer since Alexander Mogilny and Pat Lafontaine. They both did it during the 1992-93 season. [NHL PR]

Scores

Buffalo Sabres 4, Vegas Golden Knights 2
Toronto Maple Leafs 7, New Jersey Devils 4
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Los Angeles Kings 3 (SO)
New York Islanders 8, Detroit Red Wings 2
Pittsburgh Penguins 7, Minnesota Wild 3
Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Boston Bruins 0
Chicago Blackhawks 3, Ottawa Senators 2 (OT)
Winnipeg Jets 4, Vancouver Canucks 0
Arizona Coyotes 6, San Jose Sharks 3
Edmonton Oilers 4, Nashville Predators 2
Dallas Stars 3, Colorado Avalanche 2 (OT)

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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.

Crosby dominates Wild in return to Penguins lineup

By Adam GretzJan 14, 2020, 9:40 PM EST

Crosby out vs. Rangers, injury still being evaluated

By Adam GretzNov 11, 2019, 12:53 PM EST

1 Comment

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan offered an injury update on Sidney Crosby on Monday afternoon and it was not exactly an encouraging one.

Crosby has already been ruled out for the Penguins’ game in New York on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN) against the Rangers and he will not accompany the team on its current road trip (it is a two-game trip that takes them to New York and New Jersey).

According to Sullivan, Crosby’s injury is still being evaluated and he does not yet know if it will be a long-term situation.

Editor’s note: Need tickets for Tuesday? Click here

Crosby was injured during the Penguins’ 3-2 shootout win on Saturday night early in the third period. He played just one shift in that period that saw him take an awkward fall after being tangled up with Chicago’s Erik Gustafsson, and then block a shot with his foot.

He is another look at the sequence.

Jared McCann took Crosby’s place centering the top line at practice on Monday between Jake Guentzel and Alex Galchenyuk. Evgeni Malkin, still working his back from an injury of his own, remained on the second line between Dominik Simon and Bryan Rust.

The Penguins are already without Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist, continuing what has been a season-long trend of significant injuries. Even with all of the injuries they are 4-1-1 in their past six games and 10-6-1 for the season.

Crosby has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 17 games this season and is one of the biggest reasons they were able to overcome their early season injury issues and keep winning games.

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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.

PHT Morning Skate: On Josi’s contract; Kings’ contracts and Quick

By Sean LeahyOct 31, 2019, 9:20 AM EDT

2 Comments

Welcome to the PHT Morning Skate, a collection of links from around the hockey world. Have a link you want to submit? Email us at phtblog@nbcsports.com.

• Why Roman Josi’s eight-year extension will be like a fine wine and get better with age. [A to Z Sports Nashville]

• Bobby Ryan, unlike Roberto Luongo back in the day, doesn’t think his contract “sucks”: “I think my contract is OK. It works for me. Everybody’s got agents. They did their job. You can laugh about it all you want. Everything gets magnified because of it and I understand that. And have I lived up to it? At portions of the contract, yes. At portions of the contract, absolutely not. And I understand what comes with that.” [Ottawa Citizen]

• How do the large contracts for Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar fit into the Kings’ rebuild? [TSN]

• Can Jonathan Quick fix the issues he’s dealing with? [ESPN]

• With Vladimir Tarasenko out five months, the Blues are better off avoiding making a trade to fill that hole in the lineup. [Bleedin’ Blue]

• How the trade to the Canadiens reignited Max Domi’s passion for hockey. [Sportsnet]

• Dainius Zubrus on how hockey in Lithuania is improving. [IIHF]

• The Penguins’ top line of Dominik Simon, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel is working. [Pensburgh]

• A good read about Crosby surprising a young fan from Ireland who battles Duchenne muscular dystrophy. [Penguins]

• Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque talks Bruins-Rangers, his biggest NHL regret and more. [Sporting News]

• Kevin Shattenkirk’s start with the Lightning shows poor asset management by the Rangers. [Blueshirt Banter]

• On offensive defensemen and killing penalties. [RotoWorld]

• How Ken Holland landed in a good situation with the Oilers. [Freep]

• Looking back at how Carey Price and Marc-Andre Fleury began their careers, Carter Hart’s early struggles are nothing to worry about. [The Hockey News]

• It’s getting late early for the Sharks. [NBC Sports Bay Area]

• How the NHL and its corporate partners work together to pull off big events like the annual outdoor games. [Forbes]

• The goaltending issue is getting better for the Devils, but it will remain a problem. [All About the Jersey]

• Finally, the trade was one for one:

.@Josh_Teves4 went to @Princeton so he knows a good deal when he sees one. One puck for one @SwedishFish pic.twitter.com/uAGUA5QtdP

— Utica Comets (@UticaComets) October 30, 2019

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.

The Buzzer: Big night for stars like Crosby, Ovechkin (also Dallas Stars)

Getty Images

By James O'BrienOct 30, 2019, 2:20 AM EDT

3 Comments

Three Stars

1. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Ovechkin provided some potential bulletin board material for the Maple Leafs before the game, but instead he essentially called his shot.

The star sniper generated two goals (including the overtime-winner) and two assists, firing 10 shots on goal. He now has 11 goals and 18 points in 14 games to start the 2019-20 season strong. Oh yeah, he also logged a ridiculous 12:38 TOI on the power play on Tuesday, part of a wild game that included a couple controversial Tom Wilson hits.

Ovi wasn’t the only player who had a strong night in that one. John Carlson scored two goals to reach 23 points. Auston Matthews wasn’t far behind Ovechkin with two goals and one assist. Nicklas Backstrom collected three assists.

2. Alexander Radulov, Dallas Stars

Dallas came into Tuesday’s game against the Wild with a -10 goal differential in the third period of games. They brought that down to a more respectable -5 on Tuesday as part of a thunderous comeback. Late in the second, the Wild went up 3-0, only for the Stars to score six unanswered goals to stun Minnesota 6-3.

Radulov began that rally with Dallas’ first goal, and ended up generating a hat trick plus an assist. He simply wouldn’t be denied, firing 10 SOG. If this was about Minnesota sitting on a lead in any way, Dallas showed that it’s probably not the best way to put them away.

Ovechkin gets the slight nod because Radulov’s third goal came on an empty-netter. Radulov’s second was the GWG, so they had clinchers in common on Tuesday.

3. Nick Bonino, Nashville Predators

The Predators scored three goals on Tuesday, and Bonino generated all of them for a natural hat trick. No Bones about it, that’s an impressive night.

(Sorry … ish.)

Other players like Sidney Crosby deserve a mention (more on that in a moment), but a natural hatty is really something. Considering that Bonino and Crosby were teammates, and Bonino’s goals came from the “dirty areas” of the ice, so 87 probably wouldn’t be so unhappy.

Bonino wasn’t far from the other top two in SOG, either, with nine on his way to that hat trick. This continues a strong start to 2019-20 for Bonino, who now has 10 points in 12 games.

Honorable mentions

Crosby and the Penguins absolutely feasted on an overmatched Flyers team, and that meant filling up the scoresheet. Crosby scored a goal and two assists for three points, matched by Dominik Simon and Dominik Kahun. Bonus points to Kahun, who managed his goal and two assists in just 8:49 TOI.
Again, Matthews and Backstrom had three-point nights of their own.
Rocco Grimaldi got assists on all three of Bonino’s goal. Bones and Grimaldi sounds like it could be a buddy cop show. Just a lot to like, folks.
Josh Mahura of the Ducks collected three assists as the Ducks won a high-scoring game against the Jets 7-4. Mahura’s the second Ducks rookie to generate three points in a game, and notched quite a few other milestones.

Highlight of the Night

How could it be anything but Andrei Svechnikov scoring a lacrosse-style goal? More on that here.

Another Storm Surge

A Halloween-themed one. Maybe they’d be called nerds instead of jerks this time, to get a candy theme going?

Factoids

Cam Fowler scored his 61st goal, passing Scott Niedermayer for the most of any defenseman in Ducks history.
Ovechkin finished the night with 669 career regular-season goals. According to NHL PR, that puts Ovechkin ahead of Luc Robitaille for most as a player listed as a LW. He’s also now ranked 12th all-time in goals scored, in general. Depending upon how his season goes, Ovechkin could really climb the ranks in 2019-20, or soon after.

8. Mark Messier – 694
9. Steve Yzerman – 692
10. Mario Lemieux – 690
11. Teemu Selanne – 684
12. Ovechkin – 669

Ovechkin’s teammate Carlson scored two goals to finish the night with 23 points on the season, and in October. Only one defenseman’s had a better October in NHL history: Al MacInnis in 1990, according to NHL PR.
The Red Wings ended an eight-game losing streak by beating the Oilers.

Scores

BOS 5 – SJS 1
WSH 4 – TOR 3 (OT)
PIT 7 – PHI 1
CAR 2 – CGY 1
NYR 4 – TBL 1
DET 3 – EDM 1
NSH 3 – CHI 0
DAL 6 – MIN 3
ANA 7 – WPG 4

MORE:
• Pro Hockey Talk’s Stanley Cup picks.
• Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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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.