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The Buzzer: Pastrnak’s third hat trick; Big games for DeAngelo, Rinne

By Adam GretzJan 10, 2020, 1:26 AM EST

Three Stars

1. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators. An incredible night for Rinne as he stopped 29 shots against the Chicago Blackhawks then scored the first goal of his career. What a way for new coach John Hynes to get his first win with the team. Rinne is just the 12th different goalie in NHL history to score a goal during a game. Read more about it here.

2. Tony DeAngelo, New York Rangers. He continued his breakout season with one of the most productive individual performances by a defenseman in NHL history. He finished with three goals, two assists, seven shots on goal, was a plus-3, and was on the ice for all six of the Rangers’ goals in a 6-3 win over their top rivals, the New Jersey Devils. Read all about his game and just how rare it is right here.

3. David Pastrnak Boston Bruins. The Pastrnak show continues to roll on in Boston. He recorded his third hat trick of the season (and his seventh since the start of the 2018-19 season) to open up a four-goal lead over Auston Matthews in the race for the Rocket Richard Award. He already has 35 goals in his first 45 games this season and is just three goals away from his career high which he set a year ago (in only 66 games). Since the start of the 2018-19 season he has 73 goals in 111 regular season games. That is a 54-goal pace over 82 games. He is currently on pace for 64 goals this season. If he can maintain that it would be the most since Alex Ovechkin scored 65 goals during the 2007-08 season.

Other notable performances on Thursday

  • Nikita Kucherov scored two goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning as they extended their winning streak to nine games. Read more about it here.
  • On the other end of the spectrum, the Montreal Canadiens have now lost eight games in a row after giving up four consecutive goals to the Edmonton Oilers.
  • Noel Acciari continued his stunning season in Florida with two more goals (he now has 17 in 41 games this season) in a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
  • Alexander Steen scored his first two goals of the season as the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues crushed the Buffalo Sabres.
  • Cam Talbot stopped 42 out of 43 shots and Johnny Gaudreau scored his 12th goal of the season to lead the Calgary Flames to a huge win over the Minnesota Wild.
  • Alec Martinez scored his first goal of the season and Jack Campbell stopped 44 out of 46 shots as the Los Angeles Kings stunned the Vegas Golden Knights.
  • Ben Bishop stopped all 27 shots he faced for the Dallas Stars as they shut out the Anaheim Ducks. They have now won six games in a row.
  • In their first game without injured forward Logan Couture the Sharks were able to pick up a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets thanks to goals from Kevin Labanc, Joe Thornton, and Brent Burns. The Blue Jackets have just two regulation losses over their past 16 games. Both of those losses have been against the Sharks.

Highlights of the Night

Of course we have to start with Pekka Rinne’s first career goal.

Look at this set-up by Jonathan Huberdeau as he fakes out the Canucks on this highlight reel play.

It did not get his team a win but Kyle Connor scores a beauty of a goal.

Blooper of the Night

Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins made this save lot more difficult than he needed to.

Factoids

  • Anze Kopitar recorded his 600th career assist for the Kings on Thursday night. [NHL PR]
  • With 60 points, Artemi Panarin has more points through the first 43 games of a season than any Rangers player in franchise history, topping the mark previously held by Wayne Gretzky. [NHL PR]
  • Connor McDavid reaches the 70 point mark in just his 46th game of the season for the second year in a row. It is the first time an NHL player has reached the 70-point mark in 46 games or fewer in consecutive seasons since Jaromir Jagr reached it for the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons. [NHL PR]

Scores

Boston Bruins 5, Winnipeg Jets 4
Edmonton Oilers 4, Montreal Canadiens 2
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Arizona Coyotes 0
Florida Panthers 5, Vancouver Canucks 2
New York Rangers 6, New Jersey Devils 3
St. Louis Blues 5, Buffalo Sabres 1
Nashville Predators 5, Chicago Blackhawks 2
Calgary Flames 2, Minnesota Wild 1
Dallas Stars 3, Anaheim Ducks 0
Los Angeles Kings 5, Vegas Golden Knights 2
San Jose Sharks 3, Columbus Blue Jackets 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.

The Buzzer: McDavid, Draisaitl, Eichel can’t be stopped

McDavid Draisaitl Eichel
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By James O'BrienDec 22, 2019, 2:48 AM EST
3 Comments

Three Stars

1. Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs

Gauging which player was the best of Saturday’s three-point men is difficult. Matthews (two goals, one assist) isn’t a certain choice for the top player on his team, as Zach Hyman also scored two goals and an assist in Toronto’s win.

That said, Matthews presents a worthy argument. He generated a primary assist, and offered up the game-winner.

The 22-year-old extended his multi-point streak to three games (4G, 3A). While Toronto’s been dysfunctional with injuries and inconsistency, Matthews keeps delivering, producing 23 goals and 41 points through 37 games.

Matthews could catch Jimmy Carson for a milestone among U.S.-born snipers if he keeps this up.

2. Jaden Schwartz, St. Louis Blues

The Blues scored two empty-net goals, but Schwartz didn’t feast on either of them. Instead, Schwartz served all steak, no sizzle: two primary assists and the game-winner.

(OK, Schwartz probably dished out at least some sizzle.)

With at least one point in four of five games (2G,4A), Schwartz has 28 points in 37 games. Maintaining such a pace would place at about 62 points over 82 games. Of course, Schwartz must stay healthy to flirt with that type of production.

3. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Hellebuyck came into Saturday as one of the league’s GSAA leaders, bailing out Winnipeg frequently. The netminder bumped that up with a 31-save shutout against Minnesota.

Yes, the Jets winning 6-0 takes some of the shine off of that. Not all, though, and Hellebuyck deserves recognition for saving Winnipeg’s season during certain stretches. Josh Morrissey serves as another Winnipeg option, as he collected three assists.

Highlight of the Night

Connor McDavid failed to make the three stars, but he was great as usual. McDavid scored another highlight reel against the Canadiens, rendering Max Domi and his highlight reel goal just a bit short of the mark.

Oopsie of the Night

Jaroslav Halak ranks as one of the NHL’s best backups, and plenty of teams wouldn’t mind employing him as their starter. After seeing this, I’d argue he should probably not try to evoke Hasek thwarting breakaways again anytime soon, though:

Naughty and nice

Factoids

Scores

BUF 3 – LAK 2
ANA 6 – NYI 5 (SO)
WPG 6 – MIN 0
NSH 4 – BOS 3 (OT)
TOR 4 – DET 1
PHI 5 – OTT 4 (SO)
WSH 3 – TBL 1
FLA 4 – CAR 2
CBJ 5 – NJD 1
EDM 4 – MTL 3
CHI 5 – COL 3
VAN 4 – PIT 1
STL 5 – SJS 2

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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.

The Buzzer: Penguins prolong Oilers’ woes; Incendiary Acciari

Acciari hat trick
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By James O'BrienDec 21, 2019, 12:50 AM EST

Three Stars

1. Noel Acciari, Florida Panthers

Acciari never generated a multi-goal game before Monday’s hat trick. The Panthers forward authored quite a few firsts this week, as he added another hat trick (a natural one, too) against Dallas. Acciari completed his hat trick with a penalty shot goal, collecting another first.

Acciari actually assisted on a Vincent Trocheck goal for his point of the night, so he generated four overall on Friday. Click here for more on Acciari’s stunning spurt of hat tricks.

2. Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals

Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin celebrated their 900th game together by bullying the poor Devils.

Backstrom matched Acciari by generating four points on Friday. In Backstrom’s case, the Swede collected two goals and two assists. The Capitals point out that this outburst pushes Backstrom to 900 points in his 900 games alongside Ovechkin. (Consider that an early factoid.)

Ovechkin and John Carlson enjoyed one-goal, one-assist nights themselves.

3. William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last season, Nylander struggled after finally signing with Toronto, finishing with 27 points in 54 games. The 23-year-old reached 27 points on Friday, merely Nylander’s 36th game of 2019-20. Nylander produced two goals and one assist against New Jersey on Friday.

Generating 27 points in 36 games would translate to a 61 or 62 point pace (hinging on if you round up). Nylander managing such a pace would almost be too fitting, as 61 points is his career-high from both 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Highlight of the Night (non-Acciari division)

Picture a Maple Leafs – Rangers game, and you’ll envision lots of goals and plenty of mistakes. The two teams delivered, with Mitch Marner really making the Rangers pay on this nice goal. Jacob Trouba bumping him likely hurt a lot less:

Comic relief by way of a fight

Hockey players humble us with their feats of athletic fancy, so this goofy “fight” between Miles Wood and Nick Jensen serves as an amusing change of pace:

Factoids

Scores

TOR 6 – NYR 3
WSH 6 – NJD 3
FLA 7 – DAL 4
PIT 5 – EDM 2

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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.

Another hat trick gives Panthers’ Noel Acciari a truly surprising hot streak

By James O'BrienDec 20, 2019, 9:46 PM EST
2 Comments

If asked to name a player who would close out the decade with back-to-back hat tricks, how long would it take you to choose Noel Acciari?

Before generating a hat trick for the Florida Panthers against the Ottawa Senators on Monday, Acciari had 23 goals in 209 career regular-season games. The 28-year-old set what was previously a career-high of 10 goals in 2017-18.

That was before Acciari joined Pavel Bure as the only players in Panthers history to score hat tricks in back-to-back games.

If earlier examples failed to hammer the point home that this is a very unexpected hot streak for Acciari, consider that his hat trick against the Senators was his first multi-goal game. By generating a hat trick against the Dallas Stars on Friday, Acciari now has two in a row. Acciari set a new career-high in the process, as he’s now at 11 goals. The gritty forward assisted on a Vincent Trocheck goal, too, giving him four points on the night and tying his career-high for points at 14.

Acciari arrived at his latest hat trick in style, too, capping it with a penalty shot. Watch the second hat trick in the video above, and check out Monday’s here:

Consider a few points about Acciari’s two hat tricks:

  • All six of the goals happened against goalies. Teammates weren’t merely gifting the gritty forward an empty-netter or two.
  • Sure, Acciari enjoys two great linemates in Jonathan Huberdeau and Vincent Trocheck. Huberdeau, in particular, has been red-hot this season, and both forwards fed Acciari great chances.
  • Acciari keeps going to the net/open spaces, though, so don’t totally dismiss his work.
  • Acciari hustled to draw that penalty shot and then scored it against Dallas.
  • He didn’t just generate a hat trick on Friday. Acciari scored his three goals in just four minutes for a natural hat trick.

Actually, Acciari topped Bure when you consider the speediness of his hat trick:

The Panthers beat the Stars 7-4 after thomping the Senators 6-1.

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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.

The Buzzer: Hat tricks for Acciari, Perron; Korpisalo owns Capitals

Getty Images
By Sean LeahyDec 16, 2019, 11:09 PM EST

THREE STARS

1. Noel Acciari, Florida Panthers

The first hat trick of Acciari’s career helped Florida to a 6-1 rout of the Senators and ended the Panthers’ three-game losing streak. The three-goal night was also the first multi-goal game of his career.

2. Joonas Korpisalo, Blue Jackets

Korpisalo registered 30 saves and Oliver Bjorkstrand provided a pair of goals in the 3-0 shutout of the Capitals. The shutout was the third of Korpisalo’s career and he’s yet to lose to Washington in three career starts. Columbus’ win put head coach John Tortorella into 15th place all-time with 635.

3. David Perron, Blues

St. Louis scored four consecutive goals en route to a 5-2 win over the Avalanche. After going down 2-1 midway through the second period, the Blues scored twice in a 36-second span, with Perron tying the game on the power play. He’d complete the fifth hat trick of his career late in the third period with an empty netter to seal the victory.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT

• Acciari’s second goal came via some lovely dangling from Jonathan Huberdeau, who had four assists on the night. Huberdeau now has 400 points in 500 career NHL games:

• Artemi Panarin is wondering how this puck did not cross the goal line:

SUPPLEMENTAL DISCIPLINE CORNER

• Ryan Ellis on Pavel Buchnevich. Two-minute minor enough?:

• What about this hit by Tom Wilson on Vladislav Gavrikov?

NEWSY MONDAY
• Taylor Hall gets dealt to the Coyotes
• Hall is hoping to play some playoff hockey in Arizona
• Kovalchuk and the Kings are finally breaking up
• Crawford will return to Blackhawks bench from suspension on Jan. 2
• Farabee gets suspended three games
• POWER RANKINGS!

STATS OF THE NIGHT

SCORES
Predators 5, NY Rangers 2
Panthers 6, Senators 1
Blue Jackets 3, Capitals 0
Blues 5, Avalanche 2
Oilers 2, Stars 1

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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.