There was no shortage of big performances last night. Nathan MacKinnon had five points, Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists, Gabriel Landeskog had a hat trick, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg as 10 different players recorded at least three points on Thursday.
Of all of them though, I really want to give special mention to St. Louis’ Brayden Schenn. His goal and two assists might not be the night’s best performance, but it leaves him with 14 points in his last six games. If you look at what’s happened since the start of November, you’ll see that his 14 points is league leading. That’s propelled him into a tie with teammate Jaden Schwartz for fourth place in the NHL’s scoring race with 25 points in 20 games.
Schenn was seen as someone with a lot of offensive upside early in his career, but he never quite came into his own with Philadelphia. He was still solid as he scored 51 goals and 114 points in 159 contests in 2015-16 and 2016-17 combined, he just wasn’t a star. It seems like the trade has done him a lot of good though and the price the Blues paid for him (Jori Lehtera, the 27th overall pick in 2017, and a first round pick in either 2018 or 2019) to get him from Philadelphia is looking like assets well spent.
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TORONTO 1 NEW JERSEY 0 (OT)
Frederik Andersen turned aside 42 shots to earn the shutout. It was his second perfect game of the season and extended his winning streak to four games. He’s 11-6-0 with a 3.04 GAA and .909 save percentage in 17 starts.
At the other end of the ice, Cory Schneider kicked out 24 of 25 shots. He has a 7-3-2 record, 2.64 GAA, and .924 save percentage in 13 games this season.
William Nylander netted the game’s lone goal. It was his fourth marker and 14th point in 20 games.
Nazem Kadri got the primary assist on the goal to extend his point streak to five games. He has nine goals and 17 points in 20 contests in 2017-18.
Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri each fired seven shots on goal for New Jersey, but obviously neither managed to score. Hall has six goals in 63 shots this season.
NY ISLANDERS 6 CAROLINA 4
Mathew Barzal scored a goal and registered two assists last night. That brings the Islanders rookie up to four goals and 17 points in 18 contests.
Johnny Boychuk accounted for the game-winning goal. It was his second marker and sixth point in 18 games.
Sebastian Aho scored a goal and registered an assist for Carolina. After failing to score a goal in his first 15 games, Aho now has found the back of the net in back-to-back contests.
Scott Darling surrendered five goals on 35 Islanders shots. That leaves him with a 5-4-4 record, 2.57 GAA, and .905 save percentage in 13 starts.
Thomas Greiss saved 28 of 32 shots on Thursday. He has a 5-2-2 record, 3.37 GAA, and .902 save percentage in nine games.
ARIZONA 5 MONTREAL 4
It took 21 games, but Arizona has finally earned a win in regulation time. The Coyotes are still just 3-15-3 this season and aren’t likely to even come close to competing for a playoff spot due to the deep hole they’re in, but at least they got that monkey off their backs.
Christian Dvorak scored a goal and registered an assist for the Coyotes. He has three goals and 12 points in 21 contests.
Christian Fischer netted the game-winning goal and recorded an assist. That gives him five goals and eight points in 19 games.
Antti Raanta saved 33 of 37 Canadiens shots. He’s 2-5-2 with a 3.26 GAA and .903 save percentage in 10 starts.
Tomas Plekanec assisted on two of Montreal’s four goals. He’s up to three goals and eight points in 20 contests.
Charlie Lindgren allowed five goals on 32 shots last night. That’s the first time he’s surrendered more than two goals through six starts this season.
PITTSBURGH 3 OTTAWA 1
Matt Murray saved 21 of 22 shots to earn his second straight win. He’s 11-4-1 with a 2.85 GAA and .906 save percentage in 17 games.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau was the only player to score on Murray. It was his second goal and 10th point in 17 contests in 2017-18.
Jake Guentzel scored the game-winning goal. That gives him six goals and 11 points in 21 games.
Riley Sheahan also found the back of the net for Pittsburgh. It was his first goal and third point in 20 contests this season.
Craig Anderson saved 26 of 28 shots last night. He has a 7-4-3 record, 2.92 GAA, and .898 save percentage in 14 games.
TAMPA BAY 6 DALLAS 1
Radek Faksa scored the Stars’ lone goal. It was his fourth marker and eighth point in 18 games.
Steven Stamkos just continued to pile on the points with another two goals and two assists on Thursday. He’s up to 10 goals and 35 points in just 19 contests.
Stamkos’ partner in crime, Nikita Kucherov, added a goal and two assists. Kucherov has 17 goals and 33 points in 19 games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 27 of 28 shots last night. That gives him a 14-1-1 record, 2.24 GAA, and .932 save percentage in 16 starts.
Ben Bishop allowed six goals on 28 shots in his first game against Tampa Bay since he was dealt last season. He has a 7-6-0 record, 2.91 GAA, and .899 save percentage in 15 starts.
MINNESOTA 6 NASHVILLE 4
Ryan Johansen scored a goal and registered two assists for the Predators. That goal was his first in 18 games this season.
Pekka Rinne kicked out 30 of 35 shots Thursday night. That drops him to a 9-3-2 record, 2.48 GAA, and .921 save percentage in 14 starts.
Eric Staal netted a goal and recorded two assists for the Wild. That gives him seven goals and 17 points in 18 contests in 2017-18.
Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon also contributed a goal and two assists. He has three goals and 14 points in 18 games.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 26 of 30 shots, endings his shutout streak at three games. He has a 8-6-1 record, 2.48 GAA, and .922 save percentage in 15 starts.
WINNIPEG 3 PHILADELPHIA 2 (SO)
Brian Elliott kicked out 31 of 33 shots prior to the shootout. He surrendered three goals in four shootout rounds to drop to 6-5-2 this season.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 30 of 32 Flyers shots in regulation time. He allowed two goals in four shootout rounds, which was good enough to pick up his 10th win in just 14 games.
Mark Scheifele saved the contest for the Jets by scoring with just 49 seconds remaining in the third period. It was his 11th goal and 22nd point in 18 contests in 2017-18.
Mathieu Perreault also found the back of the net for Winnipeg. He has two goals and four points in six games.
Jakub Voracek scored a goal and registered an assist. That gives him five goals and 23 points in 19 contests in 2017-18.
COLORADO 6 WASHINGTON 2
Gabriel Landeskog led the charge for Colorado with a hat trick. That gives him eight goals and 14 points in 17 contests this season. He’s bouncing back after being limited to just 33 points in 2016-17.
Nathan MacKinnon had a big game too with a goal and four assists. He’s up to six goals and 20 points in 17 games.
Philipp Grubauer surrendered six goals on 28 shots on Thursday. He’s traditionally been a great backup, but has struggled this season with a 0-5-1 record, 3.86 GAA, and .876 save percentage in eight contests.
Evgeny Kuznetsov found the back of the net for Washington. He’s up to four goals and 21 points in 20 games in 2017-18.
Semyon Varlamov saved 28 of 30 shots last night. He has a 7-3-1 record, 3.07 GAA, and .910 save percentage in 11 starts.
ST. LOUIS 4 EDMONTON 1
Brayden Schenn was the hero tonight for St. Louis with two goals and an assist. It extended his point streak to six games and this was his fourth multi-point contest over that span.
Ryan Strome found the back of the net for the Oilers. That gives him three goals and eight points in 19 games this season.
Alex Pietrangelo assisted on two of the Blues’ four goals. The blueliner has seven goals and 18 points in 20 contests.
Jake Allen kicked out 29 of 30 shots last night. He has a 10-5-1 record, 2.71 GAA, and .912 save percentage in 16 starts.
Cam Talbot surrendered four goals on 39 shots on Thursday. He’s down to a 7-9-1 record, 2.92 GAA, and .911 save percentage in 17 games.
VEGAS 5 VANCOUVER 2
Maxime Lagace stopped 19 of 21 Canucks shots last night. He has a 3-5-1 record, 3.87 GAA, and .864 save percentage in nine games.
Erik Haula scored the game-winning goal and registered an assist. That gives him six goals and 11 points in 14 contests.
William Karlsson also had a goal and an assist for Vegas. He’s up to seven goals and 14 points in 18 games after setting a career-high in 2016-17 with 25 points in 81 contests with Columbus.
Jacob Markstrom surrendered four goals on 29 shots. He has a 5-7-2 record, 2.63 GAA, and .910 save percentage in 15 games.
Brock Boeser found the back of the net on Thursday. That gives him six goals and 16 points in 16 contests in 2017-18.
BOSTON 2 LOS ANGELES 1
Anton Khudobin saved 27 of 28 Kings’ shots. The Bruins backup goalie improved to 4-0-2 with a 2.35 GAA and .928 save percentage in seven contests.
At the other end of the ice, Jonathan Quick turned aside 28 of 30 shots. He’s now lost four straight games, dropping him to 9-6-1 this season.
Drew Doughty scored Los Angeles’ only goal. It was his fourth marker and 12th point in 19 contests.
Zdeno Chara found the back of the net for the Bruins. He has two goals and six points in 18 games.
It was a night of defensemen scoring as Charlie McAvoy accounted for Boston’s other marker. That gives him two goals and nine points in 18 contests.
FLORIDA 2 SAN JOSE 0
Roberto Luongo earned a 35-save shutout last night. He has a 4-3-1 record, 2.74 GAA, and .927 save percentage in nine starts.
Timo Meier set a team-high with seven shots against Luongo. Meier has only found the back of the net once over 40 shots this season.
Martin Jones stopped 26 of 28 shots on Thursday. He has a 8-5-0 record, 2.13 GAA, and .926 save percentage in 13 starts.
Nick Bjugstad found the back of the net for Florida. He’s up to four goals and nine points in 18 games.
Colton Sceviour accounted for the game-winning marker. It was his fourth goal and sixth point in 12 contests.
