The NHL announced their three stars of the week as they do every Monday and Nathan MacKinnon picked up the honors for the first star with his three goals and six assists in three games.
A couple of goalies were the second and third stars as Calgary’s David Rittich was named the second star as he went 2-0-1 with a 1.94 GAA and a .935 save percentage.
Martin Jones has struggled this season but was sharp this past week as he went 3-0-0 with a 1.98 GAA and a .935 save percentage.
Mitch Marner was back on the ice for the Maple Leafs at practice and could return as early as Wednesday at home against the Colorado Avalanche.
Mark Borowiecki of the Ottawa Senators stopped a robbery attempt Sunday when he knocked down the perpetrator trying to flee from the scene. The NHL should commend him and possibly award him an extra hit for his heroics!
There were five games in the NHL Monday so let’s get to the action.
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BUFFALO 7 NEW JERSEY 1
Conor Sheary scored twice and Jack Eichel scored once and added two assists to lead the Sabres to a 7-1 win over struggling New Jersey.
The Sabres put this game away early as they scored five times in first period to chase New Jersey netminder Louie Domingue.
Jeff Skinner and Victor Olofsson each had a goal and an assist for Buffalo while Rasmus Asplund with his first goal of his NHL career and Henri Jokiharju also scored for the Sabres.
Nico Hischier was the lone goal scorer for the Devils as he scored a power play goal in the second period.
Linus Ullmark was outstanding in the Buffalo cage as he stopped 44-of-45 shots. He is 7-5-2 with a 2.86 GAA and a .917 save percentage. He has been sharp of late, going 3-01 in his last four games (over eight nights) and has given up 10 goals on 148 shots.
As mentioned earlier, Domingue was replaced after the first period and took the loss, giving up five goals on 15 shots. Mackenzie Blackwood came in and gave up two goals over the final two periods, on 17 shots.
Johan Larsson had three assists for the Sabres.
Skinner had seven shots on goal while Eichel, Sheary and Skinner were all plus-three.
Andy Greene and Pavel Zacha were minus-four for New Jersey.
VEGAS 4 NEW YORK RANGERS 1
Alex Tuch scored two first period goals and the Vegas Golden Knights cruised to a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers.
Reilly Smith and Max Pacioretty scored in the second period to give the Knights a 4-0 lead.
Brendan Lemieux scored the lone Rangers goal, his fourth of the season in the second period to break up the shutout attempt of Malcolm Subban.
Subban played in his fourth straight game as regular goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is back in Montreal as his father passed away last week.
Subban made 29 saves and is 3-4-2 with a 2.84 GAA and a .908 save percentage.
Henrik Lundqvist gave up four goals on 32 shots to take the loss. The Rangers netminder is 7-6-2 with a 3.21 GAA and a .910 save percentage. He is a middling second goalkeeper in most pools at best.
Paul Stastny, Tuch and Pacioretty each had five shots on goal.[[ad:athena]]
NEW YORK ISLANDERS 4 DETROIT 1
Jordan Eberle scored his first two goals of the season to lead the Islanders to a 4-1 win over lowly Detroit.
Eberle snapped a 14-game goalless streak from the start of the season. He missed 10 games from October 12-November 9 with a lower-body injury.
Anders Lee opened the scoring with his seventh of the season and Anthony Beauvillier made it 2-0 at the 13:17 mark of the first with his ninth of the season.
Dylan Larkin’s power play goal just past the midway mark of the second, was the only shot to get past Semyon Varlamov in the Islanders net.
It was the eighth straight loss for Detroit who are languishing at the bottom of the NHL standings with 17 points in 30 games.
Varlamov is having an outstanding season and it continued Monday as he turned aside 29 shots. He is 8-3-2 with a 2.39 GAA and a .922 save percentage.
Jonathan Bernier picked up the start for Detroit and gave up four goals on only 25 shots. He is 5-8-2 with a 3.34 GAA and a weak .891 save percentage.
Ryan Pulock had three assists.
ST. LOUIS 4 CHICAGO 0
Jake Allen stopped all 38 shots as the St. Louis Blues shut out the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0.
It was his first shutout of the season and 20th in his career. The Blues backup, who seems to be a lot better goaltender when not saddled with the starting job, is 5-1-2 with a 2.09 GAA and a .936 save percentage.
Jaden Schwartz led the Blues offensively with a goal and an assist. Brayden Schenn, Tyler Bozak and Mackenzie MacEachern all found the back of the net for the Blues.
Corey Crawford stopped 26-of-30 shots in taking the defeat. He is 5-7-2 with a 3.04 GAA and a .909 save percentage. The Blackhawks have lost three in a row.
Patrick Kane led the way with six shots on goal but obviously failed to pick up a point and saw his 15-game points streak come to an end.
Calvin de Haan had four blocked shots.
ANAHEIM 4 LOS ANGELES 2
Ryan Miller made 34 saves for his fourth win of the season as the Ducks defeated their cross-town rival Los Angeles Kings 4-2 Monday.
Miller is 4-1-2 with a 2.98 GAA and a .906 save percentage.
Derek Grant opened and closed the scoring with a pair of goals and Carter Rowney picked up the game winner with his fifth of the season as well as assisting on Grant’s opener.
Jakob Silfverberg scored on the power play in the first period for the Ducks to make it 2-0. It was his 10th of the season.
Kurtis MacDermid scored in the second to cut the Ducks lead in half. It was his second of the season.
Nikolai Prokhorkin also scored for Los Angeles. It was his fourth of the season but more importantly, his third in the last four games.
Jack Campbell made 16 saves in the Kings net and is 4-5-1 with a 2.98 GAA and a .891 save percentage.
Hampus Lindholm had three assists for the Ducks.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Conor Sheary – 2
Alex Tuch – 2
Jordan Eberle – 2
Derek Grant -2
Assists
Johan Larsson – 3
Ryan Pulock – 3
Hampus Lindholm - 3
Jack Eichel - 2
Shots on Goal
Jeff Skinner – 7
Patrick Kane - 6
Hits
Penalty Minutes
Max Pacioretty - 4
