It was a golden night not only for Vegas who bumped their point total to 84, setting an NHL expansion record as the previous record of 83 by the expansion Florida Panthers was defeated, but also for the United States Olympic team as they defeated their arch-rivals from Canada 3-2 in the worst possible way, the shootout.
It was an exciting game as the two best teams in the world who are fairly evenly matched showed off their game to the rest of the world at the highest stage, the Olympic Games with the United States opening the scoring only to see Canada score twice in the second before they tied it up late in the third.
Congratulations to both teams as neither team deserved to lose. Too bad the NHL did not send their best as they enter the semi-final stage of the tournament. It should have been just as exciting but it is anti-climactic as the best players in the world are not in South Korea.
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CHICAGO 3 OTTAWA 2 (Shootout)
Nick Schmaltz scored in the seventh round of the shootout to give the Blackhawks a rare win of late as they beat the even worse Ottawa Senators 3-2.
Patrick Kane was the offensive star of the night as he scored in the first, set up Artem Anisimov on an absolutely beautiful pass for the second Chicago goal and then scored in the shootout as well. Kane has 23 goals and 57 points this season, a nice total but that is only good for 20th in overall scoring. Kane is usually in the top-five and won the Art Ross a couple of seasons ago with 106 in the 2015-16 season.
Anton Forsberg was strong in the Chicago cage as he turned aside 32 shots for his sixth win of the season against 12 losses and three defeats after regulation. His 2.96 GAA and .908 save percentage are nothing to write home about but he was strong Wednesday night.
Mike Condon matched Forsberg save-for-save and more for 65 minutes as he stopped 36 shots but gave up three in the shootout to Forsberg’s two.
Zack Smith with his seventh of the season and Matt Duchenes’ 16th of the year scored for Anaheim. Mark Stone drew an assist on each Senators goal.
Mark Borowiecki had nine hits on the night for Ottawa.
It was Joel Quenneville’s 1,600th career game as a head coach which is third all-time behind only Scotty Bowman (2141) and Al Arbour who is only seven games ahead of Quenneville.
ANAHEIM 2 DALLAS 0
The Stars did everything in their power to win this one including outshooting the Ducks 41-17 but they were unable to solve Ryan Miller and fell 2-0 to Anaheim.
Miller was outstanding he stopped all 13 shots during the Stars 0-4 on the power play as Dallas threw everything but the kitchen sink at the veteran netminder. It was his 42nd career shutout and he will get a chance to lead the Ducks as John Gibson is out with a lower body injury suffered Monday. The Ducks have won their last two games via the shutout as Gibson and Miller combined for 33 saves including 20 by Miller in the third period.
Ryan Getzlaf scored shorthanded and assisted on Hampus Lindholm’s power play goal. Dallas had eight shots on goal during a 5-3 man-advantage but Getzlaf scored just 14 seconds after the first penalty ended and Anaheim still short a man.
Ben Bishop gave up both goals on only 17 shots. He has given up six goals on 22 shots in his last two games. That’s bad.
VEGAS 7 CALGARY 3
Perhaps Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan should pay attention. He did not think that it mattered that teams came into Las Vegas the night before, as he said that there is plenty to do in other big league cities such as New York, Chicago and Montreal and if you can’t trust your players, you are going to lose a lot of sleep. Well the Golden Knights whipped the Flames 7-3 after that comment. GM Bob Murray of the Ducks did it differently this week as Anaheim flew in on game day and ended up beating Vegas 2-0.
Reilly Smith, Ryan Carpenter, Erik Haula, Luca Sbisa and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist to lead the Golden Knights to their 23rd home win, beating the Hartford Whalers record 22 set in the 1979-80 season. The Whalers had Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull end their illustrious careers that season with Hartford.
William Karlsson with his 31st and Cody Eakin also scored for the Golden Knights. David Perron had a pair of assists including his 41st of the season.
T.J. Brodie, Dougie Hamilton and Matthew Tkachuk replied for the Flames who tied it at 3 in the second period only to have Vegas score four times the rest of the way to ice the game.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots for his 20th win of the season. David Rittich gave up all seven goals for the Flames on only 26 shots.
Notes: The Kings and Coyotes made a deal on Wednesday with Tobias Rieder and Scott Wedgewood dealt to Los Angeles while Darcy Kuemper was sent to Arizona. The Coyotes promptly signed Kuemper, who is 10-1-3 with a 2.10 GAA and a .932 save percentage this season, to a two-year deal worth a total of $3.7 million. He gives the Coyotes a solid backup behind Antti Raanta…Noah Juulsen, the Canadiens first pick and 26th overall in 2015 was recalled on Wednesday and the 20-year-old defenseman could make his NHL debut this week. He has no fantasy value at this time…Carey Price suffered an apparent head injury Tuesday and that forced the Canadiens to call up Charlie Lindgren on an emergency basis…Corey Crawford may not be able to return this season according to coach Joel Quenneville…Chris Kreider has received medical clearance to return to the Rangers. He had a blood clot that required surgery to resection his ribs…Jeff Carter (ankle) has been given clearance to start practicing again. He has been out of the Kings lineup since October 18…The Canadiens have dealt Jakub Jerabek to Washington for a conditional 2019 fifth round pick…The Maple Leafs dealt Eric Fehr to San Jose for a seventh round pick in 2020…There were a couple of waiver claims Wednesday as the Blue Jackets picked up Taylor Chorney from Washington while Gabriel Dumont is headed back to Tampa Bay after the Lightning claimed him from Ottawa. The Senators claimed Dumont earlier in the season from Tampa Bay and turnabout is fair play.
