Player of the night: Alex Killorn, Tampa Bay Lightning
The beauty of picking Killorn is that it’s the smart choice even if you disagree. (You know, because he went to Harvard?)
Anyway, the studious winger generated a career-high four assists on Thursday, with two of them being primary helpers. He was a big part of the Lightning’s 5-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and this seems like justice being that he wasn’t even named first star of that game.
That honor went to Slater Koekkoek thanks to his first two career NHL goals, a feat chronicled here. With the red-hot combo of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov also drawing attention tonight, it only feels fair to give Killorn his due.
Killorn, 28, also had a goal and an assist in his previous game, so that’s six points in two contests. He has seven points in four regular-season games so far in 2017-18.
(It was also a great night for defensemen scoring their first NHL goal[s].)
Highlight of the night: Minnesota Wild tough guy Chris Stewart’s goal survives an offside challenge, leaving Joel Quenneville ... displeased.
Stewart scored two goals on the night.
Factoid of the night: Roberto Luongo won his 454th game, tying Curtis Joseph for fourth all-time on the NHL’s wins list. Luongo got there in 968 contests while “Cujo” needed 943. Incredibly bold prediction: Luongo will someday join Joseph in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
"It's nice, but my main goal is to get this team back to the playoffs." - Lu on tying Curtis Joseph for 4th in all-time NHL wins pic.twitter.com/0eXNRMHKpr
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 13, 2017
Scores and more
Tampa Bay 5, Pittsburgh 4 (more)
San Jose 3, Buffalo 2
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.
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