Patrik Laine reached No. 100, Patrick Kane put on a show, and Connor McDavid gave us a case of déjà vu. Here are four things we learned in the NHL on Tuesday night.
Laine reaches No. 100
The Winnipeg Jets defeated the Buffalo Sabres for the second time in five nights on Tuesday, dominating the 30th-place team 7-4 and matching a season-high for goals in a single game. (They won Friday’s matchup by a score of 4-3.)
Laine was the first to get on the scoreboard in Tuesday’s matchup, sending a signature laser from his usual spot for his 100th NHL career point.
His teammates, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers, each had two goals on the night as the Jets chased Robin Lehner out of the crease and worsened a pretty dismal goals-against stat for Buffalo.
The Central Division leaders now have a point in their past seven games.
Though he was on the losing end of this battle, it’s worth pointing out that Sabres star Jack Eichel had a big game for the stat sheet with two goals and one assist for his 11th multi-point game of 2017-18.
Kane reaches career-high five points vs. Ottawa
Just a head’s up, Ottawa Senators fans maybe shouldn’t watch the highlights from Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. It wasn’t a pretty showing for the home team.
Starting netminder Craig Anderson was pulled midway through the second frame after letting in four goals on 26 shots, and backup Mike Condon didn’t fare any better — he let in four on 17. Another loss for the 29th-place Senators — and another big one, at that.
The visiting squad sure put on a show, though, defeating the Senators 8-2 (!) thanks in large part to Patrick Kane’s five-point night. His goal and four assists is a career-high single-game total. (Figure this one out: He still finished the game with a minus-1 rating.)
As big as Tuesday’s win was for Chicago, it wasn’t their biggest this season. They scored a whopping 10 goals against the Pittsburgh Penguins in their season opener.
McDavid déjà vu
The Edmonton Oilers had a case of déjà vu as they took on the Nashville Predators Tuesday night.
The 2-1 loss, the 11th straight defeat to the Predators, continued several troubling trends that have plagued Edmonton all season: bad bounces (they were offside by this much on what would’ve been the game-tying goal) lack of offence (they’ve been shut out twice in their past six games and managed just a single goal in three straight matchups) and, according to many, an inability to properly protect their star.
But despite suffering another defeat, there was one case of déjà vu that should make Oilers fans smile. Connor McDavid has got plenty of pretty goal-scoring tricks up his sleeve, but he’s clearly not afraid to use the same one twice — especially when it works. Case in point, this goal on Pekka Rinne that’s nearly identical to one scored almost a year ago on the same netminder:
Another season, another 20 goals for Monahan
It was a close one, but the Calgary Flames made it out of Minnesota with two points to continue their nice little four-game win streak (second since head coach Glen Gulutzan’s stick-throwing rant).
Johnny Gaudreau extended his point streak vs. the Wild to five games thanks to his hat trick of assists, while Dougie Hamilton scored his second straight game-winner.
Perhaps the coolest stat belongs to Sean Monahan, who reached the 20-goal plateau for the fifth straight season, putting him in pretty elite company:
Watch the highlights here:
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