You can always count on Saturday being an eventful night in the NHL, and with 11 games on the schedule it once again lived up to the hype.
There were some unreal dangles, big career milestones, a Gronk sighting, and the Toronto Maple Leafs finally won a game.
Here are the five things we learned Saturday:
Myers goes boom: No one’s going to compare Tyler Myers to Rob Gronkowski — who spiked the puck during the Boston Bruins’ opening ceremony — in terms of pure strength, but the sixth-year defenceman sure knows how to throw a mean hit.
Myers has been a part of trade rumours for much of the season, and plays like the one above will make him that much more valuable whether he’s in Buffalo or somewhere else. Oh yeah, he also had a goal Saturday.
What a difference an end makes: There’s no doubt that goalies put a ton of pressure on themselves as the last line of defence. In the Senators-Blue Jackets game there was a big difference at opposite ends of the rink. Both netminders entered the third period without allowing a goal before the wheels fell off. In Robin Lehner’s case, he took out the frustration of allowing four goals in one period out on his stick.
Meanwhile, Curtis McElhinney was making saves like this beauty with his paddle.
Rielly dangles, snipes: There’s been a lot of speculation about what the Maple Leafs will do by the trade deadline and who’s available. Rielly has long been a name that Leafs brass consider untouchable. This filthy goal is most definitely one of the reasons why.
Ribeiro picks up his 700th point: Mike Ribeiro has long been known as a play maker, and is once again among the NHL’s top 10 in assists this season with 33. Despite piling up 487 throughout his career, his 700th point was actually a goal, and a game-winning one at that. Skip to 3:25 in the video below to see Ribeiro rip a slapper by Rangers goalie Cam Talbot.
Congrats Mike!
Penguins Western Canada dominance falls flat: The Pittsburgh Penguins have had no trouble in Western Canada over the last couple years. In fact, the team hadn’t dropped a game in regulation in that part of the country in their last eight games.
However, Ryan Miller and the Vancouver Canucks took care of Crosby and Co. easily Saturday, dropping them 5-0 in a lopsided affair.
