An Original Six blowout, a Colorado comeback, Eric Staal playing on the wing instead of down the middle, crowded penalty boxes, and Joe Thornton moving into 42nd on the NHL’s all-time points list.
With nine games on the schedule there was no shortage of storylines to follow. Here are five things we learned from Thursday’s NHL action.
Gordie Howe hat tricks are awesome
In any given game, you might expect Montreal Canadiens grinder Dale Weise to drop the gloves, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone when rising St. Louis Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko nets a goal and an assist. But on Thursday, each player was able to accomplish both feats for the Gordie Howe hat trick in their respective games.
Weise was a beast in Montreal’s 5-1 shellacking of the Bruins, chuckin’ the knucks with Gregory Campbell early in the first period to set the tone for his team and following that up with a penalty-shot goal and a helper on a Max Pacioretty strike in the second period.
Meanwhile, Tarasenko registered his first career NHL fight and subsequently his first Gordie Howe hat trick. The young Russian accomplished the feat by setting up T.J. Oshie’s first goal of the year, he fought Ryan Ellis, then buried his 10th of the year. This kid can do everything this season and he was a big part of the Blues’ 4-3 win over the Predators Thursday — a game where the penalty boxes got quite crowded after Tarasenko’s fight.
The Bruins are in rough shape
We’re not really used to seeing the Bruins get beat up like they have the past two nights. On Wednesday, they were run over by the Maple Leafs and Thursday it was déjà vu against the Canadiens. Prior to back-to-back games against these Original Six rivals they had won five straight—the fact they did so without captain Zdeno Chara is all the more impressive. But, as the Hockey Central panel points out below, the last two games have shown the Bruins struggle when they face teams that rely on speed rather than physical play.
This is somehow not a hick-sticking penalty
So, late in the first period of the Oilers-Senators game, David Perron’s stick got caught between the helmet and visor of Ottawa defenceman Mark Borowiecki. Luckily, Borowiecki wasn’t injured and hilarity ensued, but seriously, is this not the very definition of high-sticking? Apparently not because Perron wasn’t sent to the sin bin.
Everything is happening!
A Wild-Sabres matchup certainly doesn’t jump off the page as must-see hockey, but these two teams put it all on the line and it resulted in one of the more entertaining periods of the season. They combined for six goals in the opening frame, Darcy Kuemper was replaced by Niklas Backstrom in the Wild net after allowing two goals on two shots and Buffalo was outshot 20-5 in the first 20 minutes.
The two teams also had the second-fastest three-goal outburst in NHL history.
People love new hockey jerseys
The Lightning lost 2-1 to the Sharks, but at least they looked damn good while doing it. The Lightning unveiled their new alternate all-black jersey and most fans seem to like them. CLICK HERE to tell us what you think of them.
Tampa Bay Lightning’s post on Vine
Photo of the Night
Calgary Flames forward Jiri Hudler looking like a boss prior to his team’s game against the Arizona Coyotes
(Jeff McIntosh/CP)