With nine games on the schedule it was an eventful night in the NHL. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost another road game, the Ottawa Senators’ rally came up short against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Montreal Canadiens couldn’t hang on to an early lead to beat the Edmonton Oilers.
Here are five things we learned during Thursday’s NHL action:
Memorable night for Galchenyuk ends on sour note: It started off so well for Alex Galchenyuk before the Canadiens blew a two-goal lead and another third-period lead en route to an overtime loss to the Oilers. On a personal level, the Canadiens forward celebrated his 21st birthday in style. He received a present — a beautiful cross-ice feed — from teammate P.K. Subban to set up Galchenyuk’s 16th goal of the season. At least he can take solace in that.
Malkin + Crosby goals = wins for Pittsburgh: Sure, this seems like an obvious statement but it is still surprising how dominant the Pittsburgh Penguins are historically when their two top forwards register a goal in the same game. This scenario unfolded Thursday — albeit the victory came in a shootout — but the win over Ottawa moved the Penguins’ all-time record to 52-4-1 when Malkin and Crosby score on the same night. That’s pretty wild.
Forsberg surpasses Radulov: It took Filip Forsberg only 55 games this season to become the leading rookie scorer in Nashville Predators’ franchise history. Forsberg passed former Predator Alexander Radulov with his 19th goal of the season Thursday in Nashville’s 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Predators have to be fortunate they were able to steal Forsberg from the Washington Capitals a few year back.
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Somewhere, former Capitals GM George McPhee just punched a wall.
Myers deals with brief scare: The Jets’ recently-acquired defenceman Tyler Myers made his Winnipeg debut Thursday night. He played 21:23 minutes of ice time, but left the game briefly after blocking a shot from Predators defenceman Shea Weber. Myers limped to the dressing room but appeared to be okay after the game. Phew. For a second, it looked like he brought his tough luck from Buffalo.
Hitchcock deserves more appreciation: When you think of all-time great coaches, Ken Hitchcock is rarely mentioned in the conversation. Maybe it’s the lack of Stanley Cup championships that holds him back but the St. Louis Blues coach has been remarkably successful at multiple stops around the NHL. And on Thursday, he achieved a even more impressive milestone. Hitchcock passed all-time great Dirk Irvin to move into the No. 4 spot on the all-time coaching wins list. With a total of 693 victories, Hitchcock trails only Scott Bowman, Al Arbour, and Joel Quenneville. That’s impressive company.