The Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets met in an all-Canadian matchup, the Tampa Bay Lightning offence continued to surge, the Dallas Stars, Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres continued their early-season struggles, and Joel Quenneville was upset about a call that contributed to a Chicago Blackhawks loss.
Here are four other things we learned Thursday night in the NHL.
Stamkos is still money from his spot on the power play
Steven Stamkos had five assists through the Tampa Bay Lightning’s first three games of the season, but couldn’t manage to bury one himself. In fact, it had been 331 days since the Lightning captain last scored a regular-season goal.
On Nov. 15, 2016 Stamkos beat Petr Mrazek in the first period of a game against the Detroit Red Wings. Shortly after that goal, unfortunately, Stamkos tore the meniscus in his right knee which cut his season short.
His goal Thursday came on a power play from his usual spot on the off-wing and it tied him with a Lightning legend.
Antti Niemi has struggled mightily early in his first year as the Penguins backup goalie, allowing nine goals on 47 shots in less than 70 minutes in the crease. As you can see in the video at the top of the page, he didn’t have a chance on the play.
Luongo moves up the all-time wins list
The Florida Panthers handed the St. Louis Blues their first loss of the season and it likely wouldn’t have happened without Roberto Luongo’s 37-save performance.
The 38-year-old now has 454 career wins, which ties him with Curtis Joseph for fourth place on the NHL’s all-time list of regular-season wins.
Does the milestone mean we’ll get a tweet from @strombone1?
He’s about to surpass Joseph, so will he maybe make a reference to the 1983 film “Cujo”?
Or, since he now has Ed Belfour’s 484 career wins in his sights, might he allude to famous British ski jumper Eddie Edwards and the 2016 biopic “Eddie the Eagle”?
We need answers, Roberto!
Boeser continues to give Canucks fans hope for the future
Brock Boeser was surprisingly a healthy scratch in each of the Vancouver Canucks’ first two games. He made his season debut Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets and registered an assist on Daniel Sedin’s first-period goal.
The University of North Dakota product appeared in nine games with the Canucks at the end of last season. He had four goals, one assist in the nine NHL games he played last season plus four goals and seven points in the pre-season.
The way in which the 23rd-overall pick from 2015 consistently produces points, he might not be a healthy scratch many more times. He ended up playing 16:31 and was on the ice in the waning seconds of the game with his team down 3-2 and the net empty. The Jets scored an empty netter, but the fact he was out there when the game was on the line is a clear vote of confidence from head coach Travis Green.
Sedin’s goal also happened to make a bit of Canucks history.
Donskoi puts himself in ‘assist of the year’ contention
We’ve seen passes like this one before, and we’ll see more of them in the future, but they never fail to impress.
Joonas Donskoi tricked Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner with a nifty behind-the-back pass from behind the net to set up Chris Tierney and give the Sharks a 2-1 lead in the first period of a game they wound up winning 3-2.
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