The Winnipeg Jets lost their second consecutive game to a team at the bottom of the league, Sean Monahan made history and Steven Stamkos returned to early season form.
Here are three things we learned in the NHL last night.
Jets continue to fall from grace
The Jets really turned some heads on Sunday when they shut out the Ottawa Senators 5-0 and sat at the top of the standings in the entire NHL, tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In the two games since the Jets have taken a step back from being considered one of the league’s best.
While it is only two games, the problem lies with how they lost those two games: both of them were to teams sitting in the bottom third of the league while letting in a combined 11 goals.
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In years past the Achilles Heel of this Winnipeg team has always been their goaltending. It looked like this was the year they finally got it as Connor Hellebuyck grabbed the job from under Steve Mason’s nose and picked up a 15-2-3 record with a .925 save percentage through his first 22 appearances.
But the question on everyone’s mind remained, “Is it for real?”
On Tuesday, the Jets started a three-game road trip and were embarrassed by the Detroit Red Wings 5-1. Then, on Thursday, they allowed the 10-13-4 Florida Panthers to tack on six goals – this time on Eric Comrie – and pick up their 11th win of the season.
If the Jets want to consider themselves a contender then they have to do what contenders do: beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. They can’t give up points to teams at the bottom of the standings.
Next they conclude their road trip in Tampa on Saturday to take on the first-place Lightning, a true test to determine what this team really is.
Monahan makes NHL history
The Calgary Flames downed the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night after Johnny Gaudreau patiently waited for a trailing Monahan who snapped the overtime winner past Carey Price.
In doing so, Monahan became the fastest player in NHL history to tally nine career overtime goals. It took the 23-year-old 348 games to achieve the feat and in doing so snapped a three-game losing streak for the Flames.
Stamkos snaps slump
Through the first quarter of the season much of the storyline was the Lightning’s two star forwards Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov’s torrid start to the current campaign.
Since then the two have cooled off some, more specifically the captain’s points were coming few and far between.
Stamkos registered at least one point in his first 11 games of the season and etched his name multiple times on the scoresheet in six of them.
Recently, however, the 27-year-old had just three points in his last eight games (one goal, two assists) and his last multi-point game came on Nov. 16 against the Dallas Stars.
Thanks to the Colorado Avalanche, Stamkos looks like he’s ready to keep racking up some goals and assists. Stamkos got the Lightning on the board 25 seconds after they gave up the opening tally to the Avalanche on Thursday night, and then he picked up two more assists in the 5-2 Tampa win.
Stamkos moves to 41 points (28, 13) on the year, retaking top spot in the NHL from teammate Kucherov.
