History repeated itself, Canada’s best team stalled and a player cemented his elite status.
Here are three things we learned in the NHL on Tuesday night.
Bruins do it again
Remember on May 13, 2013, when the Boston Bruins pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in sports history during Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs?
It was unforgettable, incredible and, from the Leafs perspective, embarrassing.
On Tuesday night the Bruins did it again. No, seriously.
The Carolina Hurricanes led the Bruins 4-1 at the 10:00 mark of the third period. Then, between 10:04 and 11:21, the Bruins scored three goals to tie it up. (To be fair to the Leafs, they allowed the Bruins’ second goal at 9:18 of the third and were only up by a pair at the midway mark.)
Then Boston one-upped itself by ensuring that it didn’t need overtime to walk away with the win in this one. In fact, the Bruins added on a pair of goals to finish the game 6-4.
Leading the comeback was David Pastrnak who got his first career hat trick, all in the third period, capped off with an empty-netter in the final two minutes.
After the notorious Leafs game, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston wrote, “To lose a game you led by three goals with 11 minutes to play would be crushing if it happened in February; to do it in Game 7 of a playoff series is nothing short of soul-destroying.”
Well, it’s not February, it’s March, but the Hurricanes are definitely feeling crushed, or as Justin Williams put it with tears in his eyes: “It’s beyond anger … it’s beyond upsetting.”
Jets delayed in start vs. Preds
The Winnipeg Jets got off to one of their worst starts in franchise history against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
To start, newly acquired forward Paul Stastny was made inactive after he left the pre-game warmups early. Then, the Preds got off to a 3-0 start that included two short-handed goals on one power play while outshooting the Jets 14-0 at the 8:49 mark of the first period.
The Predators ended up with 24 shots in the opening frame while the Jets headed to the visitor’s locker room down by three with only six shots on goal.
That was tied for the most shots allowed by the Jets during one period in franchise history.
To make matters worse, Winnipeg goaltender Michael Hutchinson left the game with a lower-body injury in the second period.
The Jets did manage to get one on the board and finish the game with 33 shots, but it was too little too late to make up for the slow start.
Kucherov enters Lightning lore
It’s been no secret that Nikita Kucherov has figured out how to be an elite player over the course of his past two seasons.
In 2016-17, his fourth year in the NHL, Kucherov posted a career-best 85 points in 74 games, which included notching 40 goals — tied for the second-most in the NHL. Through 68 games one year later, the 58th-overall pick from 2011 has bested himself by reaching the 90-point mark after he picked up his second assist on J.T. Miller‘s second goal of the game against the Ottawa Senators.
Kucherov became the fifth player in Tampa Bay Lightning history to reach the 90-point mark behind Martin St. Louis, who reach the total four times, current captain Steven Stamkos (three times), Vincent Lecavalier (two times) and Brad Richards.
The 24-year-old made it to 90 in the fewest amount of games, beating out St. Louis and Lecavalier by one game.
Kucherov ended up picking up three assists total in the game, bringing his point total to 91, while Stamkos – who also picked up three helpers – moves to 82 points on the season and within striking distance of his fourth 90-point season.
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