The Maple Leafs improved to 10-1-0 when John Tavares records a point, Dylan Larkin helped the Red Wings beat the Rangers with some last-second heroics, Chad Johnson earned his first shutout with the Blues as they blanked the Sharks, the Ducks continued allowing way too many shots against, while earlier in the day Tomas Plekanec officially retired from the NHL.
Friday was a celebration of hockey for all generations as Gary Bettman, Martin Brodeur, Martin St. Louis, Willie O’Ree, Jayna Hefford and Alexander Yakushev were presented with their Hockey Hall of Fame rings as the class of 2018. The players were in fine form on the ice, too. Below are four things we learned.
Wheeler has a career night
Blake Wheeler led the NHL with 68 assists one season ago and he has picked up right where he left off.
The Winnipeg Jets captain had 14 assists in as many games heading into Friday’s meeting with the Colorado Avalanche and he added another four helpers to his total. Wheeler also potted home an empty netter for the first five-point night of his NHL career as the Jets beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2.
Wheeler extended his point streak to nine games, during which he has compiled two goals and 15 assists. The Plymouth, Minn., native has more assists than all other NHLers since the start of the 2015-16 campaign. He is now tied for fifth in league scoring and the only player with more assists than him so far this season is Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen.
With the soft hands and vision he displays on a nightly basis it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hockey fans that Wheeler racks up assists as well as anyone in the game. Patrik Laine can attest to that.
A couple nights ago we pointed out how well Colton Sissons of the Nashville Predators does whenever he plays the Avs and (not trying to beat up on Colorado here) it turns out Wheeler is in the same boat. He performs better against the Avs than he does against any other team. Wheeler now has 16 goals and 27 assists for 43 points in 30 career games against them.
O’Reilly also extends point streak to nine games
In other Western Conference action, the St. Louis Blues blanked the Sharks and Ryan O’Reilly had another strong performance. The talented two-way centre scored the game’s second goal to make it nine games in a row with at least one point.
O’Reilly became the first Blues player to go on a nine-game point streak since David Backes and Alex Steen both did it in 2014-15, and became the first Blue to go on a point streak of that length in his first season with the team since Doug Weight did it in 2001.
He has eight goals and eight assists on his current streak that he’ll look to extend when the Blues host the Wild on Sunday.
Marleau gets assist No. 600
The Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils played in front of the 2018 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Friday night, so it was somewhat fitting that one of the players in the game hit a notable milestone.
Patrick Marleau set up a second-period Nazem Kadri goal to hit 600 apples for his career, passing Alex Kovalev for sole possession of 88th place on the NHL’s all-time assists board.
Marleau, who has averaged 0.38 assists per game throughout his 1,591-game career, is fifth in total assists among active NHLers behind only Joe Thornton (1,032), Sidney Crosby (713), Ryan Getzlaf (636) and Nicklas Backstrom (605).
“It’s always nice when a milestone like that comes with a win,” Marleau told reporters after the Leafs’ 6-1 victory. “The guys played great tonight. It was fun.”
Blue Jackets finally get their power play going
Heading into Friday’s road contest against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals the Columbus Blue Jackets had the worst power play percentage in the NHL, but you wouldn’t have thought so watching them work with the man advantage.
The Blue Jackets were operating at an 11.9 per cent clip on the PP before scoring twice on three attempts in a 2-1 victory over the Caps.
Oliver Bjorkstrand opened the scoring in the first period after a beauty between-the-legs setup from Nick Foligno.
Matt Niskanen tied the game up for the Caps in the second with a power-play goal of his own, but Anthony Duclair netted the game-winner for Columbus with five minutes remaining in the third period as Washington attempted to kill off a Dmitry Orlov roughing penalty.
The goal was Duclair’s seventh of the season, which ties him with Josh Anderson for the team lead, and was his first game-winner in a Blue Jackets uniform. Duclair, who signed a one-year deal in the summer worth a league minimum $650,000, is currently on pace to set a new career high in goals which was the 20 he scored as a rookie with the Coyotes in 2015-16.
[relatedlinks]
