• A goalie finally gets his first NHL start
• Evgeni Malkin hits ground running
• Maple Leafs make Valentine’s Day history
Feb. 14, the day of love. And there was lots of love being handed out in the NHL on Tuesday.
From a goalie finally getting his shot in the show, to the Maple Leafs’ daily dose of rookie history, to another Hat Trick Laine performance, here are four things we learned in the NHL.
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Avalanche give Jeremy Smith best Valentine’s Day ever
Goaltender Jeremy Smith finally got to live out his dream of playing in the NHL, almost 10 years after he was drafted.
Smith, 27, was in the net for the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday, his first career start. Originally a second-round pick of Nashville in 2007, Smith has bounced around the AHL since 2009.
This season with the San Antonio Rampage, Smith has a 2.57 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage in 17 starts.
The Avalanche have been rotating backup goalies behind Calvin Pickard ever since Semyon Varlamov injured his groin on Jan. 17, ending his season.
Unfortunately for Smith, he gave up a goal to New Jersey’s Pavel Zacha on the first shot faced. But he settled in after that, making 37 saves in a 3-2 loss.
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Malkin doesn’t miss a step in return
Much has been made about teams not being fully up to speed after returning from their bye weeks. But Evgeni Malkin, who hasn’t played for Pittsburgh in three weeks, wasted no time getting back on the scoresheet against the Vancouver Canucks.
His goal five minutes into the second period was his 23rd of the season. In the third, he set up Phil Kessel on a two-on-one for his second point of the game.
Malkin’s lower-body injury pushed him back in the scoring race, but it seems it won’t slow his production now that he’s healthy again.
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Maple Leafs rookies make history again
At this point, every time the Toronto Maple Leafs play a game this season, it’s historic. On the weekend, the rookie revolution broke the team record for points by first-year players with 208.
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On Tuesday, they blew that out of the water in a 7-1 thumping of the New York Islanders. The rookies combined for nine points, including the first three of the season for Josh Leivo.
William Nylander‘s goal in the second period meant that for the first time since 1982-83, three Leafs rookies have 15 or more goals.
Sportsnet’s Gare Joyce wrote about how Nylander is quietly having a great season.
And to keep the history love going, Toronto set one other record on Tuesday.
Patrik Laine loves to score goals
There are few players in the NHL who love to score goals as much as Patrik Laine. He reminded us of that fact again Tuesday when he scored his third hat trick of the season against the Dallas Stars.
You can see all three goals at the top of this post.
Laine now has 26 goals on the season. But his forever rival Auston Matthews leads all rookies with 27, after he picked up two on Tuesday too.
