It was a busy Friday night in the NHL, with nine games on the schedule and a number of Canadian clubs in action.
With a few stars bolstering their MVP bids and a former great rediscovering some NHL magic, here are five things we learned in the NHL on Saturday.
1. Galchenyuk still knows how to put pucks in the cage
Ranking as one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league this season, the Montreal Canadiens flipped the script on Friday, pouring six goals on the New York Islanders for a dominant 6-3 win.
And four of those goals came courtesy of the oft-maligned Alex Galchenyuk, who upended his own personal narrative by snapping a 15-game goalless streak. The 24-year-old put up a trio of goals for his first hat trick of the season, adding an assist on a goal from Brendan Gallagher early in the contest.
The American fittingly posted his four-point night in his 400th NHL game, taking his season total to 39 points through 64 tilts in 2017-18.
Friday’s outburst marked not only Galchenyuk’s first hat trick of 2017-18 (and his first since 2014), but the forward’s first multi-goal game at all in two seasons.
2. MacKinnon taking his Hart Trophy bid to new heights
Nathan MacKinnon saw Galchenyuk’s four-point game and raised him a fiver.
The former No. 1 pick has been a force for Colorado this season, posting a career-best effort to lead his club out of the league’s basement following an abysmal 2016-17. MacKinnon and linemate Mikko Rantanen came up with a season-defining effort on Friday, combining for an absurd nine points in the Avs’ 7-1 shellacking of the Wild (leaving them just one point away from a wild card spot).
MacKinnon led the way with two goals (his 30th and 31st of the season) and three assists, while Rantanen potted a goal and a trio of helpers.
With Friday’s results in the bag, MacKinnon now has the first 30-goal campaign of his career, his previous best effort coming via a 24-goal showing as a rookie.
His already-career-best total climbs to 76 points, positioning MacKinnon as the fourth-highest scorer in the NHL in what has been an MVP-calibre season for the resurgent Avalanche.
Rantanen, meanwhile, is up to a personal-best 21 goals and 63 points in 2017-18.
3. Deadline seller Rangers somehow beefed up their offence
Did the New York Rangers manage to improve their offensive corps by trading away marquee names like Rick Nash and Michael Grabner?
Of course not. But there’s no denying that the club has gotten surprisingly potent production from their low-key deadline additions.
First came the debut from Ryan Spooner (acquired in the deal that sent Nash to Boston) one day before the deadline, which saw the new Ranger lead the team with two points in an overtime loss to Detroit.
Next, New York managed to grind out a 6-5 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks led by a three-point effort from Spooner and two points from Vladislav Namestnikov (acquired in the deal that sent Ryan McDonagh to Tampa Bay).
The trend continued Friday as Spooner posted his third straight multi-point game in his new uniform, leading the team once again with two points. That’s seven on the board in just three games since heading to Broadway, as the Rangers have points in three straight tilts since opting for a rebuild.
Of course, still having Henrik Lundqvist and his 50 saves in the fold didn’t hurt.
4. Hall continues his aversion to going scoreless in 2018
It’s been discussed many a time over the past month, but it warrants repeating: Taylor Hall continues to sport one of the most impressive point streaks in NHL history.
The New Jersey Devils superstar stretched that streak to an astounding 24 games on Friday, scoring his 29th goal of the year in his club’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Already with a career-best goals mark this season, Hall joined elite company by notching a point in his 24th straight appearance as he bolsters his own MVP bid:
The former Edmonton Oiler is now just a point shy of Sidney Crosby’s historic 25-game streak from 2010-11, and just a handful away from Mats Sundin’s 30-game roll in the 90s, the highest of the past 25 years.
Perhaps the craziest part of this whole situation? Beginning his dominant run on Jan. 2, Hall has yet to play a game in 2018 wherein he hasn’t posted at least one point.
It’s March.
5. Predators’ Fisher can still hang with the young guns
Predators veteran Mike Fisher solidified his 2017-18 comeback on Friday, returning to Nashville’s lineup against the Vancouver Canucks for his first game since retiring in the off-season.
The 37-year-old wasted little time in proving he can still be a depth difference maker for the 2017 Stanley Cup finalists, potting a goal 17 minutes into his first game of the season.
All in all, the returning pivot saw 10:45 minutes of ice, during which time he managed to get on the board and flex in the faceoff circle to the tune of a game-leading 85 per cent win rate (11 wins on 13 draws).
Not a bad return for a late-season investment that cost exactly zero assets to acquire.
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