Rasmus Dahlin showed off his elite pedigree, Aleksander Barkov had a career night against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Alex Ovechkin lights the lamp again.
Here are five things we learned in the NHL on Saturday.
Dahlin breaks out of scoring slump
After scoring 14 points in his first 27 games, Dahlin found himself in a mini scoring slump and broke out of it in a big way against the Washington Capitals.
The 2018 first overall pick scored a goal and added two assists as the Buffalo Sabres fell to the Capitals in a shootout. His offensive breakout made him the fifth-youngest defenceman in NHL history to record three points in a game.
In 33 games this season, the 18-year-old has three goals, 14 assists and 17 points while averaging 20:24 a night for the Sabres who sit seventh in the NHL standings. Dahlin is also tied with Dallas Stars defenceman Miro Heiskanen for the lead in points among rookie defenceman.
Barkov pounces on Maple Leafs’ defence
It was a game to remember for Sash Barkov in more ways than one… or three. Nine times in his career, the 23-year old has scored two goals in a game, but against the Leafs he recorded his first career hat trick.
He also became the first Panthers skater in franchise history to complete the hat trick with an overtime goal.
Barkov also moved up the Panthers all-time goal scoring list passing Radek Dvorak and now sits sixth on the list. With 117 career goals, Barkov only needs 28 goals to move into the top-five.
Ovechkin has “off-night” against Sabres
At some point, a team will find a way to defend against Ovechkin but that doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon. The seven-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner scored his league-leading 29th goal and the shootout winner for the Capitals against the Sabres.
But Ovechkin called it an off-night.
The 33-year-old could have become the first player in NHL history to record a hat trick in three consecutive games but he had to settle for a single goal in regulation and a bonus one in the shootout.
Ovechkin did extend his career-best point streak to 14 games and is one goal away from his 14th consecutive season with 30 goals or more. Over his last 14 games, Ovechkin has scored 17 goals and six assists for 23 points.
Weber continues to make up for missed time
In only his ninth game back from his knee injury, Shea Weber still hasn’t looked rusty, and he scored his fourth goal of the season against the Ottawa Senators Saturday night.
The Canadiens’ captain scored career goal No. 193 which is the most by any NHL defenceman since the 2005-06 season. Brent Burns is second on the list he’s also played 82 more games than Weber over that span.
Weber has four goals and three assists for seven points this season, and his 25:50 minutes a night are the seventh most among defencemen in the league. The Canadiens are 5-3-0 with Weber in the lineup this season and have won three of their past four games.
Julien reaches rare coaching milestone
With the Canadiens 5-2 win over the Senators, Claude Julien became the fifth active coach and the 18th in NHL history to reach 600 career wins. He joins Ken Hitchcock, Barry Trotz, Paul Maurice and Mike Babcock as the only active coaches to achieve the milestone.
The 58-year-old also became the fifth-fastest coach to reach 600 wins in his 1,137 game behind the bench. Scotty Bowman is the fastest coach to do it in 1,002 games and also has the most wins by any coach with 1,244.
In 16 seasons, Julien has a 600-399-136 record including 10 ties with the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins. He won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in the 2010-11 season and won the Jack Adams Award during the 2008-09 season.
He has also been an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2006 World Championship, 2014 Olympics and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
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