The Oilers’ young guns had quite a night on the stat sheet, the Flyers extended their hot streak and now find themselves in a playoff spot and Mikkel Boedker continued his strong post-trade deadline play with the Avalanche.
Here are five more things we learned Wednesday in the NHL.
Robin Lehner is still a psycho
Last month we saw Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner go into a fit of rage when one of his teammates was on the receiving end of a questionable hit. On Wednesday, “Crazy Eyes Lehner” made another appearance during a fracas in front of his net against the Canadiens. Tensions were high after Alex Galchenyuk ran Lehner over early in the game and tempers boiled over late in the second period. As Sabres and Canadiens skaters pushed and shoved, Lehner and his counterpart Ben Scrivens had a pretty epic staring contest. (Watch the clip above)
A goalie fight never happened but the mere threat of one had fans on their feet.
“He’s a big boy,” Scrivens told Sportsnet’s David Amber. “He’s a bit of a psycho, but he’s a good guy so I guess I might be kind of lucky I didn’t have to go down, but I would have if my teammates needed it.”
Galchenyuk is still en fuego
There hasn’t been much to smile about since late November if you’re a Montreal Canadiens fan but the recent play of Alex Galchenyuk is something positive to hang your hat on heading into next season. Galchenyuk had just two points in January but has been streaking ever since. In fact, his 12 goals since Feb. 24 is the most in the NHL during that span and he has been in on 11 of the last 16 Canadiens goals. He picked up an assist in an overtime win in Buffalo and as mentioned above was involved in the play that set the tone for what ended up being a chippy game.
Toews was lucky to escape serious injury
Flyers forward Chris VandeVelde might be getting a call from the NHL’s department of player safety after landing an elbow on Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. VandeVelde received a minor elbowing penalty and Toews returned to the game but the league should be reviewing this one.
Tryamkin makes impression in NHL debut
When the Canucks drafted Nikita Tryamkin in the third round of the 2014 NHL Draft it was a gamble. Tryamkin had spent the past four seasons in the KHL but the Canucks came to terms with him earlier this moth when his team Avtomobolist Yekaterinburg’s season ended. On Wednesday, the 6-foot-7, 230-pound blue-liner made his NHL debut and although he didn’t get much ice time he did record his first NHL point.
Pateryn gets on the board
It’s always nice seeing a player pick up their first NHL goal and that’s what 25-year-old Greg Pateryn accomplished in his 47th NHL game Wednesday when he blasted a clapper by Robin Lehner.
Pateryn debuted for the Canadiens during the 2012-13 season but has spent the majority of his pro career in the AHL. Since mid-February, though, he has been an everyday player for the Habs. After the game he was all smiles.
Super Irish tweet of the night…
In honour of St. Patrick’s Day, the Sabres wore special sweaters during pre-game warmups.