Alex Ovechkin will miss some time, the Maple Leafs were outclassed by the Lightning, the Wild have seemingly forgotten how to lose a hockey game, the Islanders edged the Predators in a potential Stanley Cup preview and Mike Smith honoured rocker Alice Cooper with a creepy helmet design.
Here are five more things we learned Thursday.
Flames get a key win in serious style
The Calgary Flames aren’t a flashy team, but they sure did a lot to disprove that Thursday in a shootout win over the Bruins. First, Sean Monahan surpassed his rookie goal total by netting his 23rd of the season. Then Johnny Gaudreau, who starred at Boston College for three seasons, scored his 16th to move within six points of Filip Forsberg for the NHL rookie scoring lead. Then, Karri Ramo made this remarkable recovery to preserve a tie game late in the third.
To top everything off, defenceman David Schlemko – despite registering just seven minutes of ice-time in his first game with the Flames after being claimed on waivers from the Dallas Stars four days ago – pulled off a ridiculous move to win the shootout. This is certainly an effective way to endear yourself to new teammates.
Stars really, really, really don’t like Kulikov
You knew there was going to be some form of retribution when the Florida Panthers played the Dallas Stars a few weeks after defenceman Dmitry Kulikov was suspended for a low-bridge hit on Tyler Seguin. Kulikov answered the bell in the form of a first-period fight with Curtis McKenzie. Kulikov had only fought three times in his NHL career, but he held his own. However, the Russian wasn’t done getting under the skin of the Stars. He finished the game with a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Glencross shows what he’s capable of
Curtis Glencross made a statement in his second game with the Capitals after being acquired by the Flames the day before the trade deadline. He registered his first goal with his new team on a nice shot from faceoff dot. It’s a positive sign for the Caps and one that indicates Glencross will be able to prove secondary scoring heading into the playoffs.
There were some odd attendance figures
A snow storm in Pennsylvania had a significant impact of the crowd for the Blues-Flyers game.
Sarah Baicker on Twitter
At least the fans that did show up were rewarded with the greatest gift of all – free snacks!
Philadelphia Flyers on Twitter
In contrast to the Flyers game, this was the scene during a high school hockey game in Minnesota.
The Coyotes had the best Throwback Thursday of all-time
The Arizona Coyotes went for a vintage look against the Vancouver Canucks and it was pretty awesome. And if you’re going to have throwback jerseys, you better also have throwback visual effects…