Five things we learned in the NHL: Leipsic’s big night

Henrik Sedin and Leo Komarov get tied up, causing a scrum & involving Jannik Hansen to join the party.

The Vancouver Canucks went retro, the Wild fired and hired a coach, an emergency call-up became the story of the day and one Canucks captain surpassed another.

Here are five things we learned in the NHL Saturday.

Brendan Leipsic is family friends with Teemu

Saturday may have been the best night of Brendan Leipsic’s life. The emergency injury call-up for the Toronto Maple Leafs scored his first NHL goal in a win over the Vancouver Canucks, and his parents were in the stands to see it all.

Oh, and he occasionally brunches with this guy:

Teemu Selanne on Twitter

Leipsic’s mother, Kathleen, met Teemu Selanne’s wife, Sirpa, when the two families lived in Winnipeg. The two women went to the same gym and Brendan subsequently soaked up Selanne’s Hall of Fame vibes.

“I grew up cheering for Teemu Selanne and the Ducks,” Leipsic told MapleLeafs.com last year. “We have family connections to them.”

Selanne was thrilled when he saw his little buddy hit the milestone.

Teemu Selanne on Twitter

Way to go, kid.

Mike Yeo fired after loss to Bruins

After the Minnesota Wild lost their 13th game in their last 14, it was time for a change.

Late on Saturday, the club announced Yeo’s firing after 349 games with the franchise.

Then, the Wild announced the hiring of their AHL coach, John Torchetti, to replace him.

The Wild have qualified for the playoffs the last three seasons, but the perception that team has underachieved became too apparent.

As of Saturday night’s action, the club ranked 11th in the Western Conference with 56 points in 55 games.

Meanwhile, the Wild-Bruins game saw two notable achievements from the Boston side.

Brad Marchand stayed hot by scoring his 12th goal in his last dozen games.

And head coach Claude Julien earned his 500th career victory. (How many times has Julien been on the hot seat himself?)

Carter Hutton hits fan with puck, redeems himself with shutout

The Nashville Predators have not been able to keep the puck out of their net this season.

The issue Saturday became keeping the puck on the ice.

While clearing the puck, Predators backup Carter Hutton inadvertently hit a fan with his attempt. With 0:32 remaining in the second period, the referees decided to proceed to the intermission while the fan was attended to. Hutton, meanwhile, tried to achieve good karma by giving up his game stick.

His shutout of the Florida Panthers probably helped too. The goalie improved to 6-2-1 on the season with his second blank sheet. Starter Pekka Rinne has struggled uncharacteristically with a goals-against average of 2.57 and save percentage of .902.

Seguin-Eriksson trade finally panning out for both players

Especially for Tyler Seguin, but you knew that already.

What one may not have put together yet is the rate at which Seguin’s scoring has gone up. He scored two goals Saturday to help the Dallas Stars dump the Washington Capitals 4-3, reaching the 30-goal mark for the third straight season — all with Dallas.

Seguin scored 56 goals in 203 games with the Boston Bruins and now has 104 goals in 207 games with the Stars.

For Eriksson, who was the biggest NHL-ready part of the Seguin trade, the 2015-16 season has been his best in black and gold.

He has 18 goals in 55 games this year after potting 22 in 81 last season. Just in time for his expiring contract to go on the trading block.

He also scored Saturday, the 200th of his career — and the game-winner.

Does he stay in Boston?

You Gostisbehere to believe it

Shayne Gostisbehere just keeps clearing hurdles.

The rookie defenceman set a record Saturday afternoon, continuing to impress in his first NHL campaign.

In scoring his 10th goal of the season, he set a new NHL rookie record with his 11-game point streak. He’s recorded 30 points in 36 games for a PPG rate of 0.83. For context, 2015 Calder Trophy winner and defenceman Aaron Ekblad scored 0.48 points per game in his rookie season.

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