The Toronto Maple Leafs blew a late lead before falling to the Washington Capitals in a shootout, Jake Allen had a 45-save shutout to beat Nashville, and the Calgary Flames rolled past the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Here are five things we learned on Saturday night:
Ovechkin has special night: Even though it took a shootout for the Capitals to beat the lowly Maple Leafs, it was a heck of an evening for Alex Ovechkin.
The Capitals superstar not only recorded an assist and scored the game-winning goal in the shootout, he also tied soon-to-be Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov for the most goals by a Russian-born player in NHL history with his 483rd career goal.
Incredibly, the veteran forward needed 476 fewer games than Fedorov did to reach the mark.
He would’ve beat the record if not for a disallowed goal in the third period.
Canucks struggling in one-goal games: Ryan Miller wasn’t happy with the Canucks’ performance during Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Canucks are having difficulty closing out games, having lost four games this season where they’ve been leading entering the third period, and their 2-8 record in one-goal games is a troubling trend.
In fact, all eight of their losses this season (including shootouts) have been decided by one goal.
Willie Desjardins’ squad must clean that up going forward.
Vatrano makes instant impact : It’s always special when a player scores their first NHL goal — even in a loss to a bitter rival — but it might’ve meant a bit more to Bruins forward Frank Vatrano, considering it was his first career NHL game.
According to the Sportsnet Stats department, Vatrano became the first Bruins player born in Massachusetts to record his first career goal in his first game since Shawn Bates did so in October of 1997.
The 21-year-old centre recorded over 14 minutes of ice time in his debut. Not bad for a guy who signed an entry-level deal out of college last March.
Canadiens continue to roll: Even without Carey Price, the Montreal Canadiens aren’t slowing down.
The red hot club rallied back to beat the Bruins on Saturday night while goaltender Mike Condon made 29 saves as the Canadiens extended their record to 13-2-1.
According to NHL Public Relations, it’s the first time in franchise history the Canadiens have won 13 of their first 16 games. Considering the storied history the Original Six franchise has, that’s a pretty remarkable stat.
Sam Bennett dazzles Penguins with ridiculous goal: Watching the Calgary Flames in the post-season last year, it was clear that Sam Bennett was a special talent.
He offered another glimpse of his insane potential with one of the best individual efforts of the season.
The 19-year-old forward took the puck from his own blue line and skated up the left wing. While entering the Penguins’ zone, Bennett absolutely undressed defenceman Ian Cole with a crazy-good deke before making a quick move and burying the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury to put Calgary up 3-1.
You have to see this goal to believe it.
