There were just two games on the NHL schedule on Monday, and each one saw a dishonourable streak come to an end.
Edmonton beat Arizona in regulation for the first time in 26 tries, while a talented young Capitals forward broke a 26-game goalless drought.
Here are four things we learned:
Oilers finally beat Coyotes in regulation:
One of the NHL’s oddest streaks finally came to an end on Monday, when the Arizona Coyotes were unable to pick up a point in their game against the Edmonton Oilers.
Arizona was 21-0-4 in its last 25 meetings against Edmonton since a 4-3 loss at then-Jobing.com Arena on Jan. 25, 2011.
Here are some fun facts from that night:
Rookie Oliver Ekman-Larsson played his 34th career NHL game, recording one shot on goal in 15:20 of ice time.
Kyle Turris had a goal and an assist for “Phoenix.” He’d be traded to Ottawa almost a year later.
Devan Dubnyk made 24 saves in the win, while Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 31 in the loss.
Shane Doan was… well some things just never change, but here’s a photo of the sweaters worn during the game. Both teams have made some significant improvements in that regard.
(Ross D. Franklin/AP)
One night later, a 17-year-old Red Deer Rebel by the name of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would have two assists in a 10-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Burakovsky finally finishes
Some nice passing and a great shot managed to get Andre Burakovsky just his third goal of the season, and his first since opening night to break a 26-game drought.
His last goal before the one scored on Wednesday came on Oct. 12, which isn’t really long enough to play the fun facts game.
But for the sake of continuity, before Monday, the last time Burakovsky scored: the Columbus Blue Jackets were tied for dead last in the NHL, Jaromir Jagr was third on the NHL’s all-time scoring list, and Auston Matthews was on pace for 328 goals.
Burakovsky wasn’t the only Capital to find end a goalless drought; Lars Eller scored his first in 19 games later in the contest. It was also his third of the season.
Edmonton’s fourth line flexes and punishes
Coyotes defenceman Jakob Chychrun has quietly had a solid season, but Monday night was a tough one for the rookie.
He took a hard hit from Matt Hendricks in the first period, and then another from Zack Kassian and Eric Gryba in the third period.
The 18-year-old returned to his team’s bench both times, but was removed by concussion spotters after the last hit.
Edmonton’s fourth line of Hendricks, Kassian, and Mark Letestu wasn’t just knocking people around, though they did that plenty.
The trio combined for seven points, led by Letestu’s goal and two assists.
Kassian also had a shift where he manhandled Christian Dvorak in the corner, before beating Mike Smith with a wraparound. The goal was waved off due to the league’s insistence on disallowing goals where the goalie gets knocked into his own net, but it was still a nice play.
Add in Milan Lucic and Pat Maroon to the Oilers’ forward corps and you have a group that won’t be pushed around anymore.
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Holtby has had it with the shootout
A very entertaining game between a couple of Metropolitan Division rivals was decided in a shootout, with the Flyers coming out on top.
Capitals starter Braden Holtby fell to 0-3 in the skills competition (Washington’s lone shootout win this season came with Philipp Grubauer in net), and afterwards, he let his opinion known.
https://twitter.com/ikhurshudyan/status/811789074218577920
Holtby finished 2015-16 having stopped 11 of 16 shootout attempts faced, which was pretty average, but the Vezina winner has had a rough go of things this year, stopping just five of 12.
Only four other goalies have been beaten on over half the shootout attempts they’ve faced this season: Frederik Andersen, Peter Budaj, Robin Lehner, and Juuse Saros.
Given how popular 3-on-3 overtime has been since its introduction a season ago, you have to wonder if the NHL would be willing to extend the overtime period from five minutes to 10, or undertake some other measure to reduce the increasingly unpopular shootout.
