After a flurry of trade activity, it was a relatively quiet night with just three games on the NHL schedule. Still, there was no shortage of storylines.
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals in a spirited affair. Flames defenceman Mark Giordano suffered an awkward injury, while future No. 1 overall pick Connor McDavid recorded his first four-goal game of the season.
Here’s three things we learned Wednesday night:
Capitals-Penguins still have bad blood: The Penguins and Capitals have had a testy relationship for quite some time, but Wednesday it went to a whole new level.
In the first period, Capitals forward Tom Wilson drilled Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz into the boards as the puck went into Washington’s zone. Penguins forward Blake Comeau came to Kunitz’s defence and mayhem immediately ensued. It led to a full-out scrum between the two clubs right at the Penguins’ bench. Even former Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik was right in the mix.
Once things got settled, four players (Michael Latta, Wilson, Steve Downie, and Blake Comeau) each received two-minute penalties. Pittsburgh got the last laugh with a 4-3 victory.
McDavid over Crosby? As part of Wednesday Night Hockey, the weekly To The Point segment produced some intriguing results this week. Viewers were asked whether they would rather have the rest of Sidney Crosby’s career or the full NHL career of McDavid, the consensus top prospect in the upcoming NHL Draft. It turned out to be a pretty one-sided result.
Maybe it was because McDavid was in the midst of a monster game on Wednesday or that Crosby is already 27-years old, but it still caught us by surprise.
Local boy does good: New Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau put on an impressive display in his hometown Wednesday night. It didn’t quite show up on the scoreboard — he didn’t record a point against New Jersey — but according to Sportsnet’s Roger Millions, Johnny Hockey played one of his best all-around games of the season. He logged a stellar 20:00 minutes of ice time in Calgary’s 3-1 victory.
