Dose: Kuznetsov's Hat Trick
There were six games in the NHL Friday with Evgeny Kuznetsov, Jonathan Quick and the Montreal Canadiens defensive pairing of P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov leading the way.
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MONTREAL 7 BUFFALO 2
It was a huge night for the Canadiens who won their eighth straight game as Dale Weise and Brendan Gallagher each scored twice.
But the big story of the night was the game that defenseman Andrei Markov had. The Russian had a goal and four assists to go with a plus-four rating. He now has nine points this season and has taken over the NHL lead for blueliners with nine points.
P.K. Subban and Tomas Plekanec each had three assists while Mike Condon stopped 34 of 36 shots for his second NHL win.
It wasn’t the best of nights for Chad Johnson as the Buffalo netminder faced only 26 shots and gave up all seven goals. He is now 2-5 as his save percentage dropped to .879 from .906 while his GAA went up to 3.06 from 2.35. It wasn’t pretty.
BOSTON 5 NEW YORK ISLANDERS 3
Joonas Kemppainen scored the first NHL goal of his career and added an assist to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-3 win over the Islanders.
Ryan Spooner also had a goal and a helper while Brett Connolly, David Pastrnak and David Krejci also found the back of the net with Krejci, who has a seven game point streak, scoring into the empty net.
Jonas Gustavsson won his second game of the season and now has one more win than Tuukka Rask who is 1-3-1 this season. Gustavsson could see more action in net as Rask has been mediocre this season.
Josh Bailey scored on the power play and Casey Cizikas scored his first of the season for the Islanders while Thomas Hickey scored his second in three games.
Jaroslav Halak lost his first of the season after two wins as he stopped 21-of-25 shots.
TAMPA BAY 4 WINNIPEG 3 (Overtime)
It seems hard to believe but with Cedric Paquette scoring tonight, Tyler Johnson is the only Tampa Bay forward without a goal.
The Lightning won 4-3 in OT with Ondrej Palat scoring the winner 36 seconds into the extra frame. Braydon Coburn and Vladislav Nasestnikov also scored for Tampa Bay as Ben Bishop stopped 33 shots for the win.
The Jets got goals from Drew Stafford, Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler (shorthanded) with Ondrej Pavelec making 27 saves in the overtime loss.
CALGARY 3 DETROIT 2 (Overtime)
Mark Giordano scored twice including the overtime winner and added an assist as Calgary upended Detroit 3-2.
Joe Colborne tipped in Giordano’s point shot with 1:12 left in the third to tie the game at two and send it into overtime.
The Red Wings took a 2-1 first period lead as they sandwiched power play goals from Gustav Nyquist and Brendan Smith around Giordano’s second of the season.
Jonas Hiller turned aside 27 shots for the win while Jimmy Howard stopped 37 of 40 shots in taking the OT loss. Petr Mrazek will get the start in Vancouver on Saturday for the Red Wings. Joni Ortio could get the start for the Flames Sunday when Calgary travels to New York to face the Rangers.
WASHINGTON 7 EDMONTON 4
It was a wild night in Edmonton as Evgeny Kuznetsov got the hat trick and added a couple of assists for his best game as an NHLer to lead the Washington Capitals to a 7-4 road win over the Oilers.
Andre Burakovsky, Nicklas Backstrom and Justin Williams each had a goal and an assist for Washington while Marcus Johansson also scored.
The Capitals scored seven times and yet it was the first game that Alex Ovechkin was unable to score. He did manage two assists however.
Connor McDavid continued to show why he was the no-brainer first pick in this year's draft as he had a goal and an assist to give him four goals and seven points in his last four games after starting the season with one goal in his first four contests.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also chipped in with a goal and an assist with Rob Klinkhammer and Benoit Pouliot each scoring once.
Kuznetsov had an outstanding fantasy night in addition to his five points as he picked up four penalty minutes and was a plus-four.
Anders Nilsson certainly had a night to forget as he gave up six goals on 17 shots before Cam Talbot mercifully took over and stopped eight-of-nine shots in the second half of the game.
Philipp Grubauer made only 19 saves in picking up his first win in his first appearance of the season. Look for Braden Holtby to start Wednesday at home versus the Penguins.
LOS ANGELES 3 CAROLINA 0
Jonathan Quick was outstanding in leading the Kings to a 3-0 whitewashing of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Quick stopped 40 shots for his first shutout of the season and his 38th of his career.
Tyler Toffoli led the way with two goals including a power play effort while Anze Kopitar chipped in with his second of the season.
It looks like coach Darryl Sutter has finally found a spot for Milan Lucic as he picked up a couple of assists on a line with Toffoli and Jeff Carter. He should be someone to look at in fantasy pools as he is possibly the tope power forward despite his slow start.
Cam Ward stopped 23 shots in a losing effort.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
GOALS
Evgeny Kuznetsov 3
Brendan Gallagher 2
Dale Weise 2
Mark Giordano 2
Tyler Toffoli 2
ASSISTS
Andrei Markov 4
P. K. Subban 3
Tomas Plekanec 3
John Carlson 3
SHOTS
Mark Giordano 7
Evgeny Kuznetsov 7
Mikael Backlund 6
HITS
Zac Rinaldo 9
Adam Lowry 7
Zdeno Chara 6
Rob Klinkhammer 6
PENALTY MINUTES
Matt Martin 5
Adam McQuaid 5
Landon Ferraro 5
Jiri Hudler 5
PLUS /MINUS
P.K. Subban +4
Andrei Markov +4
Evgeny Kuznetsov +4
BLOCKS
Josh Gorges 6
Kris Russell 6
PLUS/MINUS
Oscar Klefbom -4
Travis Hamonic -4
Josh Gorges -3
Nicolas Deslauriers -3
Anders Lee -3
Calvin De Haan -3
Justin Schultz -3
