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The three stars were announced on Monday and Jacob Markstrom was the first star of the week. The Calgary netminder was a perfect 3-0-0 with a 1.33 GAA and a .959 save percentage as he stopped 93-of-97 shots in defeating Vegas, Toronto and the New York Islanders. He leads the NHL in shutouts with eight, including the 6-0 whitewashing over the Golden Knights and is certainly a serious contender for the Vezina Trophy this season.
The second star was Patrik Laine. The Columbus winger scored his first three power play goals of the season this week, and added three assists in the three contests. He has 13 goals and 27 points in 27 games this season.
The third star was the Devils Nico Hischier. The first overall selection in 2017, Hischier had five goals and an assist in four games to give him 13 goals and 30 points in 43 contests.
The Montreal Canadiens started their teardown on Monday, dealing Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Tyler Pitlick, prospect Emil Heineman, a first-round pick in 2022 and a fifth rounder in 2023. The first rounder is top-10 protected and if Calgary was to pick in the top-10, then the first rounder would become a first-round pick in 2023 and the fifth rounder the same season would become a fourth-round selection in 2024. It seems that Montreal has cornered the market on Pitlick’s as they also have Rem but the two are not related.
Finally, Jack Eichel is going to make his long-awaited return to the ice on Wednesday as he will appear in the Vegas lineup for the first time in his career. Eichel was dealt in November from Buffalo to Vegas and then underwent disk replacement surgery in his neck, a procedure the Sabres would not agree to. Eichel gives the Golden Knights, the true number one center they have never had. The Golden Knights are way above the salary cap with Eichel in the lineup so Mark Stone was placed on long-term injured reserve to get the Golden Knights compliant.
There were four games in the NHL on Monday.
MINNESOTA 7 DETROIT 4
It was a huge night for rookie Matthew Boldy as he had the hat trick as well as an assist as the Minnesota Wild spotted the Detroit Red Wings a 2-0 lead and then roared back to easily beat the Wings 7-4.
Boldy has been great since his recall from the minors as he has seven goals and 14 points in 13 games and has solidified the second line, as Kevin Fiala has returned to prominence of late, a lot in part to the play of Boldy.
Dylan Larkin with his 25th of the season, gave Detroit a quick 1-0 lead just 1:27 into the first period and Gustav Lindstrom doubled the lead at the 4:01 mark with his first career NHL goal.
But Boldy got the Wild even a touch more than four minutes later as he scored a pair to make the score 2-2 at the end of one.
Kirill Kaprizov, who also had a big game with a pair of goals and an assist, put Minnesota ahead early in the second and Boldy completed the hat trick with a power play effort with 1:47 left in the second.
Both sides traded power play goals in the third as Joel Eriksson Ek made it 5-2 at the 8:00 mark but Lucas Raymond cut the lead to two when he potted his 13th of the season 1:43 later.
Sam Gagner got the Red Wings to within one with 1:46 left in the third but a pair of goals in the final minute, completed the scoring as Kaprizov picked up his 22nd of the season as well as his 57th point into the empty net while Ryan Hartman scored his 19th with 15 seconds left, ripping a shot past Alex Nedeljkovic.
It was not a great night for Nedeljkovic who gave up six goals while stopping only 18 shots. The rookie is 14-14-5 with a 3.01 GAA and a .907 save percentage.
Kaapo Kahkonen picked up the start for Minnesota and made 30 saves on the night. Kahkonen is 11-3-2 with a 2.53 GAA and a .921 save percentage.
There were plenty of stats in this one as Mats Zuccarello had three assists with Frederick Gaudreau. Jared Spurgeon, Moritz Seider and Tyler Bertuzzi all picking up two assists.
Troy Stecher and Brandon Duhaime went at it in the second period after Duhaime boarded the Red Wings Marc Staal. Stecher came to his teammate’s defense and fought Duhaime. Both players ended up with seven penalty minutes.
Boldy had six shots on goal.
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TORONTO 6 SEATTLE 2
Well, at least the Kraken managed to keep Auston Matthews from scoring against them, but that was all the good news Seattle could muster as the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a two-game road losing streak with an easy 6-2 win.
The Maple Leafs scored three times on 11 shots in the opening stanza, chasing Philipp Grubauer from the cage at the end of the period as he gave up three goals on only 11 shots in taking the loss.
Alexander Kerfoot gave Toronto a 1-0 lead with his seventh but Calle Jarnkrok with his ninth, tied the game at one at the 9:05 mark. Michael Bunting with his 15th (he has been an outstanding acquisition this season as the free agent has fit in so well on every line, including the top unit) and Ondrej Kase with his 10th, a power play effort, was enough to chase Grubauer from the Seattle crease. Kase has been another outstanding pickup by GM Kyle Dubas as the Maple Leafs have plenty of firepower and now some defensive awareness up front.
With Chris Driedger between the pipes to start the second, Mitch Marner scored the only goal of the period as his power play goal made it 4-1. Marner had been on a tear since returning from COVID protocol with 10 goals and 19 points in his previous 10 games and that included going pointless in his last two. Marner ended the evening with a goal and two assists giving him 22 points in his last 11 games.
David Kampf scored shorthanded in the third to make it 5-1 before Jared McCann put one past Jack Campbell for his 20th of the campaign. Jake Muzzin with his second completed the scoring.
Campbell got back into the win column as he stopped 23 shots for the victory. He is 22-7-3 with a 2.38 GAA and a .921 save percentage.
Matthews as mentioned earlier, didn’t score, but did pick up two assists and has 57 points this season. William Nylander and defenseman Timothy Liljegren also had two assists.
Driedger gave up three goals on 14 shots. McCann, Marcus Johansson and Jordan Eberle were all minus-four.
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CHICAGO 3 WINNIPEG 1
Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 31 shots as he led the Chicago Blackhawks to a 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Fleury had a bad start to his Chicago career as he was 1-7-0, giving up 29 goals on 244 shots, but he has rebounded and is 16-17-3 with a 2.88 GAA and a .910 save percentage. There are teams that are going to be interested in him come playoff time and the pending UFA will have to decide whether he wants to uproot his family or remain for the rest of the season in Chicago.
After a scoreless first period, Patrick Kane scored his 12th of the year. Kane is having a nice season with 46 points in 45 games but he has averaged a lot more in six of his last seven seasons. His goal production has really slowed down the last two seasons as he had only 15 last year, after garnering at least 27 goals in each of his previous seven seasons.
Mark Scheifele snapped Fleury’s shutout bid in the third as his 14th tied the game at 1 but Alex DeBrincat with his 28th, ended up scoring the winner while Brandon Hagel picked up his 14th of the season into the empty net.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 21 shots and took the loss, giving up two goals. Hellebuyck is 16-16-7 with a 2.81 GAA and a .913 save percentage. If the Jets are to make a playoff charge, then Hellebuyck is really going to have to play lights out the rest of the season.
Kirby Dach had two assists.
Adam Lowry had six shots on goal.
EDMONTON 3 SAN JOSE 0
Stuart Skinner stopped all 20 shots to pick up his first career NHL shutout as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-0.
Skinner improved his record to 6-6-0 with a 2.59 GAA and a .913 save percentage as he won his fourth game in his last five starts.
Warren Foegele with his sixth, and Darnell Nurse with his fifth, scored in the opening period for Edmonton and the great Connor McDavid with his 24th, scored in the third.
James Reimer was solid in the San Jose net, stopping 38 shots in taking the loss. He is 13-10-3 with a 2.82 GAA and a .916 save percentage.
McDavid had seven shots on goal with Nurse and Timo Meier each getting six.
Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists.
Evander Kane returned to San Jose for the first time since the Sharks terminated his contract last month. He had four shots on goal with one hit in 18:51 of action.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Matthew Boldy – 3
Kirill Kaprizov – 2
Assists
Mats Zuccarello – 3
Jared Spurgeon – 2
Todd Bertuzzi – 2
Moritz Seider – 2
Mitch Marner – 2
Auston Matthews – 2
Kirby Dach – 2
William Nylander – 2
Evan Bouchard – 2
Shots on Goal
Connor McDavid – 7
Matthew Boldy – 6
Adam Lowry – 6
Timo Meier – 6
Darnell Nurse – 6
Hits
Calvin de Haan – 5
Logan Stanley – 5
Penalty Minutes
Troy Stecher – 7
Brandon Duhaime – 7