Ice Breaker: The Tkachuks torch Columbus, MacKinnon drops the gloves
Brady's natural hat trick and Matthew's five assists fed a 7-3 Panthers win, and Colorado and Dallas fought their way into tonight's rematch.
Brady Tkachuk scored three times in 8:03 of the second period in Columbus, his brother set up five goals, and Florida's power play went 4 for 6. In Dallas, Nathan MacKinnon dropped the gloves with Roope Hintz, and those two teams get to do it all again tonight in Denver.
Last night
Panthers 7, Blue Jackets 3
Kent Johnson put Columbus up in the first. Then the second period turned into a family business: Brady Tkachuk scored at 2:27, 6:00 and 10:30, the last two on the power play, for a natural hat trick, and Matthew assisted on all three.
Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored twice each, and Akira Schmid stopped 24 of 27. Mathieu Olivier's slashing major on Uvis Balinskis got him tossed late in the second, and Verhaeghe cashed the five-minute power play. Pabs has the full recap.
Pabs: Nine points between two brothers, and that's the part everyone will clip. The part I liked was the net front: the cats won the rebounds and made Columbus pay almost every time it went to the box.
Lind's read: Lars Eller played 16.5 minutes, up 3.9 from Buffalo, and Anton Lundell was up 3.7, per NHL data, each with a point. With Barkov and Marchand out, Maurice spread the center minutes around and got paid for it.
Sully's chirp: Columbus was already losing the special-teams battle when Mathieu Olivier handed Florida five free minutes. That's not a slash, that's a donation with a tax receipt.
Martin Necas scored twice, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 24 of 26. Fedor Svechkov fought Radek Faksa in the first and took an instigator, and MacKinnon squared off with Hintz 6:46 into the second.
Lind's read: Colorado won only 35.7 percent of the faceoffs and still won the game. That's top-end skill covering for a bad night at the dot, and it's a risky way to live in a rematch on no rest.
Oilers 4, Kings 1
Leon Draisaitl, Vasily Podkolzin on the power play and Connor McDavid made it 3-0 inside 16 minutes, and Darcy Kuemper was done after the first with three goals against on seven shots. Los Angeles then threw 40 shots at Devon Levi and got one, from Brandt Clarke. McDavid finished with a goal and three assists.
By our count, McDavid has a point in all six Oilers games (17 points), Podkolzin has a point in six straight, and Edmonton has won five in a row.
Sully's chirp: The Kings put 40 shots on Devon Levi and got one past him. That's not a goalie, that's a bouncer who decided at the door you weren't getting in.
Rangers 4, Lightning 1
Alexis Lafrenière scored twice in the first, both set up by Tye Kartye, and Dylan Garand stopped 25 of 26.
Lind's read: Garand is at .951 through four games, per NHL data, while Andrei Vasilevskiy sits at .886. Small samples both ways, but with Shesterkin out, that's the gap that matters in New York.
Blues 7, Senators 2
Pius Suter (one shorthanded), Mason McTavish and Jake Neighbours scored twice each, Pavel Buchnevich had three assists and Adam Jiricek added the seventh. Ottawa's three-game winning streak is over.
Sully's chirp: Three different Blues scored twice. Ottawa turned it into one of those youth tournaments where everybody goes home with a trophy.
Devils 5, Red Wings 4 (OT)
Nobody led by more than a goal all night. Alex DeBrincat scored twice for Detroit, the second to tie it 4-4 early in the third. Jack Hughes ended it 1:19 into overtime off a Jesper Bratt feed.
Lind's read: Hughes logged 23.5 minutes and put eight shots on net, per NHL data. When he's carrying that kind of volume, New Jersey wins nights like this even when the goaltending is just okay.
Hurricanes 4, Capitals 2
Andrei Svechnikov scored twice, including the power-play winner with 6:04 left, and Mark Jankowski hit the empty net. Sebastian Aho had two assists and now has a point in seven straight by our count. It was Carolina's second game without Jordan Staal, who's out with a torn calf.
Sully's chirp: Carolina is plus-15 over its last five, by our count. The rest of the Metro is playing for second and doesn't know it yet, like the last guy at the party who thinks it's still going.
Around the league
Utah 5, Maple Leafs 4. Utah led 5-2 after two, and Toronto's comeback stopped one short. Auston Matthews scored on the power play and has a point in five straight.
Bruins 6, Sharks 3. Fraser Minten scored twice and Jeremy Swayman stopped 35 of 38.
Jets 5, Wild 2. Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists, and Cole Perfetti scored twice. Quinn Hughes has a point in all seven Wild games by our count.
Blackhawks 5, Penguins 3. Teuvo Teravainen scored 28 seconds in and again late, Roman Kantserov scored twice, and Sidney Crosby's two goals went for nothing.
Islanders 3, Canucks 2. Kyle Palmieri scored twice.
Canadiens 4, Sabres 3 (SO). Montreal outshot Buffalo 38-17 and still needed Alexandre Texier in the shootout. Olen Zellweger scored twice for Buffalo.
Kraken 3, Flyers 2 (SO). Bobby McMann scored on the power play and won the shootout. Philadelphia erased a 2-0 deficit and is still looking for its first win at 0-5-3.
Flames 4, Ducks 2. Aydar Suniev had a goal and an assist, and Calgary outshot Anaheim 36-25.
Three stars of the night
- Brady Tkachuk, FLA: three goals and an assist, a natural hat trick in 8:03.
- Matthew Tkachuk, FLA: five assists, on Florida's first five goals.
- Devon Levi, EDM: 39 saves on 40 shots.
Lind's number of the night
7 for 38. That's Florida's power play this season by our count, and six of those seven goals have come in the last two nights. Two good power-play nights don't erase a slow start, but a unit that goes 4 for 6 is a unit that's finally getting bodies to the net.
Sully's take of the morning
Nathan MacKinnon fought Roope Hintz. When the best player on the ice drops the gloves, the bench gets a month of motivation for free. Colorado won the game, so I'm scoring the tilt for MacKinnon, and I said what I said.
Earlier, Fedor Svechkov got the instigator against Radek Faksa, which in hockey terms means he sent the invitation and the other guy just showed up. Grade for the night in Dallas: A-minus. And they play again tonight, so somebody tell the linesmen to stretch.
Tonight
A two-game Wednesday, and the Panthers are off until Thursday, when Vancouver visits Sunrise at 7 p.m. ET on Scripps Sports. Montreal is in Washington at 7:30.
The one to watch is the rematch: Dallas at Colorado at 8:30 on TNT and truTV, less than 24 hours after MacKinnon and Hintz went at it. Colorado is -148 at DraftKings with the total at 5.5. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
