Ice Breaker: Tuch outlasts the Habs, Hintz gets the last word
Alex Tuch's two goals beat Montreal 5-4, and Roope Hintz won a shootout in Denver one night after fighting Nathan MacKinnon.
Alex Tuch scored twice, one of them shorthanded, and set up another as Washington outlasted Montreal 5-4. In Denver, Roope Hintz got the last word on Colorado one night after he and Nathan MacKinnon dropped the gloves in Dallas, and this time he did it in a shootout.
Only two games on the schedule, nine goals in one of them, and the Panthers are home against Vancouver tonight.
Last night
This one was tied three times. Josh Anderson scored twice for Montreal, Lane Hutson scored and set up a late power-play goal, and the Habs outshot Washington 30-23.
It didn't matter, because Washington's veterans made their chances count. Tuch scored shorthanded in the second. Justin Holl put Washington ahead for good at 12:29 of the third with his second of the season, and Tuch made it 5-3 at 17:05. Nick Suzuki's power-play goal with 1:39 left made it close and nothing more.
Family note: Cole Hutson set up Jordan Kyrou's goal for Washington a little over three minutes before his big brother scored for Montreal.
Lind's read: Washington won on 23 shots because Jakub Dobes stopped 18 of them. That .783 night drops him to .841 through four starts, per NHL data, and you can't outshoot a team by seven and lose very often.
Gabriel Landeskog opened the scoring in the second, Miro Heiskanen answered on a feed from Mikko Rantanen, and Arttu Hyry put Dallas ahead with an unassisted shorthanded goal 1:20 into the third. Brock Nelson equalized at 8:21, and a scoreless overtime sent it to the skills competition.
Jason Robertson and Nazem Kadri traded shootout goals before Hintz beat Scott Wedgewood in the fourth round. Casey DeSmith stopped 25 of 27 in regulation and overtime, then stuffed Martin Necas, MacKinnon and Nelson in the shootout.
Sully's chirp: Tuesday, MacKinnon and Hintz drop the gloves. Wednesday, Hintz wins it in the shootout and MacKinnon gets stoned by the backup goalie.
That's Hintz hitting him with his fists and his wrist shot in the same week. Nate, buddy, change your number.
Three stars of the night
- Alex Tuch, WSH — two goals, one shorthanded, plus an assist.
- Josh Anderson, MTL — two goals in a loss, and the Habs' best forward on the night.
- Casey DeSmith, DAL — 25 saves and three straight shootout stops on Colorado's best shooters.
Lind's number of the night
30:03. That's Heiskanen's ice time in Denver, nearly five minutes more than any other skater who played last night, per NHL data. Dallas is leaning on its best defenseman in every situation, and he's delivering: by our count he's on a three-game point streak with six points through seven games, which is a small sample but a significant workload.
Sully's take of the morning
Look, Montreal outshot Washington 30-23 and lost. That's like doing all the work on the group project and the other guy getting the A. Buddy, I'm begging you, the puck is the little black thing.
Kept off the sheet: by our count, Washington's Martin Fehérváry is pointless through seven games at 22.2 minutes a night, and Dallas's Esa Lindell is pointless through seven at 20.9. That's more than two hours of hockey each with nothing on the receipt.
Meanwhile MacKinnon has 12 points through seven games, per NHL data, and still couldn't solve Casey DeSmith on a breakaway with nobody chasing him. Fine. Best player in the world. Not even the best shooter on his own bench last night, because Kadri scored.
Tonight
Eleven games. The Canucks are at the Panthers at 7 p.m. ET on Scripps, and Vancouver walks into Sunrise 2-6 with five straight losses, per NHL data. Florida is 3-2-2 and still looking for its first home win. Pabs has the preview later today.
Tampa hosts Seattle at 7 on Prime Video, the Rangers visit New Jersey, and the late window has Utah at Edmonton at 9 p.m. ET.
Our game to watch is the Panthers: a team that just put seven on Columbus against a team that can't find a win. If the cats don't bank two points tonight, somebody owes the room an explanation.
