Ice Breaker: Eller ends the skid, Fowler steals the Heritage Classic
Florida kills seven Chicago power plays, Nashville scores four of its own, and Montreal wins outdoors in Winnipeg behind a 33-save night.
Florida snapped the skid with a late Lars Eller goal and a perfect penalty kill. The other headline came out of a football stadium in Winnipeg, where Jacob Fowler stopped 33 of 34 and Montreal won the Heritage Classic. The Room's locks for the week are in Sunday's Ferda Room.
Panthers 3, Blackhawks 2
Sandis Vilmanis and Matthew Tkachuk (power play) scored in the first, Chicago tied it in the second, and Lars Eller won it with 2:23 left off an Aaron Ekblad feed. Akira Schmid made 19 saves. Pabs has the full recap with Maurice's postgame.
Pabs: Seven Chicago power plays, seven kills. That's the game, and that's the old Panthers showing up for one night at the United Center.
Lind's read: Florida outshot Chicago 33-21 and still needed a third-period winner. The Panthers took 16 penalty minutes, so the kill carried a night the shot count says should have been easier.
Sully's chirp: Chicago got seven power plays and scored on none of them. The Blackhawks would like to return the man advantage for store credit.
Canadiens 2, Jets 1 (Heritage Classic, Princess Auto Stadium)
Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle scored 3:45 apart in the second, Cole Caufield set up both, and Jacob Fowler stopped 33 of 34. Isak Rosen got Winnipeg on the board with 4:36 left, and that was all the Jets had.
Sully's chirp: Winnipeg went 0-for-4 on the power play outdoors. It's hard to score when your hands are frozen, and even harder when you've got no idea what to do with the puck anyway.
Predators 6, Avalanche 2
Nashville scored four power-play goals on seven chances. Ryan O'Reilly had two of them plus two assists, Steven Stamkos scored twice, and Roman Josi had three assists. Colorado got goals from Artturi Lehkonen and Devon Toews once it was 5-0.
Lind's read: Colorado took 21 penalty minutes against a team running a 33.3 percent power play this season, per NHL data. That's not bad luck. That's handing Josi the car keys.
Stars 6, Islanders 3
Jason Robertson scored twice, Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist, and Mikko Rantanen scored in the third to put it away. Matthew Schaefer scored for the Islanders, his fourth straight game with a point, but Ilya Sorokin faced 38 shots and Dallas won its fifth straight.
Sully's chirp: The Islanders gave up 38 shots. Sorokin should invoice the defense.
Wild 4, Canucks 2
Minnesota scored twice on the power play and led 4-0 before Vancouver showed up. Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes each had a goal and an assist, and Maxim Shabanov had one of each too.
Lind's read: Vancouver is 0-4-1 in its last five and killing penalties at 64.4 percent, by our count. Two more power-play goals against last night explain most of the slide.
Three stars of the night
- Ryan O'Reilly, NSH: 2 goals, 2 assists.
- Jacob Fowler, MTL: 33 saves on 34 shots in the Heritage Classic.
- Steven Stamkos, NSH: 2 goals, 1 assist.
By our count: Artturi Lehkonen's goal in Nashville stretched his point streak to seven games, and he has 14 points in 12 games. It was the one bright spot in a 6-2 night.
Lind's number of the night
92.3. That's Dallas's penalty kill this season, per NHL data, and the Stars are 5-0 in their last five with a plus-9 goal differential, by our count. They score enough. The kill is why nobody is catching them right now.
Sully's take of the morning
Look, a win is a win, but Garnet Hathaway and Bokondji Imama are 12 games into the season without a point between them. Imama played under five minutes last night. I've spent longer finding parking at the Garden. Buddy, I'm begging you, tip one in by accident. Nobody will check the replay.
Tonight
Three games. Los Angeles visits the Rangers at 7 PM ET, the Kings at 2-5-2 and in need of anything. Toronto is at Calgary at 8:30 PM. Detroit closes it at Edmonton at 9:30 PM, and that's the one to watch: the Oilers are 8-2-1 and a -180 favorite at DraftKings. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. No Panthers tonight.
