Ice Breaker: Anton Lundell picks a good night to wake up
Lundell's hat trick sinks the skidding Jets, Coronato gets four points in Calgary, and Gritsyuk and Jack Hughes split four goals in Vegas.
Anton Lundell had one goal in his first 13 games. On Friday he scored three, the Panthers made it three wins in a row, and Winnipeg made it four losses in a row. Happy Halloween to the Jets, who have spent two weeks dressed as a competitive hockey team and aren't fooling anybody.
Panthers 5, Jets 2
Lundell scored early in the second, again midway through the third and into an empty net at 18:21 for the hat trick. Sam Reinhart and Seth Jones scored on the power play, Jones added two assists for a three-point night, and Florida went 2-for-5 with the extra man.
Akira Schmid made 22 saves, and Nolan Daws stopped 33 of 37 for Winnipeg. Pabs has the full recap.
Pabs: That's the Lundell the room has been waiting on: eight shots, three goals and a plus-3, on a night he took a holding minor and drew a power play in the same period. Bokondji Imama answered Tyrel Bauer two minutes in, and the cats played like they'd been told to follow him.
Lind's read: By our count, Winnipeg is 0-4-1 in its last five with a minus-11 goal differential, and 1-7-2 in its last ten. Florida outshot them 38-24, which is what a team in that hole looks like on the road.
Sully's chirp: Kyle Connor scored on the power play and still finished minus-3. That's winning the office raffle and getting your car towed in the same afternoon.
Matt Coronato had a goal and three assists in 13:28, Joel Farabee had a goal and two helpers, and Calgary scored twice on the power play. Philipp Grubauer was done after four goals on 14 shots, Joey Daccord finished, and Dustin Wolf made 20 saves at the other end. Adam Klapka and Curtis Douglas fought 1:46 into the game.
Sully's chirp: Curtis Douglas got seven penalty minutes and 4:29 of ice time. He spent more time in the box than in the game, and he was still safer in there than Grubauer was in the crease.
Devils 5, Golden Knights 2
Arseny Gritsyuk scored twice, Jack Hughes scored twice with the second into an empty net, and Luke Hughes opened it 5:38 in. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 of 21 and is 2-0 in a Devils sweater, per NHL data. Mitch Marner had both Vegas assists on the goals by Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev.
Lind's read: Marner has a point in nine straight games by our count, 15 points in 13 games. Vegas is 1-3-1 in its last five, though, so the streak is keeping company with a lot of losing.
Three stars of the night
- Anton Lundell, FLA: three goals on eight shots.
- Matt Coronato, CGY: a goal and three assists in 13:28.
- Arseny Gritsyuk, NJD: two goals on eight shots.
Lind's number of the night: 18
That's Seth Jones's point total through 14 games, with 24.9 minutes a night, per NHL data. Pabs made the case that Jones is carrying the blue line on Friday morning, and Jones answered that evening with three points and a three-game point streak.
Sully's take of the morning
Tyrel Bauer skated 2:59 on Friday and took a five-minute fighting major, so he sat in the box longer than he played. Imama dropped the gloves two minutes in, and that's a ferda shift no matter what the stat line says.
Meanwhile Jack Eichel played 16:21 in Vegas with zero shots and a minus-1. Buddy, I'm begging you, the net is the big thing with the mesh on it. Grade: D.
Kessler's corner
No. 2 Wisconsin put seven on Notre Dame, and No. 7 Minnesota Duluth won 1-0 at No. 9 Colorado College. That's the kind of NCHC road victory that looks considerably better by tournament selection time.
Meg's line
No. 2 Minnesota won 3-2 in overtime at No. 13 Minnesota Duluth after the Bulldogs erased a two-goal hole, and No. 4 Northeastern beat Boston University 8-1. Meg had the setup for the Duluth series on Friday.
Tonight
Ten games, starting at 1 p.m. ET with Chicago at Boston and St. Louis at Detroit, the Red Wings' second game since suspending Dylan Larkin. Tampa Bay is at Nashville and Edmonton is at the Islanders at 2, so Matthew Schaefer gets the Oilers after the week Kessler wrote up.
Toronto visits a 3-11-1 Vancouver team at 7, and Calgary plays on no rest at Colorado at 10, where Hard Rock Bet has the Avalanche at -400. (21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.) The Panthers are off until Monday, when Detroit visits Sunrise at 7 p.m. on Scripps.
