Hot Sauce: The Devils got Hellebuyck, and Ottawa threw its jerseys
Five takes from a week in which New Jersey won a two-month auction, the Panthers got outscored 9-1, and McDavid kept counting.
Ottawa fans threw Brady Tkachuk's jerseys on the ice Tuesday, the most that building has given away for free since the division. Two nights later New Jersey got a three-time Vezina winner for a guy on LTIR and some spare parts. Busy week. Grades are final.
1. The Leafs won a game they tried very hard to lose.
Toronto coughed up 23 giveaways to the Rangers on Thursday, let them tie it with five minutes left, and won 5-4 on a Troy Stecher goal with 28 seconds to go. The city has already booked the parade route and commissioned the statue.
The Leafs are 3-1-1 in their last five with a 97.4 percent penalty kill, per NHL data, and they still play every third period like the puck owes them money. Grade: B-minus. The minus is for making me watch Stecher be a hero.
2. McDavid is cheating, and Edmonton's goalies are why he has to.
Connor McDavid has a point in all 10 Oilers games, 31 by our count, and he needed five Thursday to beat Carolina in a shootout. Carolina scored five in that building and lost: Devon Levi gave up five, Brandon Bussi gave up five on 21 shots, and the best player on earth tied it with 88 seconds left.
Bussi is at .865 through six starts, per NHL data. That number is why the Hurricanes spent two months calling Winnipeg. Grade: A for McDavid, D for the pads. Buddy, I'm begging you, one of you stop a puck so he can take a shift off.
3. Ottawa spent all its emotion on one guy and had nothing left for Thursday.
Tuesday the whole city showed up to boo Brady, chant at him and throw his old sweaters on the ice. The Senators won 5-1 and Florida took 44 penalty minutes. Thursday, Ottawa outshot San Jose 43-28 and lost 6-2 because Yaroslav Askarov made 41 saves.
The power play is at 12.2 percent, per NHL data, and the team's best night of the year came against a guy who doesn't play for them anymore. Grade: C. Great. Tremendous. You beat the ex. Now beat somebody you're not emotionally involved with.
4. The Panthers threw 74 hits in two nights and got outscored 9-1.
Florida finished every check in Ottawa and Pittsburgh except the one that counts. Thirty-two hits in Pittsburgh, 23 giveaways, zero goals, 0 for 4 on the power play, and the cats take 15.0 penalty minutes a game by our count, most in the league.
That's not a hockey team, that's a group chat that got out of hand.
Sam Reinhart played 20:30 in Pittsburgh with six shots and nothing to show for it, per NHL data, and the kid making his NHL debut in net was the only Panther who looked like he wanted to be there.
Then Maurice said "arrogance and softness" out loud and blamed himself, which two Cups lets you do once. Grade: D-minus. The humidity isn't an excuse in Pittsburgh, fellas. I checked.
5. New Jersey robbed Winnipeg in daylight, and Carolina held the door.
The Devils got Connor Hellebuyck, 33, at $8.5 million through 2030-31, for Dawson Mercer, Nick Bjugstad (currently on long-term injured reserve), Nico Daws, prospect Alexander Command and two picks that arrive around the heat death of the universe.
New Jersey was already 4-1 in its last five with a plus-9 goal differential, per NHL data, while Jake Allen stopped .883, and it added the best goalie of the decade without losing a regular.
Hellebuyck asked out in August, sat out a three-week suspension and forfeited about $930,000 to get here. Marcus says the term is the risk, and Marcus has a spreadsheet. I have eyes, and they watched the Devils control nearly 60 percent of the shots with a goalie stopping 88.
Dreger had Carolina as the only team making consistent offers as of Tuesday, and Thursday the Hurricanes gave up five to a team they outshot. They stood in line for two months and Jersey cut it. Grade: A for New Jersey. F for Carolina, who needed this more and showed up with a coupon.
Fight of the week
Bokondji Imama versus Hayden Hodgson, 10:05 of the first in Ottawa. Brady scored at 10:00. Imama was fighting five seconds later, the fastest anyone has answered a Tkachuk since the family group text.
Sam Bennett and Ridly Greig went at 2:17 of the third, down 3-1, which is arguing with the waiter after the bill came. Who won: Ottawa took the game, so I'm scoring it for the crowd. Florida took the bouts on points and the loss on everything else.
Kept off the sheet
Jeremy Lauzon, Vegas: 12 games, zero points, 17.3 minutes a night by our count. A full dozen. That's a carton of nothing.
Ryan Pulock, Islanders: 10 games, zero points, 19.0 minutes. Matthew Schaefer put nine shots on net Thursday alone. Pulock put on his gear.
Ryan Shea, Edmonton: seven straight blanks at 23.5 minutes. He's on the ice with McDavid and still can't find a point. That's being Santa's roommate and getting coal.
Not a real award
The Hit Everything Except the Net Trophy goes to the Vegas Golden Knights, who threw 36 hits to St. Louis's 13 on Thursday and lost 6-2 while Justin Barron, a defenseman, had a goal and three assists against them. The trophy is a dented pane of glass, and Vegas never touched it.
Last word
Toronto is in Edmonton tonight, McDavid's streak is at 10, and the Leafs' penalty kill is about to meet the one power play that doesn't care. Jersey has a goalie, Carolina has a phone bill, and Ottawa still has a pile of jerseys to donate. I said what I said.
