Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
And they say triples are a baseball thing.
It was once, twice, three times a natural hat trick for Jason Robertson (3 G, 1 A, 5 SOG) and the Dallas Stars last night.
According to the broadcast, J-Rob’s natural triple trouble in just 5:42 of time in the second period was the third-fastest natural hat trick in Stars history.
Despite Robertson’s dominance on the scoresheet, the Capitals tried to make a late push. Ryan Leonard’s 5th goal of the year with 1:02 left in the third made for an exciting finish, but in the end it was Dallas with a 6-5 win on the road.
The Stars bounced back from a rough last week (back-to-back losses to NJ and MTL) and have now won back-to-back games.
Is there any truth to the whispers that the Stars and Lightning have talked about a straight swap of Robertson for Kucherov?
Maybe. Or maybe not. But despite the number of trade requests/demands piling up in the hockey world these days, there was much more to report from another 11-game NHL schedule.
Here’s what else I saw in Tuesday night’s NHL action!
Jake Oettinger – 20 saves on 25 shots and the 6-5 win at WSH. He’s 6-1 in his last 7 starts and, despite the ugly save percentage last night, he’s still a top-tier goalie.
Wyatt Johnston – 2 A, 2 SOG, 16:13 TOI. He’s had a quiet 13 points in 13 games (3 G, 10 A), but I’d still be starting him everywhere no matter the opponent.
Roope Hintz – 1 G, 2 A, 2 SOG, 1 H, 14:27 TOI. Roope, there he is!
Logan Thompson – 7 saves on 11 shots and the early hook. (Charlie Lindgren – 9 saves on 11 shots – took the loss). As if his night wasn’t tough enough, here’s the note I wrote up about Jason Robertson and his history with Logan Thompson: “5 goals on 15 shots in his career against Logan Thompson. Ya think J-Rob has this guy’s number?”
Jordan Kyrou – 1 G, 2 A, 1 SOG, 17:03 TOI. It’s a good thing someone stuck the mirror underneath his nose to check for some sign of life. After a slow start, Kyrou has 13 points in his last 10 games.
Sebastian Cossa – 27 saves on 29 shots and the 3-2 win at TOR. Rolling a 23-year-old backup goalie out there on the road in Toronto? Head coach Andre Tourigny must have some Mammoth pants grapes to pull off a move like that! (And it worked!)
Dylan Guenther – 1 G, 2 SOG, 1 H, 16:55 TOI. I looked up his draft year and remembered that Arizona (remember them?) flipped Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Connor Garland to Vancouver for the 9th overall pick, aka Guenther. I wonder if Vancouver wants a do-over on that one.
Nick Schmaltz – 1 G, 2 PIM, 3 SOG, 2 BLK. A little bit of everything to fill the scoresheet from a guy whose name reminds me of a portmanteau of malt liquor and this…
Sergei Bobrovsky – 33 saves on 36 shots and the 3-2 loss to UTA. It’s tough to blame a goalie for the loss when he sees this much rubber, but…YOU’RE OFF THE CASE, BOBROVSKY!
Jack Roslovic – 2 G, 2 PIM, 4 SOG, 1 H, 18:19 TOI. So…a couple of goals from JR and none from Auston Matthews, William Nylander, or Gavin McKenna? Oh……….kay. In Matthews’ defense, he did have two assists.
Tristan Jarry – 31 saves on 34 shots in the 4-3 OT loss at NJ. One regulation loss in six starts was the beginning of a bit of a heater for Jarry, but this one was a bit deflating.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – 1 G, 1 A, 2 PIM, 1 SOG. Can you guess the name of the career leader in Oilers games played on Monday? Wayne Gretzky? Nope. Ryan Smyth? Nah. Kevin Lowe! Yep.
Now, if you can guess who passed Lowe on the list of Edmonton games played yesterday with his 1038th game in the orange, blue, and white…you are better at this game than I am! (And, yes, it was RNH).
Evan Bouchard – 1 G, 1 A, 1 SOG, 27:26 TOI. That makes it 28 points in 16 games, and apparently we’re watching a real-life video game character. This guy looks like he’s playing NHL27 on the rookie setting.
Connor Hellebuyck – 18 saves on 21 shots and the 4-3 OT win. Cool story. Have they traded for Dylan Larkin yet? How about now?
Jack Hughes – 2 G, 1 A, 5 SOG, 3 BLK, 25:17 TOI. Viz said it best on Monday. If Jack can just stay healthy, he’ll have a monster year.
Connor Brown – 1 G, 1 A, 3 SOG, 1 H, 1 BLK, 16:37 TOI. All aboard the train to BrownTown.
Jesper Wallstedt – 23 saves on 25 shots and the 4-2 win at PHI. I’d ask if anyone is afraid of the lowly Flyers, but they’re “only” 28th overall.
Matt Boldy – 1 G, 1 A, 2 PIM, 4 SOG, 20:15 TOI.
Joel Eriksson-Ek – Same line as Boldy with one less assist and two more blocks. I’d take Boldy and the Jeek Squad on my fantasy team any time.
Dan Vladar – 18 saves on 21 shots and the loss. He’s now 3-5-1 with an .883 save percentage. Maybe it’s time to change that name back to Anakin Skywalker.
Matvei Michkov – 1 A, 4 SOG, 16:20 TOI. Someone get this guy out of Philly already. The breakout is bubbling underneath, but who knows if it’ll ever come out while he’s a Flyer.
Porter Martone – 1 A, 1 SOG, 13:10 TOI. So this guy and Michkov are buried behind Travis Konecny and Christian freaking Dvorak? Hey, at least they’re getting PP1 time.
Stuart Skinner – 18 saves on 22 shots and the WIN at MTL! I had a whole blurb written up about how Skinner was going to hear it from a certain Springfield superintendent after the Habs pumped him for four goals in just over two periods. Then the hockey gods decided to flip the script. Winnipeg scored FIVE unanswered goals in the third to blast back from a 4-0 deficit and win in overtime. All aboard the SS Skinner!
Kyle Connor – 2 G, 8 SOG, 27:50 TOI. He’s a minute-munching beast and easily a first-team skater on the NHL’s “two first names” team.
Tyrel Bauer – 1 G, 1 A, 5 PIM, 2 SOG, 2 H, 10:44 TOI. I’m not going to lie. I saw “T. Bauer” and thought, “Oh great. The old starting pitcher was bounced out of MLB, Korea, and the Mexican league, so now he’s playing hockey?”
This defenseman is so new that he doesn’t have a headshot photo on the website I was checking for stats. That said, he’s worth a look if you’re in a very deep league and could use a defenseman who’s putting numbers up in limited ice time.
Jacob Fowler – 42 saves on 47 shots and the 5-4 OT loss. I said it above with Bobrovsky, and it goes for Fowler here too. Seeing close to 50 shots in a game should be an easy out for any goalie, but blowing a 4-0 lead in the third period is a team loss; you can’t hang that solely on the goalie.
Josh Anderson – 1 G, 2 SOG, 2 H, 17:45 TOI. That’s a modest streak of 4 points in two games for Anderson.
Cole Caufield – 2 G, 4 SOG, 17:22 TOI. I mentioned in last week’s roundup (Kent Stop, Won’t Stop The Johnson) that I turned down a trade offer of Kent Johnson and Frederic Brunet for Quinton Byfield and Oliver Bonk. Well, the original deal went through anyway, and I ended up with Cole Caufield instead of Johnson as the headliner coming back. I’ll take it!
Juraj Slafkovsky – 2 A, 1 SOG, 1 BLK, 16:30 TOI. I’m sure you’ve read the rumors out there that Montreal is on the hunt for a star skater. Kucherov makes sense, but the trade returns that some folks are floating out there are hard to fathom. This guy’s name has been mentioned in a couple of rumour mills, and I just can’t see Montreal moving him.
John Gibson – 11 saves on 13 shots and the early hook (lower body injury). So…did they trade Dylan Larkin to New Jersey yet? How about now?
J.T. Compher – 1 G, 1 A, 2 SOG, 16:06 TOI. I wondered if I was seeing things when I saw the name and thought, “Is this guy 40 years old yet?” He’s not that old, but he’s not young either (He’s 31).
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 19 saves on 21 shots and the 4-2 win vs DET. Tampa is still undefeated at home this season.
Brayden Point – 2 G, 4 SOG, 18:23 TOI. With 13 points in 14 games, it’s safe to say he’s well on his way to proving that last year’s Point total was an outlier.
Nikita Kucherov – 2 A, 3 SOG, 21:40 TOI. That’s 7 points in his last 4 games. I don’t blame Tampa for saying he’s not going anywhere, but if we get to the trade deadline and the Kucherov song is still the same, they’ll have to move him or risk losing him for nothing.
Adin Hill – 23 saves on 25 shots and the 3-2 win at PIT. Another road dub on a night where home teams had a rough showing.
Tomas Hertl – 2 G, 3 SOG, 5 H, 15:11 TOI. The five hits are a nice little bonus here for us head-to-head leaguers.
Jack Eichel – 2 A, 1 SOG, 1 BLK, 21:16 TOI. This was a nice showing from a guy who had hit a bit of a cold spell (two points in his last six games).
Arturs Silovs – 20 saves on 23 shots in the 3-2 loss. When your starting goalie is checking in with an .888 save percentage…things aren’t going great!
Tommy Novak – 1 G, 1 A, 2 PIM, 5 SOG, 19:13 TOI. Is it just me, or does anyone else immediately think of one of two things when they see the name “Tommy”? The Who or Vice CIty? (With the 4th Friday the 13th movie as a close third?)
Scott Wedgewood – 5 saves on 9 shots and the 7-2 loss. Wedgewood got blasted by the Blue Jackets and was replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood (12 saves on 15 shots).
Cale Makar – 1 G, 1 A, 5 SOG, 2 BLK, 22:32 TOI. When the other team scores seven, it’s tough to push back all on your own.
Nathan MacKinnon – 2 A, 1 SOG, 19:28 TOI. When the other team scores seven…well, you know.
Cam Talbot – 27 saves on 29 shots and the 7-2 win vs COL. Oh my. I don’t know what’s more surprising: Columbus steamrolling Colorado or Cam Talbot steamrolling through a tough squad to prove he deserves a shot at the Blue Jackets’ starting goalie gig.
Mathieu Olivier – 1 G, 2 A, 2 SOG, 2 H, 2 BLK. He might be the lone French guy not playing in Montreal, and if you’re in a league that counts hits, you can move him up the list for value.
Charlie Coyle – 2 G, 2 A, 2 PIM, 3 SOG, 2 BLK, 20:18. The points have been there (13 in 13 games), but the other bonus here is for those of us in leagues with a faceoffs won category. He’s winning FO at a 53% clip and has already won 117 on the year.
Zach Werenski – 2 A, 2 SOG, 1 H, 1 BLK, 24:32 TOI. He was one of 12 skaters to record at least one point.
Juuse Saros – 29 saves on 30 shots and the 4-1 win vs CAR. No big deal. Just a dismantling of the best team in the league and an easy win over the Stanley Cup champions. The .908 save percentage is fine, but the 4-3-1 record doesn’t indicate just how good he’s been.
Pyotr Kochetkov – 16 saves on 19 shots and his first loss of the year. Hey, don’t feel so bad. 10-1 is still pretty solid. (Yes, that’s sarcasm).
The “Late” Game
Laurent Brossoit – 13 saves on 15 shots with 15:00 left in the third period. He was sitting pretty with a 5-2 lead when I started my final edits. I’m guessing it’ll hold up if only because his opponent at the other end of the ice looked really bad.
EDIT: I’m cursing myself each week here. Vancouver scored twice while I was editing, and the update is now 5-4 with 9:54 left in the third.
Cutter Gauthier – 3 G, 5 SOG. His second hat trick this week. I managed to catch the graphic on screen while I was watching this one late, too.
Jeez. Ya think this kid is any good?
Michael Granlund – 1 G, 2 A, 1 SOG, 2 H, 16:31 TOI. 8 of his 13 points have been on the power play.
Beckett Sennecke – 4 A, 2 SOG, 1 H. Four assists and still 15 minutes to go?! I should’ve taken this guy for the 3-point challenge instead of Sebastian Aho!
Kevin Lankinen – 14 saves on 19 shots, and if you’re wondering why the Canucks are so bad, have a peek at the guy with a 1-7 record, a 6.22 GAA, and an .808 save percentage. Wooooof.
Linus Karlsson – 1 G, 1 SOG, 2 H. Linus? Well, at least he’s scoring goals at the right time of year.
That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions or comments, leave them below, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.
