Top Scorer of the Week
The past week was dominated by the Czech duo of David Pastrnak and Tomas Hertl, with each collecting nine points.
Pastrnak shone with six assists in Boston’s win over the Rangers 10-2, tying the club record. He also added two goals against Seattle and picked up an assist versus Calgary.
Hertl kicked off a successful four-game week with a goal and an assist against Winnipeg, then notched two more assists in the game against Columbus. Although he was held off the scoresheet against St. Louis, he orchestrated Vegas’s win over his former team San Jose with five points (2+3) in a 7-2 victory. This season, he has a (5+4) record against the Sharks in four games.
Goalie of the Week
John Gibson from Detroit and Karel Vejmelka from Utah both picked up three wins, but we’re highlighting the Czech netminder.
The Utah goalie is the first this season to reach the 20-win mark. So far, he’s played 34 games, averaging 2.63 goals against and has a save percentage of exactly 90%.
Last week, he helped his team earn six points with 80 saves, allowing just five goals and maintaining a 1.66 goals-against average. Thanks in large part to him, Utah are still in the playoff hunt, currently tied on points with eighth-placed Los Angeles in the West.
Story of the Week
The New York Rangers conceded ten goals in a single game for the first time in nearly seventeen years. Boston handed the Blueshirts a crushing 10-2 defeat—the last time something similar happened was on February 6, 2009, when they lost by the same score in Dallas.
Just like then, the Rangers actually took the lead on Saturday. In Dallas, Zerdev opened the scoring in the fourth minute; in Boston, Mika Zibanejad scored just 24 seconds in.
After that, the Bruins rattled off six straight goals. It was the first time Boston scored ten goals in an NHL game since October 16, 1988, when they beat Chicago 10-3. The club’s current vice president, Cam Neely, had seven points that night with three goals and four assists.
That remains a club record. Seven points in a single game have also been achieved by Orr, Esposito, and Pederson. Pastrnak was just one point shy of tying the club record, becoming the third Bruins player ever to record six assists in a game.
Marat Chusnutdinov (4+1) and Pavel Zacha (3+0) also had the games of their lives.
Two Boston players recorded hat-tricks in the same game for the first time since 1964, and it was the first time ever on home ice. Zacha and Chusnutdinov both scored their first career hat-tricks; the last time two teammates did so in one game was December 11, 2008. Back then, Pittsburgh’s Pascal Dupuis and Petr Sykora celebrated their first hat-tricks.
The last time two hat-tricks were scored against the Rangers was by Mario Lemieux and Joe Mullen, when the Penguins won 10-4 on April 9, 1993, with Lemieux netting five goals.
Stat of the Week
New Jersey played a game they won’t soon forget, suffering a heavy 9-0 defeat on the road against the NY Islanders, despite outshooting the home team nearly two to one (44-24). "It’s embarrassing. We want to apologise to the fans," said goalie Jacob Markstrom, who had an unusually low 62.5% save percentage.
Adding to the intrigue, Islanders coach Patrick Roy was behind the bench. Thirty years ago, the former elite goalie experienced a similar game. Montreal coach Mario Tremblay pulled him in Detroit after conceding his ninth goal (1-11), and a frustrated Roy declared it was his last game for Montreal before being traded to Colorado.
This week’s stat also comes from this game, as goalie Ilya Sorokin set a new NY Islanders record for most regular-season shutouts. He made 44 saves against the Devils for his 26th career shutout, moving him past Glenn Resch atop the Islanders’ all-time list.
Social Media highlight
A bizarre moment occurred in the game between St. Louis and Chicago (7-3). Home coach Jim Montgomery tried to change goalies after the seventh goal, but Jordan Binnington was reluctant to leave the ice - and to make matters worse, backup goalie Joel Hofer was nowhere to be found. Neither the Blues coach nor his assistants could locate him.
It wasn’t until TV cameras caught him peeking out from behind a wall in the tunnel leading to the locker room. After the game, the Blues coach explained that Hofer simply wasn’t ready to go in - he hadn’t managed to get his goalie gear on in time, so Binnington stayed in net.
He added that as a coach, he needs to be better prepared for situations like this.
Photo of the Week
Nashville may be fighting for a playoff spot after last season’s disappointment, but the results still aren’t quite what the team had hoped for. Star forward Steven Stamkos reached the 30-point mark after a two-point game against Washington - and took quite a flight after colliding with goalie Charlie Lindgren.