Phil Kessel rose to the occasion in his 800th career game, a Calgary Flames forward stayed hot and a talented young Canadian made a triumphant return to the ice in Florida.
Here are four things we learned in the NHL on Friday night.
Kessel Doesn’t see his Shadow:
Groundhog Day legend Punxsutawney Phil and Phil Kessel: At first glance, these seem completely unrelated. That’s until the internet decided to intertwine these two popular things to create a truly hilarious result.
While Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog predicted another six weeks of winter, Kessel certainly didn’t see his shadow on Friday night.
The 29-year-old took centre stage in the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, recording the contest’s opening goal and sealing it with an overtime winner. His first tally came on his patented lightning-quick wrist shot, beating Sergei Bobrovsky through traffic.
In typical Kessel fashion, the right-winger wasn’t even aware he was suiting up in his 800th game.
“I guess it’s a lot of games,” Kessel told reporters following the win. “Hopefully I can get a bunch more.”
With the win, the Penguins moved within two points of the Blue Jackets for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Blazing Flames:
The all-star break certainly didn’t slow down Flames forward Sean Monahan.
Taking a feed from Johnny Gaudreau, Monahan sniped one past New Jersey Devils netminder Cory Schneider to put the Flames on the board in the waning moments of the first period.
Over his past 10 games, the sixth overall pick in the 2013 draft has scored nine times and added two assists. The hot streak has him sitting just one goal shy of 100 for his career.
While Monahan has been the Flames’ best player over the past couple weeks, T.J. Brodie was the biggest star on Friday night, assisting on each of Calgary’s four goals.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Devils have made Prudential Center their own version of hell of late, dropping seven straight outings in front of their home crowd.
Musical Sticks:
Connor McDavid makes a nightly habit of appearing on the highlight reels and Friday was no different.
After breaking his stick in the middle of a shift, the Edmonton Oilers superstar calmly grabbed a new piece of lumber from the bench and snuck in behind the Carolina Hurricanes defence for a spectacular goal.
McDavid’s strike was the only offence the Oilers could muster as they fell 2-1 to Carolina on the road.
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Huberdeau Makes Triumphant Return:
Florida Panthers centre Jonathan Huberdeau made his season debut against the Anaheim Ducks and didn’t waste any time getting on the scoresheet.
The Saint-Jerome, Que., native scored on a one-timer off a pass from Aleksander Barkov (who had also missed substantial time before being activated Friday) in the second period. That goal would hold up as the game-winner.
“You all know when you miss like four months of playing, your first goal, it’s always special, and that’s what it was tonight,” Huberdeau said. “I kind of fanned on it, too, and it went in.”
Huberdeau had been sidelined for 51 games due to an Achilles injury. The 2013 Calder Trophy winner will be a big boost to a Panthers team that currently sits just outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
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