The NHL certainly didn’t ease back into action following the All-Star break. It was an eventful night with 11 games on the schedule.
Here are five things we learned during Tuesday’s NHL action:
Night to remember for Letang: The Pittsburgh Penguins were without Sidney Crosby (or should we say Sindey?) and Evgeni Malkin, but that didn’t slow down their offence against the Winnipeg Jets. The star for Pittsburgh was Kris Letang, who assisted on all five goals to become the first defenceman since Dion Phaneuf (December, 2007) to record five assists in a game. Despite the offensive explosion, the game came with some considerable downside for Letang. Just a week after taking a nasty hit from Philadelphia’s Zac Rinaldo that led to an eight-game suspension, the Penguins defenceman was again checked from behind. This time it came from Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot, whose hit sparked a fight between the two clubs. The offensive production is great, but Letang needs to better protect himself.
Will Emelin hear from the league office? Alexei Emelin could be in some hot water with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. The Montreal Canadiens defenceman was given a five-minute major for boarding along with a game misconduct after he hit Dallas Stars forward Jason Spezza face first into the boards. Spezza was visibly shaken up after the hit and was down on the ice with a bloody nose. After the game, Spezza told reporters that his nose was broken on the hit. Emelin should expect a phone call on Wednesday.
Islanders fall short of milestone: All in all, it was a great night for the New York Islanders. They beat their in-state rival for the third time this season, but they did come up short in one area: According to Sportsnet’s stats department, the Islanders have never shut out the Rangers in back-to-back meetings. They came oh-so-close Tuesday night. The Islanders were literally seconds away from accomplishing the feat before Carl Hagelin broke Jaroslav Halak’s shutout with 10 seconds remaining in the third period. You can’t win ’em all.
Hurricanes trending upwards: It won’t get much publicity, but the Carolina Hurricanes have been quietly improving over the last month. Bill Peters’ team is 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and goaltender Anton Khudobin has recorded six straight wins. Beating Tampa Bay has not been easy for Carolina lately either. But with Tuesday’s win, the Hurricanes ended a six-game losing skid against their division rivals. The win is further evidence of Carolina’s improved play. They have won three straight, but looking deeper, it’s worth wondering whether the improvement has been a result of sitting down Alex Semin. Semin has been a healthy scratch in eight of Carolina’s last 12 games and Peters didn’t have great things to say about the struggling forward before Tuesday’s game.
The octopus is back! Much has been made of the jersey-throwing escapades going on at Air Canada Centre lately, but an old Detroit tradition was resurrected in Florida Tuesday night. During the Panthers-Red Wings game, a Detroit fan brought back old memories when he threw an octopus on the ice surface, causing a brief delay in the game. At least they didn’t bring back the Panthers fans’ fascination of throwing plastic rats on the ice.
