Another weekend of work came and went in the NHL. the Boston Bruins Scored a huge win over their rivals from the Atlantic Division at Toronto Maple Leafswhile the Seattle Kraken Made history with another victory. As we have seen Washington Capitals Superstar Alex Ovechkin is etching his name into the history books… again.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest storylines from around the NHL from this past weekend.
Goal of the Week: Artturi Lehkonen completes the turnover score
Artturi Lehkonen was gifted at scoring big goals all the time Colorado Avalanche He ran the Stanley Cup last season. Nothing appears to have changed during the 2022-23 campaign.
In the third period of Saturday’s 7-0 win over Ottawa SenatorsAvalanches star Nathan McKinnon was able to knock the puck off the side of the boards and tip it towards Likonnon, who was slashing the Senators’ net. Lehkonen quickly received the ball on his stick, made a great turnover motion, and sent a backhand shot past Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg for the power play goal.
It was one of two goals by the Lykonen last night in a game where the Avalanche flexed their offensive muscles.
Weekend steal: Linus Allmark spreads to deny Mark Giordano
It’s no secret that Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Allmark was the best the NHL had to do throughout the first half of the season. After a rare loss to the Seattle Kraken earlier in the week, Allmark stepped up the action in a big way against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Maple Leafs fullback Mark Giordano attempted a pass to a teammate through the goal crease, but it was blocked. However, the puck ended up right on Giordano’s stick with a fairly wide net to shoot at. Giordano attempted a backhand shot into the net quickly, but Ollmark was able to stretch across and hit the ball with his blocking hand.
Allmark’s saves proved significant as the Bruins won, 4-3.
Kraken set a franchise record with eight straight wins
The Seattle Kraken may only be in their second season, however They are showing that they can stay with the best players in the league. After a 2-0 victory over the Boston Bruins, the Kraken had an offensive explosion in an 8-5 win over the Boston Bruins. Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
In doing so, the Kraken achieved its record eighth consecutive franchise.
Seattle dominated the competition out of the gate with a mind-boggling six goals in the first 20 minutes against the Blackhawks. The two teams traded goals through the first 4:40 of the game before Kraken scored five unanswered goals over four minutes to take a convincing 6-1 lead.
Forward Jared McCann, who scored his first career hat-trick on Saturday, scored twice during the offense.
And to the credit of the Black Hawks, they didn’t give up. In fact, Chicago scored four of the game’s final six goals and made the Kraken sweat a little. It was the second time during the month of January that Kraken goalkeeper Martin Jones had given up more than two goals in a single game.
The Kraken’s record winning streak came to an end on Monday when they fell 4-1 at the hands of the Kraken Tampa Bay Lightning. However, the Kraken have shown in recent weeks that they can mix it up with the NHL heavyweights. As the season progresses, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see the Kraken in the playoff race this spring.
Matt Grzelecik’s late third-period goal puts the Bruins up against the Maple Leafs
The Boston Bruins did not drop back-to-back games at any point during the 2022-23 season. They made sure that didn’t happen when facing their Atlantic Division rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On Saturday, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk scored the go-ahead goal with just 1:16 remaining to lead the Bruins past the Maple Leafs 4-3.
Grzelcyk ended up in the right place at the right time to hit a shot from the blue line. Forward Taylor Hall attempted to drive the puck in front of the Maple Leafs’ net, but he forced his way off the boards and around it onto Grzelcyk, who didn’t miss his chance to light the flash.
It was just Grzelcyk’s second goal of the season and his first since October 28 vs Columbus Blue Jackets.
Saturday’s game was intensely contested due to the return of Maple Leafs star Austin Matthews to the ice. Matthews had missed the previous two games with an undisclosed injury. He scored 3:17 into the third period to tie the game 3-3.
The Bruins followed up Saturday’s stellar performance with an emphatic 6-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
Alex Ovechkin ties another record
Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin continues to make history. In Saturday’s 3-1 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers, Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the 2022-23 season, tying Mike Gartner for the 30-most goals in NHL history with 17.
At 17:56 of the opening period, Ovechkin was able to get the rebound off his own shot and score a backhand tally to tie the game at 1-1.
Ovechkin has now scored at least 30 goals in 17 of his 18 seasons in the NHL. The only campaign he failed in was the 2020-21 season, which was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gartner and Ovechkin are the only players in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in each of their first 15 seasons. Ovechkin has been on fire lately with 10 goals over his past 10 matches. The Capitals star is currently on track to score 54 goals this season.
The Capitals erase a three-goal deficit for defeat Islanders
Speaking of Ovechkin, his Capitals were one of the rowdiest teams in the NHL. They proved it again on Monday by nailing a three-goal comeback against their Metro Division opponent, the New York Islanders.
The Islanders dominated the majority of the first period and took a 2-0 lead going into the locker room. Early in the second half, the Isles’ Hudson Fashing caught Washington goaltender Darcy Comber snoozing with an easy goal, and it looked like it wasn’t the Capitals’ day.
However, a resilient team at the Capitals got down to business and started on a comeback track. Garnet Hathaway started the scoring in the second period, and Tom Wilson pulled Washington into the goal when Nicklas Backstrom found him wide open in front of the goal with a pass from Gretzky’s desk.
Early in the third period, TJ Oshie leveled the game with the kind of hand-eye coordination usually reserved for three-time winners and hardcore players. Oshie was steaming through the hole when he put a perfect tip on a point shot to beat Ilya Sorokin.
That comeback was impressive enough, but Dmitry Orlov finished the job in overtime when he and O’Shea executed the most beautiful you’ll ever see. They lull the islanders to sleep long enough for Orlov to slip behind them and hit Sorokin with a dirty rag.
Watch date this week
Kraken oilers | Tuesday 17 January: The Kraken recently completed a perfect seven-game road trip, and the Oilers come to town on Tuesday. Edmonton is just trying its best to keep up with Seattle, and that makes this a big rivalry in the Pacific Division.
avalanche in flame | Wednesday, January 18: The Flames are barely hanging out in a cliffhanger with a hot avalanche on their trail, which is a little ironic. Neither of those teams were where they expected them to be at this point, and both would go into the playoffs the rest of the way.
Bruins notice | Thursday, January 19: Would anyone be surprised if this was the Eastern Conference Finals game? I would not. Both teams are loaded with cutting edge talent, and both get excellent goal shooting. This should be a great game between two franchises out of six.
demons in Kraken | Thursday, January 19: With the season approaching, who would have thought that Kraken would have to watch TV twice in the same week? Insert Paul Rudd into the “Hot Ones” meme here. The Devils are back on the right track, and the Kraken team is arguably the hottest team in the league.
Sharks in Blue Jackets | Saturday, January 21: Like a classic cinematic Batman and Robin She taught us, some things can be so bad that they are good. Such is the case with this game. Bad hockey can be fun hockey when goalkeeping and defense are gone, and that may happen in this game between two teams vying for the first overall pick.