NHL Week in Review: 11/27-12/3

Daily Headlines
Monday 11/27
  • Minnesota fires Head Coach Dean Evason after a 5-10-4 start. 
  • Four Russians score a goal in Columbus' 5-2 win over the Bruins, marking the first time it has happened in NHL history. 
  • MacKenzie Weegar buries the game-winner in overtime with five seconds left to help the Flames upset the Golden Knights. 
Tuesday 11/28
  • Patrick Kane announces that he's signed with the Detroit Red Wings after holding out at the start of the season as he recovered from surgery. 
  • Evan Rodrigues' shootout winner is called off after he double-hit the puck, allowing Toronto to take the win 2-1. 
  • Minnesota wins John Hynes' first game behind the bench, beating St. Louis 3-1. 
  • Edmonton avoids near disaster, beating Vegas 5-4 in a shootout after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period. 
Wednesday 11/29
  • Jimmy Vesey bats a puck out of mid-air to score the game-winner late in the third period to complete a comeback win for the Rangers over the Red Wings. 
Thursday 11/30
  • Calgary ships Nikita Zadorov to the Canucks for a 2024 5th and a 2026 3rd, helping to sure up their defensive core. 
  • Tristan Jarry scores the 17th goalie goal in NHL history with his opposite-end empty-netter in a 4-2 win over Tampa Bay. 
  • Mitch Marner breaks out of his slumps by scoring a hat trick, and Auston Matthews helps Toronto finish the job in the shootout as the Leafs beat Seattle 4-3. 
  • Sebastian Aho forces overtime with 2.5 seconds left, but Mathew Bazal completes a four-point night with the game-winner in OT for a 5-4 win for the Islanders. 
  • Connor Dewar pots his first NHL hat trick in a dominant 6-1 win for the Wild in John Hynes' return to Nashville. 
  • Tom Wilson nets a trio of goals for the first time in his NHL career as the Capitals ride a four-goal first period to a 5-4 win over the Ducks in Anaheim. 
Friday 12/1
  • Montreal signs goalie Sam Montembeault to a three-year, $9.45 million extension. 
  • Brendan Smith is handed a two-game suspension for slashing Travis Konecny, who is fined $5,000 for cross-checking. 
  • A three-point night by Mikael Granlund, two-goal games by Anthony Duclair and Jacob MacDonald, and 45 saves by Kaapo Kahkonen propels the Sharks to their first road win of the season to spoil Simon Nemec's two-assist debut in New Jersey. 
Saturday 12/2
  • Auston Matthews scores in the final seconds to force overtime, but Brad Marchand relishes his role as the villain by scoring the overtime winner in a 4-3 win for the Bruins. 
  • Seven different Stars find the back of the net, led by two from Jason Robertson in a dominant 8-1 win over the Lightning. 
Sunday 12/3
  • Minnesota's top line steals the show as the Wild dominate the Blackhawks 4-1 behind Marco Rossi's two goals and three points from Mats Zuccarello. 
  • Artemi Panarin nets his fifth career hat trick as the Rangers barely survive an upset bid by the Sharks 6-5 at Madison Square Garden. 
  • Brad Marchand's natural hat trick caps off an impressive weekend for the Bruins as they knock off the Blue Jackets 3-1.
  • Quinton Byfield scores twice, and Anze Kopitar becomes the Kings' all-time leader in assists as Los Angeles wins a battle of the West's best 4-1 against Colorado. 
Team of the Week- Minnesota Wild
It was a wild start to the week in Minnesota, no pun intended. They decided to part with Dean Evason after an abysmal 5-10-4 start, hiring John Hynes to replace him. The team responded to the change by outscoring the Blues, Predators, and Blackhawks 13-3 in three wins. Connor Dewar notched his first hat trick against Nashville. Mats Zuccarello, who led the team with five points during the week, put up three points, and Marco Rossi scored twice against Chicago. Filip Gustavsson allowed a goal in each of his starts. Marc-Andre Fleury turned back the clock with a brilliant performance on Sunday. It was total domination to keep the Wild in the hunt for a Wild Card spot, moving within five points of the second spot. This could just be the honeymoon stage, but this is a promising sign for Minnesota. 

Disappointing Team of the Week- Tampa Bay Lightning
On Black Friday, the Lightning stormed into Raleigh and embarrassed the Hurricanes 8-2. Since then, not only have they struggled to score, they haven't even won. They lost all four games this week, scoring just five goals. Nikita Kucherov recorded five assists, and Victor Hedman had three points, but it was silence after that. Neither goalie had a good week, either. Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonas Johansson, along with a struggling defense, allowed the most goals of any team this week. Their terrible week ended by getting their just desserts by dropping an 8-1 decision to Dallas on Saturday. It was a rough week for the Bolts. 

Surprising Team of the Week- San Jose Sharks
For the first time this season, the San Jose Sharks are not ranked #32 in my rankings. They've moved up one spot to #31 after splitting four games this week. They won back-to-back games for just the second time and won on the road for the first time after beating Washington on Monday. Going on the road, the Sharks had only scored six goals in nine games. The trip didn't start well after being shut out 3-0 by the Bruins. Then, they put up 11 goals in games against the Devils and Rangers. They earned their first road win by taking down the Devils 6-3 and then nearly completed a comeback in a 6-5 loss to the Rangers. It was a good week for Mikael Granlund and Anthony Duclair. Granlund led the team with four assists and five points, while Duclair added three goals. I'm not suggesting the Sharks are back in the hunt, but they have gone 6-7-1 after an 0-10-1 start. 

Three Stars of the Week
3rd Star- Jack Hughes (NJ)- 3 goals, 4 assists in 3 games
Since returning from injury, Jack Hughes hasn't missed a beat. He has recorded ten points in seven games, seven of which came this week to tie for the league lead. He put up back-to-back three-point performances against the Islanders and Flyers before adding a goal in New Jersey's loss to San Jose. With 30 points in 17 games this season, he's working his way up the charts for a potential Hart bid. 

2nd Star- Connor Ingram (ARZ)- 3-0-0, .947 SV%, 1.63 GAA in 3 games
Arizona completed a 3-0-0 week with Connor Ingram stealing the show for the Coyotes. Ingram only won six games in 26 starts last season. Thus far this season, Ingram has ten wins in 13 starts, setting a new career-high. He stopped at least 31 shots in all three wins, earning wins over the Bolts, Avalanche, and Blues. He's positioned the Coyotes into a Wild Card spot for the moment. 

1st Star- Mathew Barzal (NYI)- 2 goals, 5 assists in 2 games
Despite missing the final game of the week, Mathew Barzal tied for the league lead in assists and points. He started his week with three points against the Devils. Then, he recorded four points against the Hurricanes, including the game-winner in overtime to cap the performance. Fortunately, his absence against Florida was due to illness, so it isn't anything that should keep him out long-term. 

My Top 16 (* denotes a new entry)
16. Philadelphia Flyers (12-10-2/1-1-1 last week) (-)
15. Arizona Coyotes (12-9-2/3-0-0 last week) (+7)*
14. New York Islanders (10-7-6/2-1-0 last week) (+5)*
13. Washington Capitals (12-7-2/2-2-0 last week) (-1)
12. Toronto Maple Leafs (12-6-4/2-0-1 last week) (+3)
11. Winnipeg Jets (13-8-2/1-2-0 last week) (-3)
10. Detroit Red Wings (13-7-3/2-1-0 last week) (+3)
9. Florida Panthers (14-8-2/2-1-1 last week) (+2)
8. Carolina Hurricanes (14-8-1/2-0-1 last week) (+2)
7. Colorado Avalanche (15-7-2/1-1-2 last week) (-1)
6. Dallas Stars (14-5-3/2-0-1 last week) (+1)
5. Los Angeles Kings (14-4-3/1-1-0 last week) (-)
4. Vancouver Canucks (16-8-1/2-1-0 last week) (-)
3. Vegas Golden Knights (16-5-4/2-0-2 last week) (-)
2. Boston Bruins (17-4-3/3-1-0 last week) (-)
1. New York Rangers (18-4-1/3-1-0 last week) (-)

The Top 5 remains the same. The Rangers and Bruins each went 3-1-0, maintaining their positions atop the NHL standings. Vegas earned points in all four of their games this week, dropping two in extra time to keep their spot as the leader in the Western Conference. Vancouver and Los Angeles are on Vegas' heels in the Pacific Division. The Canucks rebounded from a tough week the week prior, and Los Angeles remained the team with the best points percentage in the conference. Dallas and Colorado swapped spots in my ranking. Colorado remains in first place in the Central Division, and they earned at least a point in three of their four games, but Dallas has a better points percentage and put together a better week overall. The Hurricanes had a near-perfect week, too. Outside of an OTL to the Islanders, the Canes put in dominant performances in wins over Philadelphia and Buffalo. The Panthers also got a boost into the Top 10 by winning twice in four games and earning another point in a shootout loss to Toronto. Detroit also shot up the board by winning two of three. Winnipeg did the opposite, dropping three spots after a 1-2-0 week. Toronto's rollercoaster ride continues. They nearly were perfect, losing in overtime to Boston. Washington split their four contests during a Western swing that will conclude in Arizona on Monday. The New York Islanders moved up five spots to enter the Top 16. After a heartbreaking loss to New Jersey to start the week, New York beat both teams from last season's Eastern Conference Final on the road. The Arizona Coyotes also moved into the Top 16, tying for the largest jump of the week. The Coyotes were a perfect 3-0-0, winning games against a few teams in playoff contention. Rounding out the Top 16 is the Flyers for the second straight week after earning three points of a possible six.  

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