NHL Roundup: Avs spoil Eichel debut, Scheifele hat trick powers Jets, and more
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL was light on Wednesday night with just four games on the schedule.
Of course, there was plenty of hoopla in Vegas for “Jack Eichel Day”. While the Golden Knights were happy for their new star center to make his debut, the red-hot Colorado Avalanche came in and spoiled the festivities.
Avalanche 2, Golden Knights 0
Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves for his second consecutive shutout as Colorado spoiled Jack Eichel’s debut with Vegas with a victory in Las Vegas.
“It’s good to just get back doing it and, honestly, I was having a pretty fun time out there,” Eichel said. “So, I think there’s some stuff to build on, but it’s a process. I know it’s going to get better.”
Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen scored third-period goals and Cale Makar had two assists for Colorado, which is 18-1-2 in its past 21 games.
Laurent Brossoit finished with 23 saves for the Golden Knights. Eichel, obtained in a Nov. 4 trade with Buffalo, was playing in a game for the first time since March 7, 2021, after undergoing neck disc replacement surgery on Nov. 12. He spent 17:32 on the ice and had one shot to go along with four penalty minutes.
Panthers 3, Hurricanes 2 (OT)
Aaron Ekblad scored 16 seconds into overtime as Florida came from behind to win in Raleigh, N.C. The Panthers had tied the game on Sam Reinhart’s tally with 48.3 seconds left in regulation.
“Great pass,” Ekblad said via NHL.com. “It was still in the air when it went by me, so I tried to reach out and catch it. I truly have absolutely no idea what to do on breakaways, so I just tried to slow down a little bit and make a move, and I think it just trickled in.”
Aleksander Barkov also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky made 16 saves for the Panthers, who played in their first game since the All-Star break.
Teuvo Teravainen and Tony DeAngelo scored for the Hurricanes, and Frederik Andersen racked up 28 saves.
Jets 6, Wild 3
Mark Scheifele recorded his fifth career hat trick and second of the season to propel the host Winnipeg Jets to a 6-3 win against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
Captain Blake Wheeler had four assists, Scheifele added one of his own and Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves for the Jets, who improved to 3-1-1 in their past five games.
“I owe all of it to [Wheeler], and [Stastny] as well,” Scheifele said. “He’s always in the right spot. He’s such a smart player, he’s so easy to play with. I owe it all with those two guys.”
Cole Perfetti had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, and Kyle Connor and Paul Stastny also scored.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello and Dmitry Kulikov scored for the Wild, who lost for only the second time in their past 10 games — both times to the Jets. Zuccarello also had an assist, and Kirill Kaprizov contributed two helpers.
Flames 6, Ducks 2
Elias Lindholm had two goals and an assist as Calgary earned its eighth straight win, defeating visiting Anaheim.
“We just play, follow the system, and everyone’s buying in,” Lindholm said. “We just do the same things over and over again and eventually, the teams are wearing out and we take over the games.”
Lindholm scored a goal in his sixth straight game while increasing his point streak to eight games (seven goals, six assists). Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk each had a goal and two assists for the Flames, Dillon Dube added a goal and an assist and Andrew Mangiapane also scored.
Isac Lundestrom had a goal and an assist for his second straight multi-point game for the Ducks, who have lost three in a row (0-2-1). Sonny Milano also scored.
–Field Level Media contributed to this article