NHL Three Stars: Frolik’s hat trick stuns Oilers; Fleury blanks Leafs
Frolik recorded his first career hat trick as the Flames won a wild one over the Edmonton Oilers 5-4. After Edmonton rallied from three two-goal deficits, Frolik put home his third of the game from a tough angle with 8.7 seconds left in the third period; a goal Cam Talbot will want to have back:
Per the NHL, Frolik is the first player to tally a hat trick on Halloween since Jeff Tambellini in 2009.
No. 2 Star: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
Fleury recorded his 40th career shutout as the Penguins blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0. Matt Cullen and Eric Fehr scored their first goals for Pittsburgh as they won their fourth straight. Phil Kessel was held off the scoresheet in his return to Toronto. Fleury also recorded an assist and a penalty in the win.
No. 3 Star: David Backes, St. Louis Blues
The Blues captain scored the game’s opening goal and the final one in overtime as St. Louis beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2.
Honorable Mention: Bobby Farnham scored a goal and assisted on another in his New Jersey Devils debut during a 3-2 shootout win over the New York Islanders. Cory Schneider made 24 saves and Mike Cammalleri put home the deciding goal in the shootout as the Devils won for the sixth time in seven games … Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as the Winnipeg Jets edged the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2. Rookie Andrew Copp scored his first NHL goal as the Jets won for the fourth time in five games away from MTS Centre. Drew Stafford hit 600 games and Tyler Myers reached the 400 games played mark … Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl had three-point nights in the Oilers loss … Jonas Gustavsson made 21 saves and Brad Marchand scored a goal and recorded an assist as the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1. Boston has now won six of their last seven and remain undefeated away from TD Garden with a 5-0-0 record … Evgeny Kuznetsov’s fifth goal in his last four games was the overtime winner as the Washington Capitals downed the Florida Panthers 2-1. Philipp Grubauer stopped 26 shots and Alex Ovechkin chipped in two helpers as the Capitals won for the seventh time in their last eight games. According to Elias, Washington’s 8-2-0 start matches the best in franchise history (2011-12 and 1991-92) through the first 10 games of the season.
Petr Mrazek made 33 saves and Henrik Zetterberg, Danny DeKeyser, Niklas Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist, and Tomas Tatar each recorded two points as the Detroit Red Wings got by the Ottawa Senators 5-3. Zetterberg’s first assist was the 500th of his career and his second helped him reach the 800-point mark. Oh, and Dylan Larkin is good:
Antoine Roussel broke a 3-3 third period tie and assisted on two other goals as the Stars beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3. Vernon Fiddler also had a three-point night in the win. Dallas has now won eight of nine. … Tyler Toffoli scored twice as the Los Angeles Kings edged the Nashville Predators 4-3 in overtime for their seventh straight victory. Jeff Carter was the hero in overtime scoring his seventh goal in seven games against the Predators, thanks to Drew Doughty, whose stick work helped break up a 3-on-1 and send the Kings forward in on a breakaway:
Did You Know? “Through 10 games, the Predators remain the only team in the league that hasn’t allowed a first-period goal. The longest season-opening streak in NHL history without allowing a first-period goal is 12 games, by the 1974-75 Kings.” (AP)
Dishonorable Mention: Christian Ehrhoff left the game with an upper-body injury after this Mike Ribeiro hit:
Alex Stalock has allowed nine goals in his two starts this season … Vladimir Tarasenko missed Saturday’s game with injury and is day-to-day, while John Tavares was out for the Islanders’ matinee with an illness … Toronto’s power play failed on their three opportunities … The Lightning lost their fourth consecutive game … Valtteri Filppula was dominated in the dot losing nine of 11 face-offs … Tough times in Ontario as Ottawa dropped to 1-3-2 at home and Toronto remained winless at Air Canada Centre with a 0-3-1 record.
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