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The St. Louis Blues picked a heck of a night for a bad game.
Their match-up against the Montreal Canadiens turned into a one-sided affair with the home-standing Habs going away with a 4-1 win. It wasn't St. Louis' best effort and for Jake Allen, it was a rude start in the place he grew up watching games. Max Pacioretty scored twice and even Allen's teammates, attention Kevin Shattenkirk, didn't do much to help him out. The Canadiens have the most points in the NHL with 31. They're kind of good.
Elsewhere, the Minnesota Wild extended their winning streak to four games thanks to Jason Zucker's goal in the final minute to give them a 3-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers played very well but still came up short. Moral victories don't count in the standings, but after getting chewed out by GM Ron Hextall on Wednesday, this was a big improvement despite the loss.
Everything was coming up Wild though as they finally scored a power play goal on the road after starting the season 0-for-32.
All the NHL scores
Wild 3, Flyers 2
Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 2
Canadiens 4, Blues 1
Blackhawks 4, Flames 3
Kings 3, Hurricanes 2
Three Things We Learned
1. The Maple Leafs aren't the worst team in history. After back-to-back blowout losses to the Sabres and Predators, the Leafs played basically a perfect kind of game. If you can look past Jake Gardiner's first period gaffe that turned into a Lightning goal, the Leafs didn't give Tampa any hope. So you mean they shouldn't have traded and fired everyone?!
2. Ryan Kesler got his revenge on Vancouver! OK not really, but the Ducks winning on the road was a good thing for them. Kesler was booed throughout the game as he wasn't exactly a hero returning to town. Signing an offer sheet with another team and asking to be traded during your tenure will do that. Kesler and the guys he was traded for, Nick Bonino and Luca Sbisa, went without points in the game.
3. Patrick Marleau got a much-needed goal. After the Sharks lost to the Sabres on Tuesday, coach Todd McLellan more or less called out Marleau for not scoring enough at even strength. Marleau answered the bell by scoring the game-tying goal late in the third period. He, nor his teammates, were able to get one in overtime or the shootout and the Panthers went on to win which led to this...
OH MY GOD pic.twitter.com/m4IrvZ7pfH
— Steph (@myregularface) November 21, 2014
Impact Moment
When you score a game-winning goal that's a big deal. When you're Alex Ovechkin and you make opponents look bad when scoring one, that's an even bigger deal. Never mind the puck luck, this is just great.
Stat of the Night
This was David Clarkson's goal that got the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 early in a 5-2 win against the Lightning.
It was Clarkson's sixth goal of the season and helped him surpass his goal total (five) from last season in just his 20th game of the season. It only took him 40 fewer games to get it done this time around.
Post to Post
Did you see the Canadiens traded forward Rene Bourque? They sent him to Anaheim for defenseman Bryan Allen.
Kerry Fraser said referees do have biases towards some players. Get those tinfoil hats out, gang!
If you were looking forward to Rangers vs. Sabres in Buffalo on Friday, it's been postponed because of snow.