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DailyFaceoff Morning Report — 03/05/22

Nick Szeman
Nick Szeman
Mar 5, 2022, 08:26 ESTUpdated: Mar 6, 2022, 21:09 EST
DailyFaceoff Morning Report — 03/05/22

The DailyFaceoff Morning Report will be released on weekdays, recapping the key news and events from the day before.

We will highlight injuries that will affect today’s games, hot streaks, cold streaks, and anything relevant for everyone from the casual hockey fan to the Fantasy Hockey grinder.

Shesterkin does it again

The New Jersey Devils went into action on Friday night having scored 40 goals in their last eight games (4-4-0), but as Igor Shesterkin (G) has done for the New York Rangers all season, he shut down the opposition. Shesterkin made 32 saves in the 3-1 win and improved to 18-3-2 when making 30 or more saves this season. Jack Hughes (C, LW) was held to just one shot on goal for the Devils and saw his eight-game point streak (6G / 8A / 14PTS) come to an end.

Lighting defeat Red Wings 3-1

Nikita Kucherov (RW) had two assists in the victory and, although he has only played in 19 games, now leads the NHL with a 1.47 point-per-game pace. Linemate Brayden Point opened the scoring and has been the picture of consistency lately, being held pointless only three times in his last 20 games (12G / 11A / 23PTS). Defenseman Victor Hedman had a three-point night (0G / 3A) after being held pointless in back-to-back games for only the third time in 54 games this season.

Rookie Moritz Seider (D) had an assist on the lone Red Wings goal and extended his point streak to eight games (1G / 11A/ 12PTS).

Kings’ second line continues to produce

After winning seven of eight (7-1-0), the Columbus Blue Jackets have now lost three of their last four (1-2-1) after suffering a dramatic 4-3 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings. The Blue Jackets celebrated a goal in overtime but had it reversed after being reviewed for offside. Viktor Arvidsson (LW, RW) completed a hat-trick shortly after and now has 13 points (8G / 5A) in his last 12 games.

Linemate Trevor Moore (LW, RW) added an assist and continued his unexpected scoring run with 25 points (6G / 19A) in his last 24 games. Patrik Laine (LW, RW) scored in the loss and leads the league in goals since January 30th with 15.

Staal prevails against former team

In a battle of the top two teams in the Metropolitan division, The Carolina Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals to win 3-2 in overtime over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jordan Staal (C) scored twice to erase a two-goal deficit for the Hurricanes and is on an impressive run with 10 points (6G / 4A) in his last 12 games after having only six points (0G / 6A) in his previous 34. Sidney Crosby (C) had two points (1G / 1A) in the loss and has been held pointless only once in his last 14 games (7G / 13A / 20PTS).

Americans on display; Stars beat Jets 4-3 OT

A duo of Americans took care of the scoring for the Winnipeg Jets as Paul Stastny (C, LW) scored two goals and Kyle Connor (LW) added another but it was countryman Jason Robertson (LW)’s first career hat-trick that sealed the game for the Dallas Stars in a 4-3 overtime win. Robertson now leads the Stars with 26 goals and a 1.11 point-per-game pace.

Connor played in his 55th game of the season and is now only five goals shy of the career-high 38 he scored in 71 games two seasons ago.

Braden Holtby (G) saved 39 of 42 shots and shut the door for the victory in only his second start since the end of January. Prior to this game, Jake Oettinger (G) had started seven consecutive games (5-1-1) and seemingly taken over the starting goalie position. Holtby is listed as number 23 on Frank Seravalli’s latest list of trade targets, and whether the start tonight was to raise his trade stock or merely get him back into action, the Stars are happy to move into the top Wild Card position thanks to his performance.

Wild can’t keep the puck out of their net

Jeff Skinner (LW) continued his comeback season by scoring two goals to give him 23 in 54 games this season, officially passing the 21 goals he scored over the last two seasons combined (112 games). The Minnesota Wild have dropped seven of their last nine games (2-7-0) and are losing grip on their third-place position in the Central Division, now only two points ahead of the Dallas Stars. Kaapo Kahkonen (G) allowed four goals on 37 shots in the loss but the Wild have been having trouble keeping the puck out of their net lately regardless of who is between the pipes. The Wild have allowed 4.7 goals per game over their last 10 after having only allowed 2.8 for the entirety of the season beforehand.

Golden Knights hang on for 5-4 win over Ducks

The Vegas Golden Knights had lost seven of their last nine (2-5-1) but got a crucial win against an Anaheim Ducks team that has now lost six of their last nine (3-6-0). John Gibson (G) allowed five goals on 35 shots and continued a stretch of lackluster goaltending, having recorded a sub-.860 SV% in six of his last seven starts (2-5-0).

Other News and Notes

Injury Report

  • Tyler Seguin (DAL) and Miro Heiskanen did not play on Friday because of non-COVID related illnesses.
  • Mats Zuccarello (MIN) did not play for the second time in the last six games because of an undisclosed injury.
  • Pavel Zacha (NJD) did not play due to an illness.
  • Andrew Hammond (MTL) was placed on IR with a lower-body injury.
  • Nikolaj Ehlers (WPG) played for the first time since January 18th.
  • Zach Werenski (CBJ) returned to the lineup after missing four games with an upper-body injury.
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