Prior to Wednesday, Lars Eller was best known as half of the Canadiens' return in the Jaroslav Halak trade. Today he is known for doubling his goal total from four to eight with one magical night in Montreal.
1) Lars Eller, Montreal Canadiens – Eller became the first player to score his fourth goal on a penalty shot since Mario Lemieux on Dec. 31, 1988. Eller wasn't born then, so we'll forgive him for simply enjoying the accomplishment, and the Habs' 7-3 win over the Jets.
2) Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks – Luongo stopped all 28 shots he faced in the Canucks' 3-0 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild. It was the fifth time Luongo has shut out the Wild in his career and the win gave Vancouver a five-point cushion on their freefalling rivals.
3) Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins – Bergeron scored a pair of goals, his eighth and ninth of the season, as the Bruins dumped the Devils 6-1. The former came the hard way: Bergeron blocked an Adam Larsson shot from the blue line then took the puck the other way himself, making Martin Brodeur look silly at the end.
Goal of the Night
Every now and then, you wish a hockey player would do something flashy for the sake of being flashy. Eller had already completed his hat trick, and the Canadiens had already wrapped up the win (leading the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 in the third period), when Eller was awarded a penalty shot. So why not do this?
Hit of the Night
Shawn Thornton shows that open-ice hip checks don't have to be dirty to be good (apologies to David Clarkson on this one):
Underrated supplementary discipline footnote
Props to John Tortorella for saying what every Rangers fan was thinking after Monday's Winter Classic game: "I'm not sure if NBC got together with the refs to turn this into an overtime game," Tortorella said. "They're two good referees (Ian Walsh and Dennis LaRue), but I thought that game was reffed horribly. I'm not sure what happened there. Maybe they wanted to get it to an overtime. I'm not sure if they had meetings about that or what. … I just thought tonight, in that third period, it was disgusting."
Predictably, Tortorella was fined by the NHL on Wednesday. In taking one for the team, at least Torts practiced what he preaches.
.png)
