On the list of Washington Capitals candidates to score a hat trick, Dennis Wideman was never near the top – and never will be – which makes his four-point night against the Toronto Maple Leafs all the better.
1 Dennis Wideman, Washington Capitals – Despite his protests, the official score sheet shows Wideman as having his first career hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as tallying an assist on Nicklas Backstrom’s power-play goal. Despite the score sheet, Wideman insists that he didn’t tally a hat trick, telling reporters, “The third one went in off Brooksie (Brooks Laich). I’m pretty sure that one’s going to come back.”
2 Sam Gagner, Edmonton Oilers – Gagner scored twice and added an assist in Edmonton’s 4-1 thumping of the Colorado Avalanche. Gagner, who now has a four-game point streak during which he has three goals and three assists, assisted on Jordan Eberle’s second period power-play tally. Ben Eager also scored for the Oilers and Nikolai Khabibulin was the winning goalie with 28 of 29 saves.
3 Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets – Wheeler may not be putting the puck in the net as much as he’d like this season, but he’s certainly racking up the assists. He tallied three on Friday night, bringing his season total up to 16. Dustin Byfuglien, Evander Kane, Tim Stapleton and Bryan Little all scored for Winnipeg and Chris Mason stopped 23 of 25 shots in the 4-2 win.
Play of the Night
Don’t ask me what a defenseman was doing down behind the net, but Dustin Byfuglien banks a goal in from below the goal line to open the scoring against Carolina:
Hit of the Night
Alex Ovechkin turns the table on Dion Phaneuf with this beautiful hit:
Finally…
Ovechkin bowls over linesman Dan Schachte, then makes amends with a little pat on the head. How sweet:
.png)
