Top-5: Blue Jackets win game of the year over Leafs

There were only eight games on the schedule, but a lot happened last night in the NHL.

Let’s take a look at what caught our eye. To begin with, here are the evening’s scores:

1: Crazy game in Toronto

Wow!

The Leafs and Blue Jackets played the game of the season so far in the NHL.

Let’s jump ahead to the third period… when the score was 5-0 in favor of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

That’s right!

The Toronto team didn’t seem to be in the game at all… And that’s when the team’s big guns woke up.

William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Jake McCabe and Auston Matthews all hit the target in the final frame to make it 5-4 Columbus with a minute and fifteen seconds left on the clock…

And Matthews, once again, was the hero as he tied the game at the very end:

The overtime period was necessary…

And unfortunately for the Leafs, it was Kent Johnson who ended the debate with his second goal of the night.

A first career three-point game for the young Blue Jackets player… And a morale-sapping defeat for the Leafs.

Kent Johnson was feeling it tonight!

He caps off the first three-point performance of his career with the @Energizer overtime winner! pic.twitter.com/OmtKpjMTmz

– NHL (@NHL) December 15, 2023

Note that Sheldon Keefe left Ilya Samsonov in net, even when the score was 5-0.

Clearly, the Leafs’ pilot still had confidence in his goalie.

2: Alex Ovechkin is unrecognizable

Has he finally reached the end of his rope?

At least, the way Alex Ovechkin has been going all season… We have every reason to believe so.

The man considered by many to be the all-time leading scorer has scored just five goals this season… in the space of 26 games.

What’s going on?

The Capitals’ captain is in a slump. He hasn’t found the back of the net in his last eleven games, a first for him in his NHL career.

He seems to be at the end of his tether, unfortunately.

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3: 50 points for Kuch, 4 goals for Stamkos

Nikita Kucherov is the most productive player this season in the NHL.

He took advantage of his club’s visit to Edmonton to collect a goal and an assist to reach the 50-point plateau in 2023-2024.

He is the first player to reach the plateau this year on the Bettman circuit.

But the story of the game isn’t Nikita Kucherov’s three-point performance…

It was the four-goal performance of team captain Steven Stamkos.

Stammer scored his 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th goals of the campaign to help the Bolts inflict their first defeat on the Oilers in eight games.

The game ended 7-4.

4: Tatcher Demko shutout

The Canucks are really fun to watch this season.

The Vancouver team seems to have found the confidence to perform up to expectations.

They’ve been one of the best teams in the NHL so far, and they continued that momentum last night with a 4-0 win over the Panthers.

It was a fourth straight win for the Canucks and Tatcher Demko’s third shutout of the season.

Thatcher Demko helped the @Canucks pick up their fourth straight victory with his third @pepsi shutout of the season! pic.twitter.com/Hysx93R1Bo

– NHL (@NHL) December 15, 2023

The Canucks now sit second overall in the NHL standings, behind the Vegas Golden Knights.

Few would have predicted this, before the season began…

5: Sens still struggling

At some point, the Senators will have to make a decision.

What’s happening right now is that the talent of young players is being wasted. The Sens have what it takes to be competitive, and they should be.

You see where I’m going with this…

The Sens lost again last night, when they were in St. Louis to face the Blues.

It was the third loss in four games for the Ottawa club, which now finds itself in 29th place in the NHL standings.

When will D.J. Smith be fired? And God knows, it’s not the first time this comment has been heard…

Extension

– Still.

It was lucky number 7⃣ for the @SeattleKraken, who put up seven goals in a game for the third time this season en route to victory.#NHLStats: https://t.co/ntfJVa3qu3 pic.twitter.com/7IfouHUihw

– NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 15, 2023

– Nice performance for the Canucks player.

It’s a two-goal night for Dakota Joshua. pic.twitter.com/N5RRIZVpDx

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 15, 2023

– It’ll do him good.

Andrei Kuzmenko has goals in back-to-back games! pic.twitter.com/iUDiHeLDpG

– NHL (@NHL) December 15, 2023

– You don’t see that every night.

WATCH IT | Two goals in an “empty net”… in a shootout! https://t.co/AtxYqRNRWF

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) December 15, 2023

– I love this. The photo is really beautiful.

– No worse for a defenseman.

Evan Bouchard has extended his point streak to 13 games!

: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ https://t.co/sEijvXhbA1 pic.twitter.com/O6xbCMAaPi

– NHL (@NHL) December 15, 2023

– And yet, he finished so well last season in Boston.

– When McDavid gets going…

– Snipe.

A laser from Kailer Yamamoto pic.twitter.com/lLjSjIIGwN

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 15, 2023

– Patrick Kane’s signing has yet to take effect.

– Disgusting!

T.J. Oshie with an absolutely nasty goal in the shootout

(: @MonSportsNet) pic.twitter.com/hZz0dRCplx

– BarDown (@BarDown) December 15, 2023

– Holy Brady. Imagine if the… No. Not this morning.

Brady Tkachuk and Tyler Tucker drop the mitts. pic.twitter.com/4I7Mw70P0w

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 15, 2023

– Mitch Marner gets his Sunday hands out.

Mitch getting tricky w’ it pic.twitter.com/0xxd2p0iG1

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 15, 2023

– A real laser.

What a shot from Michael Rasmussen!

: @ESPNPlus https://t.co/FmPv8M6v1l pic.twitter.com/MiHMjV6H8H

– NHL (@NHL) December 15, 2023

– That was close!

– Stamkos’ 4 goals put him at the top of last night’s scoring column.

– Six games tonight in the NHL.