Top 5: Mitch Marner booed and applauded on his return to Toronto

Mathis Therrien
Top 5: Mitch Marner booed and applauded on his return to Toronto
Credit: Twitter screenshot

For the rare time this season, it was a busy Friday, with eight games on the National Hockey League schedule.

It's quite unusual for there to be so many games on a Friday, and so it provided us with an evening full of highlights.

Here's what we've got to remember about Friday in the NHL.

1. Mitch Marner booed and applauded by Leafs fans

Marner was back in Toronto for the first time since leaving the Maple Leafs last summer to join the Vegas Golden Knights.

It was obviously a highly anticipated game, with fans anticipating and not sure how they would react.

And in the end, that's exactly what we got, with mixed reactions of booing and applause.

First there was the booing during the warm-up and at the start of the game.

But eventually, the booing, which continued at the start of the Marner tribute video, turned to applause.

So it's understandable that despite everything, Toronto fans love Marner, and clearly miss him right now.

As for the game itself, Marner was cleared from the scoresheet, but the Golden Knights still won 6-3, meaning Marner now has a 2-0 record against the Leafs.

After the game, Knights #93 took the time to give his stick to a fan.

Also of note, as Knights forward Keegan Kolesar entered the ice for warm-up, he ripped a jersey denigrating Marner from the hands of a Leafs fan just before Marner took to the ice.

2. Nikita Kucherov silences the Chicago crowd

Last night's shootout between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks was a tense affair.

So tense, in fact, that the Chicago crowd booed Nikita Kucherov as he prepared for his shootout.

In the end, Kucherov had the last word, as he converted his chance with a superb deke, then silenced the crowd with a provocative celebration.

The Lightning went on to win for the third time in a row for Jon Cooper's team.

3. Macklin Celebrini continues to dominate

In his second NHL season, Celebrini is already one of the elite in the world's best hockey league.

The Sharks' forward had started the season very well, but we thought he'd settle down at some point, but in the end, the opposite was true.

Last night, Celebrini scored two goals in a 3-1 Sharks victory over the New York Rangers, which now gives him 26 goals and 74 points, good for third place on the NHL's all-time scoring list, tied with Nikita Kucherov.

With his first goal of the game, Celebrini became the second-youngest active player to reach the 50-goal plateau, behind none other than Sidney Crosby.

4. Hendrix Lapierre ends a horrible drought

The Québécois lifted a huge weight off his shoulders last night when he finally scored his first goal of the season in his 49th game.

The reaction of his teammates is truly fantastic, given that it had been 90 games since Lapierre last scored in the NHL.

This puts an end to a huge drought for the 23-year-old Québécois forward, while he also helped the Capitals to a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames.

5. 4th home defeat in their last five games for the Avalanche

Things haven't been going so well for the Colorado Avalanche lately, as last night they suffered their fourth home loss in five games.

They were beaten 7-3 by the Philadelphia Flyers, with Owen Tippett scoring a hat trick.

The Avalanche are no longer as dominant, but still remain far and away at the top of the NHL.


Extension

– The Canucks have Elias Pettersson the forward, Elias Petterssson the defenseman, and now Elias Pettersson the goalie.

– A good fight between goalies.

– Here are all the results from yesterday.

– Here are yesterday's top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today's NHL schedule: nine games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)
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