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Game #40 Review: New York Rangers 5 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 4 (OT) – Maple Leafs Hot Stove

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The Toronto Maple Leafs’ offense kept rolling but so did the goals against as the New York Rangers snapped Toronto’s six-game winning streak in overtime on Saturday night.


First Period

The Rangers dictated the pace right off the bat, generating some quality scoring chances. It didn’t take long before they capitalized — after opening the scoring in eight straight games under Keefe between December 7-23, the Leafs have now given up the first goal in two consecutive.

It’s not the first time the Leafs have had trouble protecting the middle of the ice lately, and it was evident again here. John Tavares and Cody Ceci did not react in time, although that’s a shot Frederik Andersen could’ve stopped.

Much like in New Jersey, the Leafs responded well, seemingly undeterred by the early hole as they pressed on the ensuing shift. As a result of some hard work by Dmytro Timashov, they earned themselves a man-advantage opportunity.

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On the ensuing power-play, the Leafs top-unit stayed out on the ice for the full two minutes and were moving the puck well. The Leafs‘ power play, in general, looks lethal in-zone provided they’re able to gain the zone effectively. John Tavares’ excellent pass in tight down low set up Nylander for his 16th of the season:

Staying out on the ice for a total of one minute and 58 seconds, it was a good call by Sheldon Keefe to ride his big guns in search of an immediate response.

Initially, the pace of play appeared to have evened out with both teams trading blows at both ends of the ice. A few minutes later, however, the Rangers capitalized on another mistake by the Leafs.

Pierre Engvall has been playing well since being called up a few weeks ago, but this was a costly error in decision making to attempt a weak backhand pass across the width of the defensive zone.

Despite the setback, the Leafs pushed back and generated a number of good looks:

Another defensive breakdown resulted in a breakaway chance from Pavel Buchnevich, who was tangled up by Tyson Barrie and was awarded a penalty shot. Fortunately for Barrie, Andersen made the save to keep the deficit at one.

On a positive note, this was a good demonstration of the Matthews’ line effectiveness in their aggressive pursuit of the puck following a chip-and-chase dump-in play, led by Matthews initial forecheck:

Second Period

As was the case in the opening frame, both teams started the second with a flurry of chances. The Leafs were generating the majority of the shot attempts at goal, including this ripped one-timer from Matthews as he rotated up high:

The Matthews line also executed an interesting set play off an offensive-zone faceoff:

When the Rangers got chances of their own, they were taking full advantage throughout the game:

A turnover in the neutral zone was in the back of the Leafs net in a flash, although you’re looking for a save here from Andersen. Dermott and Andersen could be seen discussing this goal a little later on — it looked like Dermott’s stick was caught in that no-man’s land where he didn’t get stick on puck but did make the initial read off the stick difficult for Andersen.

With the deficit now at two, the Leafs continued to apply the pressure on Georgiev, including a strong power-play that came up short. A quick play off the faceoff by the Matthews line got the Leafs back in the game.

What else can be said about Auston Matthews’ shot that hasn’t already been said? He’s now scoring one-timers, too, with regularity. But this goal is created by the urgency off of the faceoff from the wingers in Marner and Hyman.

The Leafs offense of late has more or less been firing on all cylinders under Sheldon Keefe, but Morgan Rielly is one of few exceptions, currently in the midst of a 27-game goalless drought heading into the game. Here he jumps up into the play and nearly gets the monkey off his back:

In the late stages of the period, the Rangers were able to snag momentum when they were given a chance on the power-play. With a barrage of scoring chances, they would have extended their lead if not for this key block by Martin Marincin.

The Rangers were able to extend their lead not long after their man-advantage expired on this nice move off the rush by Mika Zibanejad that again was a stoppable puck.

Third Period

The Leafs showed the requisite urgency at the start of the third. As had been the case most of the night, they were aggressively pursuing the puck carrier and forced steals were turning into instant scoring chances.

All night long, Nylander was a workhorse on the puck and was setting up chances aplenty, with the Tavares-Nylander duo off to a good start and showing plenty of instant chemistry.

With the confidence of having overcome third-period deficits in spectacular fashion in the recent past, the Leafs continued to apply the pressure as the period progressed and looked hell-bent on evening the game up. After a strong shift on the cycle, the Leafs chipped away at the deficit.

The third line came alive in the third period, and this was their best shift of the night. Just prior to this goal, Kasperi Kapanen came close after receiving a great pass from a falling Jason Spezza. Barrie took advantage of a tired group of Rangers with a nice delay move at the point to get the shot on net for Engvall to tip in.

With momentum on their side, the Leafs had another injury-related scare when Marner took a wild breakout pass from Trouba on the ear:

Despite losing such a key part of the roster temporarily, Toronto didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal and kept up the pressure with some quality looks.

With time winding down, the Leafs pulled their goalie and threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Rangers to tie the game, including Matthews coming close on a struck post.

On the very next play, Matthews tried again from a similar spot, making no mistake on his second attempt.

The Leafs were doing a great job getting pucks to the net and generating quality looks from the slot and high-percentage areas. Ho hum — yet another multi-goal game for Matthews, who is now closing in on 30 halfway through the season.

Overtime

After some solid puck movement down low early in overtime, Rielly nearly put this one away.

As is often the case at 3-on-3 OT, a big chance and save at one end led to a grade-A chance the other way. Tony DeAngelo buried the OT winner, snapping the Leafs winning streak in the process. Tyson Barrie didn’t cover himself in glory with his 2v1 defending ability here:


Post Game Notes

  • Much like their game against the New Jersey Devils on Friday, the Toronto Maple Leafs manufactured a ton of opportunity from an offensive standpoint by generating quality looks off the cycle and from the slot. However, untimely turnovers and defensive breakdowns resulted in quality chances and goals against and, unlike the previous night, they were unable to come away with the two points. There’s no doubt that the Leafs will gladly take the point based on their overall performance in this one, but it’s notable that they have now slipped to 24th in the NHL at 3.23 goals against per game after allowing 15 goals in their last three games.
  • Partly that’s to do with Frederik Andersen coming back to Earth in the last four starts — he’s posted a .869 save percentage in that span, and yet the team has gone 3-0-1. In this game, he stopped 29 of 34 shots against, recorded a .853 SV%, a 5.54 GAA, a .800 HDSV%, and 1.54 xGAA. No matter how good your starter is, goaltending is going to ebb and flow throughout an 82-game season and the larger concern is that the Leafs need to take strides in their defensive-zone structure and puck/risk management.
  • That’s made all the more difficult by the extended absence of Jake Muzzin, which poses questions the Leafs have no easy answer for. The Dermott and Ceci pairing was a dash-three in this game and hasn’t earned a ton of trust out of Keefe, who has a pretty firm cap on their even-strength minutes around the 14-15 minute range. Full marks to Martin Marincin for stepping in and doing a respectable job in his first NHL action in a long time, but Marincin – Holl gives nobody an easy feeling, while Rielly-Barrie has lived up to the billing as a high-event pairing that hopefully nets out positively in the aggregate but is difficult to trust in the marquee matchups. Just in terms of the type of defenseman Muzzin is — a prototypical shutdown defenseman who can be effective in the modern era — you could argue you’d take any injury but his on the Leafs’ blue line given its strengths/weaknesses. Major challenges lie ahead for this blue line.
  • Speaking of Morgan Rielly and Tyson Barrie, this was a classic Rielly – Barrie game. Both were dangerous in the offensive zone but were often a trainwreck without the puck. On a positive note, the pair registered a 60.47 CF%, a 60.00 FF%, a 57.69 SF%, a 62.59 xGF%, a 54.55 SCF%, and a 66.67 HDCF% at even strength. While the numbers do look impressive, they don’t tell the whole story as both were on the receiving end of some rough defensive sequences in transition and when protecting the slot (or failing to). They also combined to post 17 (!) shots on net and it was good to see Barrie show signs of getting his mojo back with a nice pump fake at the offensive blue line leading to the Engvall goal. Sheldon Keefe would’ve gone into this situation eyes wide open in terms of the risk-reward, and honestly, there seems to be no better option with the current construction on the blue line combined with the Muzzin injury.
  • The top-line of Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner were once again the driving force of the Leafs offense for a second straight night. The trio finished the game with a combined 61.11 CF%, a 61.54 FF%, a 56.25 SF%, a 58.40 xGF%, and a 66.67 HDCF% at even strength, along with a combined four points. With a lot of skepticism prior to Matthews and Marner partnering up once again about their ability to work together on a line, it’s safe to say they’ve proven the “no chemistry” myth was laughable. In the past four games, the two have been involved on the score sheet and at least one of them has posted a multi-point performance. It’s not like it’s one-and-done rush offense; they’re generating so much off of the cycle as a line. Matthews looks particularly invigorated by the opportunity next to Marner, and vice versa.
  • Not much to go on in Adam Brooks‘ debut with under five minutes of ice time as Keefe lost the fourth line in the shuffle of chasing the game. Kenny Agostino probably will receive a look, while Timothy Liljegren will also probably find his way into the Leafs lineup at some point as well. With Alex Kerfoot shifting to the left to fill on for the absences of Ilya Mikheyev, Andreas Johnsson and Trevor Moore down the left, forcing Spezza into a top-nine center role, this upcoming stretch will be a huge test for the Leafs’ overall depth both up front and on the backend.

Clip of the Night


Notable Stats


Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts


Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Locations


Condensed Game

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Once again, business bumps ethics off the Olympic podium – The Globe and Mail

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The Olympic rings are set up at Trocadero plaza that overlooks the Eiffel Tower in Paris.Michel Euler/The Associated Press

In the middle of a record haul at the Tokyo Olympics, Canada’s women’s swim team had one letdown – the 4×200-metre freestyle relay.

Canada had taken bronze in the event at Rio 2016 and again at the 2019 world aquatics championships. The team looked good for another medal.

On the day of the final, a Chinese team that was not considered a contender surprised everyone, winning in world-record time. Canada came fourth.

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A battling result, but still disappointing. It looks a little worse than that now.

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that nearly half the Chinese swim team failed a drug test seven months before the Tokyo Games. Twenty-three swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, or TMZ.

TMZ is a synthetic substance. You’re not going to pick it up because you’ve chosen the wrong hot-dog vendor.

China was allowed to do its own investigation into the mass positive. That probe determined the athletes had been exposed to TMZ in tainted food at a team hotel. How exactly so many of them ingested it, while others did not, wasn’t explained.

Unusually, no announcement was made about the positive tests, and no one was suspended while the investigation was under way. The World Anti-Doping Agency knew what was going on, but decided the best way to determine if China had done anything wrong was to ask China to look into it. When China gave China the all clear, WADA signed off.

One of those who tested positive was Zhang Yufei. Zhang won three medals in Tokyo, one of them as part of the 4x200m relay team.

The swimming world is now playing doping leapfrog throughout those Games. The Canadian relay team is on a long list of unlucky losers. Had China’s violations stuck, the medal table would look very different.

It would also have pushed a Games that was on the edge closer to the drop. Few in Japan were super stoked about the world dropping by en masse during what would become that country’s first mass COVID wave.

The main reason the Tokyo Games happened was that so much money had been spent, much more was still owed, and insurers were not willing to write down 10 or 15 billion.

Picking a fight with China in that precarious moment could not have seemed like a great idea. Even more precarious – the next Games, to be held six months later in Beijing.

As an event, at absolute best, Beijing 2022 was going to be a very expensive bummer (which it absolutely was). That’s the sort of party that’s easy to call off.

You don’t need to be a Reddit obsessive to see what happened here. The Chinese swim team got caught mid-purge, and the people in charge had to prioritize their response.

Priority No. 1 – the Olympic business.

Priority No. 2 – the Olympic ideals.

They picked money over fairness.

It’s easy to lash them now, so plenty of people are. The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency called it “a devastating stab in the back of clean athletes.”

(Is it possible to be undevastatingly stabbed in the back?)

The stickiest criticism involves Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. She also tested positive for trace amounts of TMZ before an Olympics. She also had one of those ‘maybe the dog gave me steroids’-type excuses.

But since everybody hates Russia, Valieva did not get the benefit of an in-house probe. She was dragged upside-down and backward through the global press and stripped of her medals. There’s your fairness.

It’s fitting that WADA take a reputational beating here. That is its most useful function – to absorb stakeholder rage after another own goal has been scored by the Doping Police.

But out in the real world, no one cares. Of course the Olympics is dirty. The Olympics has spent the last half century repeatedly reminding us of that.

Between Games, the Olympics makes news only two ways – ‘Upcoming host city X is having serious second thoughts’ and ‘So-and-so cheated their way to gold.’

These stories have become so numerous that the only people registering them are the ones who make their living in an Olympics-adjacent business, like sports administration or media.

Those people are happy to complain – complaining is good for trade – but they don’t want things to change. Change is dangerous. Who knows where change will land you?

In this specific instance, real change in the form of zero tolerance could have hobbled one Olympics and gotten the next one cancelled. Then what?

You start cancelling Olympics and people learn to live without them. Sponsors find new things to sponsor. Broadcasters move on.

Better to compromise. Chinese swimmers did a little TMZ. So what? Figure skaters, tennis players, breaststrokers – everybody’s doing it nowadays. It’s like weed for the Marx and Engels crowd.

With all that in mind, here’s something you won’t often read in this space – WADA made the right call.

It’s not like it was going to go swanning into Guangdong province in early 2021, right in the teeth of the pandemic, to figure out what was what. The only way to get any sort of answers was to rely on Chinese investigators. How do you know if they’re on the up and up? You don’t. WADA had two choices – take China’s word for it, or go scorched earth right before the two most tenuously assembled Games in history.

The proof that WADA made the correct choice is that those Games happened. Maybe it would make a different call now, and that might be right, too.

As far as fairness goes, it doesn’t belong in this conversation.

If a Belgian or a Tanzanian gets caught cheating, don’t even bother asking for consideration.

An American? Probably not.

An American everyone knows? Maybe.

A lot of Americans everybody knows? Let’s talk.

This can’t be discussed because once that discussion gets going, it points toward the sort of change no current stakeholder want to think about. If someone who tests positive can negotiate their way out of it and fairness is the goal, isn’t it fairer to stop testing altogether?

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Social media explodes after Auston Matthews' incredible game-winner goes viral – Toronto Sun

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Was it an alley-oop? A Hail Mary? A Jerry Rice post route? Catch and ReLeaf?

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Whatever it was, it was the goal Toronto Maple Leafs fans were waiting for.

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If the Leafs go on to beat the Boston Bruins and make it out of the first round for the second year in a row, fans will look back at Max Domi’s flip pass and Auston Matthews’ catch and finish as the moment it all became possible.

Matthews’ 70th goal of the season (69+1 if we’re splitting hairs) was maybe his finest.

The play: Incredible. The catch: Immaculate. The finish: Nasty. The timing: Perfect.

Social media had plenty to say about Monday’s game-winning goal, but first let’s listen to calls of the play from every corner of the playoff series:

Chris Cuthbert on Hockey Night in Canada:

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Retiring voice of the Boston Bruins Jack Edwards:

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Of course, nothing can compare to Joe Bowen’s call on Toronto radio. Any Leafs moment isn’t complete until fans hear what the High Priest of Holy Mackinaw said, and he didn’t disappoint:

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It didn’t take long for Matthews’ game-winner to go viral across social media, with fans, media and ex-players weighing in on the incredible goal. The Leafs and Bruins resume their first round series on Wednesday in Toronto at 7 p.m.

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Player grades: McDavid passes, Hyman scores, powerplay dominates, Oilers win Game 1 – Edmonton Journal

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Kings 4, Oilers 7

It was a game of big numbers at Rogers Place that featured 82 shots, 72 faceoffs, 112 hits and 11 goals.  Connor McDavid scored 5 points, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard 4 each. Adam Henrique scored his first playoff point in 12 years. And the Edmonton Oilers won the opening game of a playoff series on their home ice for the first time in 12,409 days.

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But win it they did, cruising to a 7-4 win over Los Angeles Kings to establish a 1-0 series lead in the 2024 edition of the seemingly annual opening round series between the two.

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It wasn’t always pretty, but several of the goals sure were. The Oilers held the advantage in play, outshooting the Kings 45-37 with an 18-10 advantage in Grade A Shots as recorded by the Cult of Hockey (running count). 8 of those Grade A shots came on a red-hot powerplay that produced 3 goals in a combined time of 4:50.

Player grades

Cult of Hockey game grades player grades

#2 Evan Bouchard, 7. Moved the puck well for the most part and had 4 secondary assists to show for it, not to mention a tertiary that doesn’t show up on the scoresheet. But was among the defensive culprits on both LA goals that cut a 4-0 lead in half before the end of the second period. Way more good than bad on the night. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +3/-2, Special Teams +1/-0.

#5 Cody Ceci, 6. Played a rock solid defensive game, landing 5 hits and winning the lion’s share of battles. Victimized on a couple of unlucky goals against in garbage time, and in the spotlight himself on 1 of them when his stick exploded making a routine D-to-D pass after a won neutral zone faceoff. His 19:00 at even strength led the team. GAS: ES +2/-3; ST +1/-0. 

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#13 Mattias Janmark, 5. Classic Janmark game in which not a whole lot happened during his 10 minutes of action, pro or con. Tagged with an undeserved -1 on the Ceci-stick-explodes goal. GAS: +0/-0; ST 0.

#14 Mattias Ekholm, 6. Solid with a couple of shaky moments. Made a couple of lunging stops on the same dangerous sequence. His neutral zone turnover led to a Viktor Arvidsson breakaway early in the second, then he was unable to contain Adrian Kempe on the 4-2. Delivered a great stretch pass to Hyman for a breakaway chance. Led the D with 2:00 on the penalty kill. GAS: ES +4/-2; ST 0.

Oilers Kings Hyman

#18 Zach Hyman, 9. All over it from the get-go, driving hard to the net time and again. Scored a goal in each period by materializing in a dangerous spot and converting a McDavid pass from close range. Added a primary assist on Henrique’s goal. Took a goalie interference for another net drive gone wrong. Later drew a call the other way. Hit a post in a scramble. Robbed by Talbot’s best save of the game on a breakaway. Took a knock on the continuation of that play and was in pain, but returned for another shift and appeared to be OK. May have set a record for most hats on the ice for a hat trick. 9 shots on net to lead both teams. Also added 5 hits and was a central figure in the battle all night long. GAS: ES +7/-1; ST+3/-0. 

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#19 Adam Henrique, 7. His first playoff game in 6 years and his first playoff win in 12. Won a battle leading to the first Oilers goal, scored the second himself with a strong wrist shot from range, then earned an assist on the third. Made a great aerial deflection of Ceci’s outside shot. Took a penalty. Among those beaten on the first Kings goal. GAS: ES +4/-1; ST +1/-1.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 6. Played a solid 2-way game with 7 shot attempts, 2 blocks, and 6 hits. Won a lot of battles along the way. Pasted Kempe in the early going with a booming open-ice hit. Safe and sound behind his own blueline until the very late going, when a cross-ice pass caught his skate and found the net to make it 6-3. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.

#27 Brett Kulak, 5. Low event game including no goals at either end of the sheet during his 16 minutes. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.

Oilers Kings Draisaitl

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 8. Nearly wrecked himself on his opening shift when he took a run at a King and missed, but thankfully survived. Did his best work on the powerplay, setting up an RNH tally with a brilliant pass and scoring the winning goal himself with a brilliant shot. Also made a superb pass to RNH on an even-strength 2-on-1 that wasn’t converted. Strong defensively. Drew a penalty. Rock solid on the faceoff dot at 15/24=63%. 3 shots at one end, 2 blocks (!) at the other. GAS: ES =0/-0; ST +5/-0.

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#37 Warren Foegele, 6. Mashed Drew Doughty with an excellent hit in the very early going. Played a simple, solid game. Scored the empty netter that finalized the score line, after first stealing the puck in the neutral zone.

#39 Sam Carrick, 5. Played his first career playoff game at age 32 and got the job done. His line with Holloway and Janmark lost the possession battle but held their own on the scoresheet until the late fluke. He did get tagged with a -1 on the 4-2, but his “mistake” there was to do the job hjje was sent out to do and win a d-zone faceoff. 1 shot, 2 blocks, 4 hits, and 10/18=56% on the dot. GAS: +0/-0; ST 0.

#55 Dylan Holloway, 5. Held his own in his second career playoff game. GAS: +0/-0; ST 0.

#71 Ryan McLeod, 6. Played a fine defensive game between the vets Kane and Perry. 2 takeaways, 2 blocked shots. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0.

#73 Vincent Desharnais, 6. Rock of Gibraltar on the blue, with 6 hits and 5 shot blocks. On the receiving end of a nasty low-bridge hit by Trevor Moore that left him in obvious pain as the second period wound down, but returned in the third to finish the job. Best of all, the Oil scored the game winner on the resultant powerplay. GAS: +0/-1; ST 0.

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#74 Stu Skinner, 6. Very good in the first half of the game. Contributed the TSN Turning Point when he got a tiny piece of his pad on Viktor Arvidsson’s breakaway shot, with the Oilers subsequently scoring on the continuation. The game that could have been 2-1, was instead 3-0. The back half of the game went less well with 4 official GA and a fifth which was gloved in and correctly called back after a couple of nervous minutes. Struggled a bit with rebound control. 37 shots, 33 saves, .892 save percentage.

#90 Corey Perry, 5. Put the puck in good places, including on Kane’s stick for a couple of great chances in tight. 3 hits, 2 takeaways. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0.

#91 Evander Kane, 6. Was visible throughout, mostly in good ways. Fired 6 shots on net including a couple of powerful wristers. nearly squeezing one through Talbot. Did have a couple of issues suppressing outside shots from the point. Led EDM forwards with 15:45 TOI at even strength. GAS: ES +3/-1.

#93 Ryan Nugent Hopkins, 6. Set up perfectly by Draisaitl for what apepared to be a wide open net, but the puck rolled off his stick. Made up for it a few minutes later with a strong goal mouth finish of another sweet Draisaitl feed. 4 shots, 2 blocks, 2 hits, 1 takeaway, and a team-high 2:04 on the 2-for-2 penalty kill. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +1/-0.

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#97 Connor McDavid, 9. Became just the 15th player in NHL history with 5 (or more) assists in a playoff game, joining dynasty Oilers Wayne Gretzky (2x), Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson  and 10 others from other teams. 4 of them were primary assists, including all 3 of Hyman’s tallies. Twice McDavid beat defenders with brilliant spin moves before dishing. Threaded a bullet pass through Matt Roy’s skates for Hyman’s hat trick goal. 3 shots, 3 hits, and uncounted passes. GAS: ES +3/-0; ST +6/-0. 

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