third straight loss for the Panthers

There were eight games on the schedule last night in the National Hockey League. We had a lot of goals and several good games.

Here is a summary of what caught our attention.

1. The Panthers suffer a third straight loss

This is news that will make all Montreal Canadiens fans happy.

Reminder: the CH has the first round choice of the Panthers thanks to the exchange Ben Chiarot.

The Panthers, who are currently desperately trying to get back into the playoffs, lost last night by a score of 4 to 3 against the Los Angeles Kings.

It’s a hard defeat for the troop of Paul Maurice who tries to go up in the classification,

This three-game losing streak, however, greatly undermines the Panthers’ hopes of making the playoffs.

Florida therefore drops somewhat in the standings, which benefits CH, who wants to see the Panthers finish as low as possible in the standings in order to have the best possible choice.

This third loss in a row for the Panthers puts their choice in the percentage chance of getting the first overall choice.

The CH therefore has a 9.5% chance of winning the lottery, which is equivalent to the fourth best chances in the NHL, those of the Arizona Coyotes.

In short, we can thank the Los Angeles Kings for their precious help in the CH quest for Connor Bedard.

Now that’s a Juicy shorty 🧃 pic.twitter.com/kd9eoqslQo

— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 28, 2023

2. Jack Hughes is already at 33 goals

The former New Jersey Devils 2019 first overall pick is currently enjoying the best season of his career.

In 49 games last season, Hughes had 26 goals and 30 assists for a total of 56 points.

Well, this season, after playing his 49th game of the season last night against the Dallas Stars, Hughes has eight points more than last season at 64 (33 goals and 31 assists).

Indeed, Hughes scored twice in the Devils’ 3-2 overtime win over the Stars.

33 goals in 49 games is good for 55 goals in 82 games for the player who was seen as a game maker and not a maverick.

Here are his two goals.

JACK CALLED GAME! 🚨

Jack Hughes (@jhugh86) scores the @Energizer OT winner to send the @NJDevils into the break on a high note! pic.twitter.com/bglOcasMAK

— NHL (@NHL) January 28, 2023

I can’t wait to see the Devils and Jack Hughes in the playoffs.

3. Martin Necas tied the game with 12 seconds left and scored the winning goal in overtime

Here is another who is having the best season of his career by far.

Necas already has 44 points (21 goals and 23 assists) in 48 games. His best season was 41 points (14 goals and 27 assists) in 53 games in the 2020-2021 season.

The 24-year-old forward picked 12th overall in 2017 by the Hurricanes was a hero twice last night in the Canes’ 5-4 overtime win over the Sharks.

After the Sharks scored an empty net to make it 4-2, Sebastian Aho gave his team hope with 1:37 to go.

Then it was Necas who took matters into their own hands.

He first tied the game with 12 seconds left in the game.

To then give the victory to the Canes in overtime.

Really quite a scenario that allows the Canes to remain two points above the Devils at the top of the metropolitan division.

4. Senators upset Leafs 6-2

Once again this season, the Senators are not meeting expectations.

They seem to have a better team every year, but that doesn’t change much of the team’s results.

The Senators are once again in the NHL’s slums, and they’ll likely draft in the top-10 in the draft.

However, that hasn’t stopped the Senators from having some very big games against provincial rivals like the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Indeed, the Sens surprisingly easily beat the Leafs by a score of 6 to 2 last night.

Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle and Claude Giroux all had two points.

5. Canucks win, but Ilya Mikheyev loses for the rest of the season

Rick Tocchet scored his second victory in three games at the helm of the Vancouver Canucks last night by a score of 5-2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In the victory, Ilya Mikheyev scored his 13th goal of the season, having exactly 28 points in 46 games.

Unfortunately for Mikheyev, it was his last goal of the season, as he will need anterior cruciate ligament surgery.

Mikheyev was injured during the preseason, and his surgery is only now happening, to be ready for training camp next season.

The former Leafs will therefore no longer play in this 2022-2023 season.

Extension

– Here are all the results of the day before.

– Here are the best scorers of the evening.

– On the program today in the NHL: 11 games.