With the Olympic break set to kick off this week, it's time to recap the last month of NHL action!
The last time I wrote one of these recaps, I provided some numbers that served to best summarize the previous month of NHL action. I found that to be quite fun to write, so for this recap, I am focusing on the numbers that defined NHL action from January 15th up until the last day before the Olympic break (February 5th).
1000
Since January 18th, 4 NHL players surpassed the 1000 games played mark: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers, Alex Killorn of the Anaheim Ducks, Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, and Charlie Coyle of the Columbus Blue Jackets. For Roman Josi and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, their milestones came with additional significance: all of their career games came with the teams that drafted them.
Another big stat involving the number 1000? The Pittsburgh Penguins' game against the Vancouver Canucks on January 25th was the 1000th game to feature Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang on the same team. They would become the fourth trio to ever reach 1000 combined games played together; upon entering the record books, the three players sat just forty games back of the Los Angeles Kings' duo of Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty, and Anze Kopitar for the most games played by a teammate trio.
3
In the Carolina-Utah game on January 29th, the Hurricanes (in their old Hartford Whalers attire) were down 4-2 with two minutes left in the third period. Carolina would find a way to turn that deficit around quickly, ultimately winning 5-4 in regulation.
Then, the Edmonton Oilers would reverse a 3-0 deficit against the San Jose Sharks, forcing overtime and then winning 4-3 on a Zach Hyman goal.
Oh, I'm not done with Thursday's action. In another late-night affair, the Vegas Golden Knights would reverse a 4-1 deficit against the Dallas Stars; despite losing 5-4, the Golden Knights were able to salvage an overtime point from what could've easily been a disappointing affair.
Regarding individual statistics, there were a grand total of nineteen hat tricks (three goals scored by an individual player on a given night) scored from January 15th to February 5th. That's just under a third of the total hat tricks (64) scored so far this season. Three of those hat tricks were scored by Buffalo Sabres players, while two came from members of each of the Nashville Predators, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, Philadelphia Flyers, and Columbus Blue Jackets. Let's also not forget that two Edmonton Oilers defencemen (Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm) scored hat tricks on consecutive game days.
10-1-0
That's the Columbus Blue Jackets' record following the appointment of Rick Bowness as their head coach.
Sorry Paul Bissonnette, but Bones isn't heading back to the NHL on TNT studio anytime soon.
Entering the Olympic break the Columbus Blue Jackets sat four points back of the New York Islanders for third in the Metropolitan Division. That's three points closer than where they stood in the playoff picture when Rick Bowness took the reins of the Blue Jackets.
Even better, Columbus has two games in hand on the Islanders, meaning that the Blue Jackets could bring themselves level with the Islanders and New York wouldn't have to play a single minute. The regulation win tiebreaker does break for the Islanders, but two games against the Islanders does give Columbus a golden opportunity to take control of a postseason spot.
The Blue Jackets have also played like a team that deserves to be in the playoff chase. Of the nine games played since Rick Bowness was hired by Columbus, the Blue Jackets have scored at least four goals in seven of those games. The defensive side of the ice does still need some work; the Blue Jackets gave up two goals or fewer in just three of those nine games. That said, one of those games was a shutout of the Dallas Stars, who are one of the top-five teams in the NHL.
That said, there are still some variables surrounding this Columbus team. Trade calls surrounding the likes of Charlie Coyle have swirled in recent weeks and the Blue Jackets are in a unique position when it comes to buying/selling. In addition, Columbus' post-Olympic stretch starts with a big game that sees them head to Boston to take on the Bruins, who hold one of the two Wild Card spots up for grabs in the East. Two days later, the Blue Jackets play host to the same Islanders squad that holds third place in the Metropolitan. Beyond that, should Columbus keep pace for a playoff spot, they'll have two more games against Boston and one more against the Islanders before the end of the regular season. They'll also play Buffalo once and Montreal twice; like Boston and the Islanders, both the Sabres and Canadiens are still somewhat susceptible to falling out of a playoff spot.
It's safe to say that the Blue Jackets could be a very interesting piece in the puzzle that is the Eastern Conference playoff picture. And if things continue to go their way, we could be talking about playoff hockey being played at Nationwide Arena for the first time since 2019, the same year that the Blue Jackets swept the Presidents' Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning out of the playoffs.
2
The amount of wins that the Vancouver Canucks and St Louis Blues each picked up since January 15th.
While the Winnipeg Jets were arguably in this same boat at one point in January, they were able to turn their season around and keep themselves somewhat competitive in the playoff picture.
Though the Blues were just ten points back of a playoff spot at one point, they now sit fourteen behind the final playoff team with one extra game played.
As for Vancouver, well it hasn't been that great either. Despite putting two somewhat competitive efforts together to close out January, which took the form of.a 2-0 win over Anaheim and a fast-paced and fun shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada, the Canucks are still dead last in the NHL by a country mile. They're almost twenty points out of a playoff spot, and they've haven't really been that competitive since the first month-and-a-bit of the season.
Both the Canucks and Blues are expected to sell at the deadline. Vancouver already traded Kiefer Sherwood to the San Jose Sharks and they could easily sell off more pieces before the trade deadline. As for St Louis, it has been rumoured that players like Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas would be potential trade targets, but any trade calls surrounding those pieces have yet to materialize.