Nylander gets commercial, Byfuglien goes fishing, mascots go wild
It’s a U.S. Thanksgiving edition of the NHL Best and Worst. We’re thankful for another stellar week of hockey action, including some nifty moves, a historic coaching run, and a few mascots putting on the moves.
Here’s everything you missed — or need to see again — from the past week.
Goal of the week
Take a bow, Zach Benson. This might be the goal of the season, never mind the goal of the week. The 13th-overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft has done nothing but impress since making the Buffalo Sabres out of training camp, and after scoring this electric first career NHL goal, it’d be tough to see him headed back to the WHL any time soon.
Save of the week
What a revelation Samuel Montembeault has been for the Montreal Canadiens over the past few seasons. Nabbed off waivers from the Florida Panthers in 2021, the hometown kid has seen his game evolve under the tutelage of Canadiens goalie coach Eric Raymond and now appears poised to earn an extension with his boyhood team. If he keeps making saves like this one against the Anaheim Ducks, that will be some money well spent for the Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge.
With a two-goal, six-point night against the Carolina Hurricanes in a huge Tampa Bay Lightning win on Friday, Kucherov has vaulted himself up the NHL scoring leaderboard into first place with 35 points in just 20 games — good for a ridiculous 143-point pace. Kucherov has slipped off the radar a bit of late due to a series of injuries and one shady LTIR stint — he’s finished outside the top-10 in Hart voting in each of his last three full seasons — but he looks to be back in full force.
Hit of the week
It isn’t often you see a forward serving as the last man back on an odd-man rush, and it’s even less frequently that you see them play it as well as Adrian Kempe does here. The 6-foot-2 sniper plays this one like a rugged 90s…
