The NHL season may be deep into its dog days, with teams eager to get the postseason rolling, but don’t let that fool you. There’s no shortage of fantastic moments worth catching up on or watching over again from this past week of action.
If your favourite highlight from this week didn’t make the cut, let me be clear: no other slate of games has had the wall-to-wall excellence of this week, both on and off the ice. Clearly, there’s something in the post-St. Patties day water across the world of puck.
Here’s everything you’ve got to see in this week’s edition of the NHL’s Best and Worst.
Player of the week: Jack Eichel
With seven points in four games, including a hat trick against the Blue Jackets last Sunday, Jack Eichel has once again found another gear, getting hot at the right time as the Golden Knights look to lock down the Pacific Division.
Eichel has had his ups and downs over the course of this year, particularly in January after his linemate Mark Stone went down with a potentially season-ending injury. Recently, however, things have gotten back on track in a big way for the Massachusetts native, as he gears up for what will be his first career playoff action in just a few short weeks.
Goal of the week
Even though a few players have pulled it off, nothing quite beats a “Michigan” goal, which makes Kent Johnson’s take on the move an easy goal of the week. Johnson’s slick move — on the anniversary of the original “Michigan“, no less — caught everybody’s attention, including a mic’d up Johnny Gaudreau who could only stare and giggle, a reaction that plenty of other hockey fans can surely relate to on this one. Interestingly, this isn’t the Blue Jackets rookie’s first rodeo with the lacrosse goal, having pulled the move off at the BCHL and World Juniors levels, though ironically, never during his time at Michigan University.
Save of the week
Talk about putting it all on the line to keep your club in the hunt. In the throws of the most intense wild card chase in recent memory, Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin robs Erik Gustafsson point-blank with the paddle to keep it a one-goal game. That save would prove pivotal, turning the tide for New York and helping bring on an onslaught, as the Isles eventually dumped seven goals on a discombobulated Leafs squad.