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Top-4: Evander Kane has fun at the Heritage Classic

It was October 29, a Sunday, when the famous 2023 Heritage Classic took place.

A little early in the season, some might say, but what better way to warm things up than with a battle of Alberta.

The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers crossed swords, and both teams failed to live up to expectations.

Prior to the game, the two teams were ranked 30ᵉ and 31ᵉ respectively in the NHL.

Following the Oilers’ 5-2 victory, Edmonton climbed to 30ᵉ, while its provincial rivals dropped one spot.

At least the Flames aren’t as mediocre as the San Jose Sharks, who are still winless this season.

There were four games on the schedule this Sunday.

Here’s a look at the evening’s highlights.

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1. Evander Kane collects three points at the Heritage Classic

The Battle of Alberta always puts on a robust show.

With disruptive players like Evander Kane and Nazem Kadri, you’d expect tempers to flare.

There was a brief discussion between the two players, as Nazem Kadri commented.

“Stay away from the puck buddy. The puck don’t want you.” – Nazem Kadri

A classic comment from Kadri.

The only problem is that Kane is laughing out loud, as he collected three points in his team’s 5-2 victory.

The Oilers’ #91 wore a microphone during the match, and there were some fine moments.

“What are you going to do? Who here is going to do anything?” – Evander Kane

Another interesting development in the game was the return to action of Connor McDavid, who has been absent for the last two games.

He picked up a point, but didn’t signal for anything else.

In the win, Ryan McLeod was excellent in the face-off circle, with an 86% efficiency percentage.

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2. San Jose Sharks still winless

As disappointing as the Flames and Oilers have been this year, the real losers so far are the San Jose Sharks.

They arrived in Washington to face the Capitals with a 0-7-1 record.

Although they scored the first goal of the game in the first period, they never got back on the scoreboard.

The Capitals scored three unanswered goals in the third period to take the win.

The Sharks are now 0-8-1.

In the win, Alex Ovechkin picked up two assists.

However, it was Evgeny Kuznetsov who caught the eye with a beautiful moment with his little girl.

After scoring the insurance goal in an empty net, he approached the boards to see his little girl.

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3. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen earns first career shutout

The Buffalo Sabres were hosting the Colorado Avalanche, who are on fire with a record of six wins and one loss, ahead of Sunday night’s game.

Young Finnish goaltender Luukkonen stopped all 23 shots he faced to earn the first shutout of his career in a 4-0 victory.

Colorado’s big guns tried their best, but to no avail.

Stars Nathan MacKinnon (4 shots) and Mikko Rantanen (5 shots) combined for nine of their team’s 23 shots.

Sabres youngster John-Jason Peterka also fired five shots on net.

Jeff Skinner collected two assists and directed four shots on goal.

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4. Jesper Bratt continues dream start with three points

With 11 points in just seven games prior to the Minnesota Wild game, Jesper Bratt is simply on fire.

But he had no intention of stopping there.

The native of Stockholm, Sweden, threaded the needle twice and picked up an assist.

These three points now place him third in the scoring charts with 14 points in eight games.

Ahead of him is Dylan Larkin with 15 points, as well as Bratt’s teammate Jack Hughes, who has 18 points this season.

For DansLesCoulisses.com SuperPool participants, these three players are the players of the hour. For those who haven’t made any changes, Jack Hughes is unavoidable at center.

In fact, the young American has been on fire this season, but he was cleared on Sunday.

During the game, there was a moment between Jack Hughes and Marc-André Fleury, with the latter seemingly saying something to the 22-year-old center.

We still don’t know what Fleury said, but Hughes seems to have found it funny.

We know Fleury as a prankster, but he also likes to talk a lot during games, including his classic line: “Poke check!” when he’s spearing.

He’s also had a few chats with Alex Ovechkin over the course of his career.

Extension

– Here are all the results from Sunday night.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Here you can see the top scorers of the evening. Jesper Bratt and Evander Kane led the charge with three points each.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Finally, I leave you with the schedule for Monday evening, October 30. The Montreal Canadiens visit the Vegas Golden Knights at 10pm. This could be an interesting match-up, as the Tricolore are surprising many this season, while the Knights are still undefeated (8-0-1) in regular time.

(Credit: NHL.com)