NHL Rink Wrap: Keith’s Chicago return, Cooper ejected, and surprising results

The Boston Bruins are starting to put it together and are now 7-2-1 in their past 10 games thanks to Thursday’s 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. Jeremy Swayman has been a difference maker in net, and he was great again on Thursday, but Craig Smith provided the boost in this game with this third career hat trick. He helped the Bruins jump out to a 2-0 lead and then helped add some insurance in the third period. It has been a down year for Smith with just six goals in 47 games entering play on Thursday, so he and the Bruins absolutely needed a game like this.

Duncan Keith made his first return to Chicago on Thursday night and received a very warm welcome on the same night that the Blackhawks were honoring his long-term defense partner, Niklas Hjalmarsson. The Blackhawks were also 4-3 overtime winners against the Edmonton Oilers thanks to Alex DeBrincat‘s game-winning goal.

The Minnesota Wild needed a win to snap out of their recent funk and they got it in Philadelphia thanks to two goals within 25 seconds in the third period to tie the game and then take the lead.

The save of the night belongs to Swayman against Reilly Smith.

Avalanche, Flames lose to Coyotes and Canadiens

Maybe the Colorado Avalanche and Calgary Flames were looking ahead to their weekend matchup against each other. Maybe hockey is just random sometimes. Either way, the Avalanche and Flames both lost on Thursday night in games where they were heavily favored. The Avalanche lost a 2-1 decision to the Arizona Coyotes, the team with the league’s worst record, while Calgary lost 5-4 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens thanks to a two-goal game, including the game-winner in overtime, from defenseman Ben Chiarot who no doubt boosted his trade value.