Weekend takeaways: Gauthier, Robertson pushing their way into Olympics talk

Is November providing a sneak peek into a possible American Olympic revolution?

Never mind the whole month, this past weekend alone offered further evidence that some extremely talented Yanks are pushing their way into the five-ringed conversation. 

Nobody is hotter than Jason Robertson, who went 1-1-2 during the Dallas Stars’ 3-2 shootout loss to Calgary on Saturday. The left winger has 19 points in 11 November games, more than any American NHLer. The only NHLers of any heritage who also have 19 points in the month are Canadians Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid. 

Another deadly American with 1-1-2 on Saturday was Cutter Gauthier, whose production came as part of a 4-3 overtime win for the Anaheim Ducks over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights. Gauthier has exploded for 13 goals and the same number of helpers for 26 points in 22 games as a league sophomore. That’s more points than every American except Robertson (28) and Team USA lock Jack Eichel (29).

We had a stirring comeback on Saturday, when the Atlantic-leading Detroit Red Wings popped two goals in the second half of the third period to tie the Columbus Blue Jackets. In overtime, Alex DeBrincat skated the length of the ice and whipped a seeing-eye shot over Jet Greaves’ left shoulder and under the bar for a 4-3 win. 

DeBrincat’s 39 goals last season were more than all but three Americans — more on that in a second — and he’s been on fire lately for a surging Wings team with nine points in his past half-dozen outings.

The guy who led all Americans in goals last season was Tage Thompson, who netted 44. Thompson is up to 12 goals this year, including one on Friday night during a big 9-3 win over Chicago, and another into an empty net on Sunday afternoon to seal a 4-1 win over Carolina and make it a great 48 hours for the Sabres. 

It’s basically impossible to see how Thompson — who has nine points in his past six games — doesn’t make Team USA this time out, especially after scoring the overtime marker that secured an American victory at the World Championship last May.

Like Thompson, Robertson, Gauthier and DeBrincat were all left off America’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster last season. The same can be said for Cole Caufield, who has as many goals as any American this season at 13, and Will Smith, who is nearly a point-per-game sophomore in San Jose while listening to all the chatter about whether his Sharks teammate, Macklin Celebrini, will force his way onto Team Canada.

Will all those forwards whose calling card is offence make the squad? Certainly not. But it’s sure easy to wonder who is going to make Team USA when both Tkachuk brothers, Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes are all hurt. And while all four of those players are cemented on the team if healthy, the “if healthy” part of that sentence carries more weight than you’d like when discussing each of those guys.

Now ask yourself if veterans Brock Nelson, Vincent Trochek and Chris Kreider — all guys who made the 4 Nations roster — are making the trip to Italy in February.

Understanding balance is required when making a roster meant to compete with the best national teams in the world, it’s safe to assume some turnover up front for the Stars and Stripes.

And, right now, there’s no shortage of super-skilled players showing why they deserve consideration for a spot.

Weekend takeaways

• Make it five in a row, seven of eight and 9-1-1 in November for the scorching Minnesota Wild after they blanked the Jets in Winnipeg 3-0 on Sunday afternoon. That is how you turn things around from a 3-6-3 October. Jesper Wallstedt, a long-heralded goalie prospect, is making good on that promise. The whitewash in Winnipeg was his third shutout of the month and the Swede — everything leads back to Olympic talk this year, right? — has a stunning .970 save percentage in his past five outings. Mats Zuccarello made his season debut this month and quickly amassed eight points in eight games, while Marcus Johansson continues to produce at an unexpected clip. A goal on Friday in Pittsburgh and an apple against the Jets gives the veteran winger 15 points in his past 15 outings. Then there’s rookie centre Danila Yurov, who scored against the Jets for his fourth point in his past three contests. With the Avs soaring, Dallas as strong as ever and Minnesota now raging, the Central Division is living up to its billing as the NHL’s Group of Death.

• Speaking of the Central, with the Wild jumping the Jets for third place this weekend, the leaves a single Canadian team in possession of a playoff spot on Monday morning, and it’s the Ottawa Senators. 

• After a 1-4-2 start — to say nothing of having multiple very important defencemen injured — the Tampa Bay Lighting are rolling. The Bolts’ 5-3 win in Washington on Saturday drove their record to 11-3-0 in their past 14 games. For all the talk of turnover in the Atlantic — with Ottawa, Detroit and Montreal trying to rise up — it would surprise no one to see cagey ol’ Tampa Bay back at the top of that group come April.

Red and White Power Rankings

1. Winnipeg Jets (12-9-0) Two starts, two L’s for Eric Comrie in the absence of Connor Hellebuyck, who’s sidelined four to six weeks after knee surgery. That’s obviously not great, but no goalie could have earned the W for Winnipeg on Sunday when the Jets failed to score on the visiting Wild. 

2. Ottawa Senators (11-6-4) With another assist in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime victory in San Jose, Drake Batherson is producing at a 91-point pace. 

3. Edmonton Oilers (10-9-5) The Oilers closed a tough seven-game roadie with a big 4-3 win in Florida on Saturday. Now it’s time to make some hay, with six of their next seven games at home. 

4. Montreal Canadiens (11-7-3) The Habs’ team toughness quotient went up a few levels with Florian Xhekaj getting in a tilt (and chipping in an assist) during his NHL debut in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Leafs. Florian, big brother Arber and the rest of the Habs now hit the road for a tough roadie through Utah, Vegas and Colorado.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs (9-10-3) Only four teams have a worse points percentage than Toronto. It just so happens two of them are Canadian …

6. Calgary Flames (8-13-3) Make it three W’s in a row for Calgary after a convincing 5-2 defeat of the Canucks in Vancouver Sunday night.   

7. Vancouver Canucks (9-12-2) Nobody is giving up more goals per game than Vancouver this season, which has surrendered 3.74 per contest to opponents. 

The week ahead

• It’s feast or famine in terms of NHL games this week, as the schedule is driven by the fact Americans will be feasting all day on Thanksgiving Thursday. Tuesday’s lone game is a good one, as Dallas visits Edmonton in a rematch of the past two Western Conference finals, both won by the Oilers. Glen Gulutzan, who was an assistant coach with the Oilers from 2018 until he became the top man in Dallas last summer, makes his return to Northern Alberta.

• The second annual CHL/USA Top Prospects Challenge goes off this week, with the teams meeting Tuesday in Calgary, followed by another clash 24 hours later in Lethbridge. The CHL team is headlined by the likes of power forward Ethan Belchetz of the Windsor Spitfires and offence-minded blue-liner Xavier Villeneuve of the Blaineville-Boisbriand Armada. They’ll be taking on the U.S. National Team Development Program U-18 squad, which features a potential first-rounder in big, right-shot defenceman Luke Schairer. 

• Sandwiched around the Thanksgiving blackout of games on Thursday are two 15-contest slates on Wednesday and Friday. Celebrini leads the Sharks into Denver to face Nathan MacKinnon and the Avs on Wednesday night, while Black Friday has a bevy of afternoon action. The Bolts and Wings kick things off with a big Atlantic tilt in Detroit at noon ET, followed by an Original Six duel in Boston between the Bruins and Rangers at 1 p.m. ET and a good Central battle between the Avs and red-hot Wild in Minny at 3:30 p.m. ET. 

• Clear a little space Sunday afternoon to watch some of the brightest young guns in the game, as Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and the rest of the Ducks visit Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks in Chicago.