Friday Four: Bruins keep on streaking

Each Friday throughout the season Kevin Weekes will bring you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays, or trends that have caught his eye.

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Boston Bruins

With their 5-2 win against the New York Islanders in Brooklyn on Thursday, the Bruins stretched their point streak to 15 games (11-0-4). They enter the weekend ranked second in the League, allowing 2.48 goals per game. A lot of the credit for that goes to goaltenders Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin, who have been a great tandem. Rask is 16-8-4 with a 2.21 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage and is 13-0-2 in his past 15 starts. Khudobin is 10-2-4- with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
The top line of Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak is one of the best in the League. The three have combined for 57 goals and 125 points; they had seven points, highlighted by Bergeron's hat trick, in the game Thursday.
Lastly, the kids are delivering. Rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy and forwards Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk have had positive impacts, perhaps developing at a faster pace than originally thought.

Colorado Avalanche

With the success of the Vegas Golden Knights, not a lot of people have been talking about the Avalanche, but they should be. The Avalanche have won eight straight games and own the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They are 25-16-3 after finishing last season 22-56-4, the worst record in the League.
Jonathan Bernier has won an NHL career-high seven straight games. He's 7-0-0 with a .957 save percentage and has allowed 10 goals during the streak while filling in for injured starter Semyon Varlamov. Bernier has been aided by Colorado's improved play away from the puck, which was a huge problem last season.
Center Nathan MacKinnon is second in the League in scoring with 57 points (22 goals, 35 assists), four behind Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the NHL lead. Since center Matt Duchene was traded to the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 5, MacKinnon has 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists) in 31 games. He's been their best player this season.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on Thursday, and are 2-0 head-to-head with them; they also won 4-3 in Las Vegas on Dec. 19. They're the only team to defeat the Lightning twice this season and at 30-11-3, are two points behind Tampa Bay for the League lead in points. They're the fifth NHL team to win 30 games in its inaugural season.
I think Vegas has been the most consistent team in the NHL shift-by-shift since the first day of the season. Marc-Andre Fleury (10-3-2, 1.72 goals-against average, .945 save percentage) has been absolutely brilliant, performing even better than he did in Pittsburgh, given the circumstances entering the season. Jonathan Marchessault (42 points), William Karlsson (24 goals, 38 points), Reilly Smith (36 points), David Perron (36 points) and James Neal (19 goals) have all outperformed expectations and have helped the Golden Knights to where they are in the standings.

New Jersey Devils

Led by Taylor Hall (11 points in six games), the Devils have rebounded from a six-game losing streak to win two straight. They defeated the Washington Capitals for first time this season on Thursday when Hall used a nifty move to beat Braden Holtby in overtime for a 4-3 win. Hall is an all-star again, and rookie linemates Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt have been great as well. The two of them play in all three zones.
Keith Kinkaid has stepped up the past two games with Cory Schneider out. Prior to defeating the Capitals, he made 25 saves in a 4-1 win against the Islanders on Tuesday. Those are two divisional games and wins, and those points were huge.
New Jersey is getting production from the entire lineup -- offense, defense and goaltending. Sami Vatanen has been great on the back end since coming in a trade from the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 30; he had three assists Thursday and has five in five games.

HONORABLE MENTION

Firstly, I want to offer my condolences to Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray, who will be away from the team indefinitely because of the loss of his father.
Next, congrats to The Big E, Eric Lindros, on getting his No. 88 retired by the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. He reset the mold of an elite power finesse forward in the NHL, and there has been nobody like him since.
And lastly, I have to thank Willie O'Ree for making the NHL a better place and for having a positive impact on the dreams of boys and girls. You are a Hall of Famer in every way.