NHL Three Stars: Eberle, Lyon and MacKinnon Shine

Adam Proteau takes a look at the NHL's three stars of the past week, Seattle's Jordan Eberle, Florida's Alex Lyon and Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon.

Welcome back to THN.com’s three stars of the week, an ongoing feature in which we look back at the past week of NHL hockey and put the spotlight on the three individual players whose performances stood out the most. On to it, we go:

This isn’t the first time MacKinnon has made the three-stars list this season, but the Avalanche captain sparkled this week, generating three goals and seven points in only three games. All three of the 27-year-old center’s goals this week came at even strength, and two of them were game-winning markers. In his past four games, MacKinnon has five goals and nine points, powering Colorado to four straight victories.

Although he’s lost time due to injuries this season, MacKinnon has amassed 67 assists and 104 points – both of which are new career bests for him – in just 67 games. The Avs have been dynamite of late, even without the services of injured star forward Gabriel Landeskog, and the play of MacKinnon has been one of the key reasons why they’ve ascended back to the top of the Central Division. In Colorado’s Stanley Cup championship run last year, MacKinnon posted 13 goals and 24 points in 20 games, and as the regular season draws to a close, he’s back at top form.

The Panthers have been in desperation mode for a while now, fighting tooth-and-nail to stay in the mix for a wild-card playoff berth – and they’ve won six consecutive games in no small part due to the efforts of Lyon. No NHL goalie dealt with more shots than Lyon did this week when he faced 122 shots in only three games, and his 3-0-0 record, 1.67 goals-against average and .959 save percentage got him the first THN.com three stars honor of his career.

After bouncing between the NHL and AHL since he began his professional career in 2016-17, Lyon has hit his stride in Florida, putting up a 9-3-1 record, a 2.88 GAA, a .916 SP and one shutout in 13 appearances. The 30-year-old Minnesota native has bailed out the Panthers and grabbed the starter’s job, for now, at least, from veteran Sergei Bobrovsky. 

Florida likely must win its remaining two games to make the playoffs, but as it stands, Lyon is giving them every chance to do so. The only catch here is that Lyon will be a UFA at the end of the year, and the cap-strapped Panthers may not be able to pay him what other teams can pay him. For now, though, he’s “The Man” between the pipes for Florida, for better or worse.

The Kraken locked up their first-ever playoff spot this past week. They got there because Eberle led the way on offense, with four goals – including a pair of game-winners – and eight points in just 16:16 of average ice time in four games. 

Eberle, who will turn 33 years old in May, set a new career high in assists this week, notching his 43rd helper to beat his previous personal best of 42, which was set in his sophomore season of 2011-12. His four goals this week gave him 20 on the year, marking the eighth time in his 13 NHL seasons that he’s had at least 20 goals.

With 937 career regular-season games under his belt. Eberle almost assuredly will crack the 1,000-game plateau next season, and he’s still under contract to Seattle through the 2023-24 campaign at a cap hit of $5.5 million per season. For a veteran who plays on the Kraken’s top line and plays an average of just 16:43 per game, Eberle is proving to be one of the best selections Seattle made in the NHL expansion draft. And his output on offense will be one of the deciding factors as to whether the Kraken can win their first playoff series this spring.