Predators Rookie has historic night in Buffalo
The forward set a team record, tied another team record, and looked impressive all around.
There was already a lot of excitement surrounding Luke Evangelista before he ever played a game in Predators gold. The 2nd round draft pick had a storied career with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, boasting a statline of 78-96-174 over 151 games. With an astounding final season of 55-56-111, the forward was poised to make the jump to the AHL.
After moving to the AHL this season, he was leading the Milwaukee Admirals in scoring with 9 goals and 32 assists in 48 games before being called up to the NHL.
While the move was exciting and expectations were high, no one was quite expecting what happened last night in Buffalo.
Evangelista started the game playing on a line with Kiefer Sherwood and centered by Tommy Novak (who's been quite impressive himself). He didn't make much noise in the first period. But the second period was his time to shine.
He started things off with a killer zone-entry pass to a streaking Tommy Novak, who easily netted his first goal of the night. A few minutes later, Juuse Saros (with his first assist of the season) got the puck to Tommy Novak, who returned the favor by setting up a streaking Evangelista with zone-entry pass that allowed him the chance to dangle a bit and fire away to score his first goal of the night.
Forty short seconds later, Kiefer Sherwood found Evangelista down the ice and set him up with a pass that allowed him to net his second goal of the night after pulling the puck over to his backhand to chip it in over Sabres goalie Craig Anderson. However, three points in the period weren't enough for Evangelista as he set up Ryan McDonagh for his second goal of the season.
Alex Daugherty put together this nice little highlight reel of Evangelista's night in Buffalo:
Two goals and two assists (both primary) in one period wasn't just impressive, it was also historical for a variety of reasons.
First, Evangelista's four points made him the second Preds rookie with a four point game. The other was Dan Hamhuis (who wound up with 5 points) back in 2004.
Second:
Finally, his three points in a span of 6:01 was the quickest a Preds rookie has ever done it. This breaks the previous record of 6:40 by Andy Berenzweig, set all the way back in 2001.
Breaking records this soon after his debut, combined with all of the excitement he's brought to the Predators in just 11 games, you know the future is bright. However, it's not just bright for Evangelista, but for the Predators (and their fans) as well.
-featured image via Timothy T. Ludwig/USA Today Sports-
