Grand Rapids Griffins rookie forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard was named the AHL Player of the Week with five goals, one assist and 17 shots in three games last week.
Brandsegg-Nygard began the week with his first two-goal game against the Manitoba Moose and followed that performance with another goal against the Iowa Wild.
The 20-year-old capped off his week with the first three-point night (2+1=3) of his career against Iowa.
The former first-round pick (15th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings in 2024 has 34 points (15+19=34) and a plus-21 rating in 48 games with the Griffins.
Brandsegg-Nygard ranks among the AHL rookie leaders in goals (T5th), assists (T8th), points (5th), plus-minus rating (T3rd) and game-winners (6, 1st).
He is the fourth Griffin to win the award this season, tying for the most in franchise history (2005-06: Jiri Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, Clay Wilson, Jimmy Howard).
Michigan reclaims No. 1 ranking
The University of Michigan is back on top again in the USCHO.com rankings.
The Wolverines (26-7-1) received 24 of 40 first-place votes to move ahead of Michigan State (24-7-1), which earned 11 first-place votes but fell to No. 2.
Michigan swept Minnesota at home this past weekend and MSU went 0-1-1 against Ohio State.
Western Michigan remained No. 4 after splitting a series against No. 3 North Dakota.
Barnstorming Sabres finally back home
After resuming the NHL season with an impressive sweep of a three-game road trip, the Buffalo Sabres return for their first home game in almost a month when they host the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
The Sabres, second in the Atlantic Division four points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, last played at home on Feb. 5 when they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Not that they’re complaining. Buffalo is 16-2-1 in its last 19 road contests. The Sabres are on a road point streak of nine games, one off the team record, including an impressive 6-2 victory at Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Josh Norris (Oxford) scored two goals and Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and two assists on Saturday to lead the Sabres, who jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 22 minutes en route to snapping the Lightning’s 10-game home win streak. The win capped a road trip that started with a 2-1 victory at New Jersey on Wednesday and featured a 3-2 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the front end of a back-to-back on Friday.
“It just shows that we’re a really good team. We’ve known that for a while now,” Norris said when asked what kind of statement the successful trip made. “I think we have a lot of belief in ourselves right now, and it’s a lot of fun playing.”
The Sabres, looking to snap a 14-year playoff drought, are 24-5-2 over their last 31 games. They needed just 14 shots to score five goals and chase Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who leads the league with a 2.22 goals- against average.
“I think we played the right way … and we played so fast,” Dahlin said. “I don’t know, maybe they weren’t ready, or we just took it to another level, which was unreal. It was fun.
“We don’t get too high, we don’t get too low,” Dahlin added. “We just stick with it and work really hard. There were a lot of goals today, a lot of blocked shots, a lot of good box-outs. We played the right way. It’s hard to play against us right now.”
Vegas will be playing the fourth game of a five-game road trip that started with a 6-4 comeback win at Los Angeles, followed by back-to-back losses at Washington (3-2) and Pittsburgh (5-0) on Friday and Sunday. The Golden Knights will face the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Slow starts have become a trademark for Bruce Cassidy’s squad this season. The Golden Knights needed a five-goal third period to pull out the victory over the Kings and have been outscored 9-1 in the first two periods over the first three games of the trip.
“It’s not a great stat,” Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “It’s been addressed, and we need to keep working to figure it out.”
The Golden Knights head into Tuesday’s game with just a one-point lead over second-place Anaheim in the Pacific Division and could be without captain Mark Stone.
Stone, second on the team in scoring with 60 points, left Sunday’s loss late in the first period and didn’t return after getting hit across the upper left arm with a stick during a neutral zone check by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang.
“He’ll be day-to-day,” Cassidy said of Stone following an optional team practice on Monday. “He was going to get treatment this afternoon.”
Flyers hold off Maple Leafs in shootout
Trevor Zegras scored the decisive goal of a shootout as the visiting Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Monday.
Philadelphia finished 2-for-2 in the shootout, as Matvei Michkov also succeeded. Toronto went 1-for-3, getting a goal from William Nylander before Flyers goalie Dan Vladar turned aside efforts by Auston Matthews and Max Domi.
Nylander’s goal late in the third period tied the game shortly after Noah Cates gave Philadelphia the lead.
Christian Dvorak also scored for the Flyers, who have won three in a row. Vladar made 29 saves through regulation and overtime.
Dakota Joshua (Dearborn) tallied for the Maple Leafs, who are 0-3-1 since the Olympic break. Anthony Stolarz made 23 saves.
Joshua scored from the left circle of 15:22 of the first period. Matias Maccelli won the puck in the corner after a dump-in and passed to Joshua.
Matthews clanked a shot off a goal post 1:13 later.
Dvorak jammed home a power-play goal at 18:38 of the first to tie the game at 1 after the Flyers swarmed the net. Brandon Carlo was off for holding.
Stolarz maintained the tie when he stopped Nicolas Delauriers’ shot from the left circle at 12:43 of the second period after a Toronto giveaway. It was Philadelphia’s best chance of the period.
Local schedules
Monday
Red Wings 4, Predators 2
Wednesday
Golden Knights at Red Wings, 7
Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7
Thursday
Michigan State at Minnesota, 8
Friday
Rangers at Red Wings, 7
Grand Rapids at Cleveland, 7
Michigan State at Minnesota, 8
Colorado College at Western Michigan, 7
Bowling Green at Michigan Tech, 7
NTDP U18 at Green Bay, 8
Saturday
Grand Rapids at Cleveland, 4
Sunday
Red Wings at Devils, 7
Bowling Green at Michigan Tech, 6
NTDP U18s at Green Bay, 7
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hockey roundup: Brandsegg-Nygard earns AHL honors; UM reclaims top ranking
Reporting by Detroit News staff and wires / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
