Top 5 Plays from the NHL in 2016

Now that we are in 2017, let's take a look back at some of the top plays in the NHL thus far. From glove saves, to great passes and wicked wristers, there's a lot to see.

#5 - Alex Ovechkin Completes the Hat Trick with a Laser

Alex Ovechkin and André Burakovsky are tearing down the ice on a 2-on-1 when two more Blues come in to take away Ovechkin's pass. Ovi sees this and decides to take the shot. He fires the puck over Jake Allen's glove and goes bar-down to complete his sixteenth career hat trick.

#4 - Alexei Emelin Flips Joe Colborne with a Huge Hip Check

This hit was huge and was highly controversial. Sure, it's a 10-1 blowout with less than 4 minutes left, but games are 60 minutes long. Emelin was doing his job by not letting a forward come dangling across his blue line with his head down. The hit itself was clean and Colborne was not injured on the play.

#3 - Petr Mrazek Robs Artturi Lehkonen

Montreal forward Artturi Lehkonen is wide open back door on Mrazek when he gets the puck. Even though he is the only player on that side of the ice, he wastes no time firing it on net. Mrazek looks dead-to-rights, but he miraculously makes a huge split and robs a sure-goal with a beautiful glove save.

#2 - Sidney Crosby Plays Baseball and Scores

After Evgeni Malkin rings one off the post, Sidney Crosby follows the puck and bats it out of the air past Louis Domingue. Note how he has the patience to wait until he can make contact with puck below the crossbar before taking a swing.

#1 - John Tavares Protects the Puck for a Beautiful Goal

John Tavares does it all on this goal. He stays strong on the puck with his stick behind his back to fend off Blues defensemen Jay Bouwmeester, slams on the brakes to get four Blues beneath the hashmarks, then snipes one home from the high slot.