ROOKIE RYAN PULOCK NETS FIVE POINTS IN ISLANDERS WIN
Ryan Pulock (1-4—5) became the first rookie defenseman in franchise history to record five points in a game as the Islanders (24-20-4, 52 points) erupted for seven goals en route to victory in Chicago. Overall, Pulock became the fourth different Islanders defenseman to record five points in a game, joining Denis Potvin (5x), Stefan Persson and Uwe Krupp.

* Pulock became the 10th rookie defenseman in NHL history to post at least five points in a game and first to do so since Alexandre Picard had five assists for the Flyers on Feb. 1, 2007. Only one rookie defenseman has recorded at least six points in a game: Gary Suter had 0-6—6 for the Flames on April 4, 1986.

* Pulock, selected 15th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft by the Islanders, entered the contest with 5-8—13 in his first 49 career games. His five-point outburst marked the third such performance by an Islanders rookie this season – forward Mathew Barzal had five-point showings on Nov. 5 vs. COL and Jan. 13 at NYR.

* The Islanders became just the fourth club in NHL history to have at least three instances of a rookie posting 5+ points in a game within the same season. The first two such instances occurred in the League's inaugural season of 1917-18 when all players were considered rookies; the other was in 1980-81 when Nordiques forwards Anton Stastny and Peter Stastny each had two performances of 5+ points.



* Fellow rookie Anthony Beauvillier notched his ninth and 10th goals of the season, while Anders Lee moved into a tie for second in the NHL with his 27th goal and John Tavares (1-1—2) took sole possession of third in the League in points (26-31—57).

MACKINNON, AVALANCHE KEEP ROLLING WITH NINTH STRAIGHT WIN
Nathan MacKinnon (1-1—2) scored for the fifth straight game – a career-high run that includes three game-winners – to lead the Avalanche to their ninth consecutive victory, the longest win streak in the NHL this season. Colorado’s win streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history.



* MacKinnon leads all players in goals and points (tied) since the beginning of December (15-16—31 in 22 GP), including 8-11—19 on his active nine-game point streak. Mikko Rantanen (1-1—2) recorded his second straight multi-point game to push his 2017-18 totals to 17-29—46 (45 GP), an average of 1.02 points per game.

* Jonathan Bernier (27 saves) extended his career-high win streak to eight games (1.47 GAA, .958 SV%, 1 SO) to move within one victory of matching the longest win streak by a goaltender in 2017-18 (Andrei Vasilevskiy: 9-0-0 from Oct. 9-30 w/ TBL).

* Bernier became just the fourth goaltender in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history to record at least eight consecutive wins. The others: Patrick Roy in 1998-99 (11-0-0), Stephane Fiset in 1995-96 (9-0-0) and Jocelyn Thibault in 1994-95 (8-0-0).

BRUINS EXTEND POINT STREAK TO 16 GAMES
David Pastrnak collected 2-1—3 to reach the 20-goal mark for the second straight season and help the Bruins (27-10-8, 62 points) extend their point streak to 16 games (12-0-4) and move within three points of the Lightning (31-12-3, 65 points) for first place in the NHL.

* This marks the eighth time in franchise history that the Bruins have recorded one or more points in at least 16 consecutive games – and second time in the past five seasons (also 16 GP in 2013-14).



* Tuukka Rask (22 saves) improved to 14-0-2 in his last 16 decisions dating to Nov. 29 (1.61 GAA, .940 SV%, 2 SO), extending the longest such point streak of his NHL career.

KLINGBERG ASSISTS STARS’ SEVEN-GOAL OUTBURST
John Klingberg (0-3—3) was one of three players to record three points as the Stars matched a season high with seven goals to conclude their four-game road trip with a 3-0-1 record.

* Klingberg boosted his totals to 6-40—46 this season (48 GP) to increase his lead for both assists and points by NHL defensemen. Only three players in the entire League have more assists than Klingberg: Flyers teammates Jakub Voracek (45) and Claude Giroux (41) and Islandersforward Josh Bailey (41).

* Klingberg reached the 40-assist mark for the second time in his NHL career (also 48 in 2015-16) to become the fourth defenseman to record multiple 40-assists seasons with the Stars/North Stars franchise.

KANE NETS 20TH GOAL OF SEASON, 800TH CAREER POINT
Patrick Kane (2-1—3) notched three points to become the fifth player to record 800 career points with the Blackhawks franchise (305-495—800 in 786 GP). Only two players have more points than Kane since he entered the League in 2007-08: Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (488-399—887 in 805 GP) and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (324-532—856 in 671 GP).

* Kane reached the 20-goal mark for the 11th time in as many NHL seasons. Elias notes that Kane joined Keith Tkachuk (12 seasons) and Phil Kessel (10 seasons) as the only U.S.-born players in NHL history to reach the 20-goal mark in 10 or more consecutive campaigns.

* Kane also became just the fourth player in Blackhawks history to score 20+ goals in 11 straight seasons at any point in his career.



PREDATORS WIN FIFTH STRAIGHT, CLOSE IN ON FIRST PLACE IN WEST
Nick Bonino (1-2—3) and Calle Jarnkrok (0-3—3) each registered three points and Kevin Fiala scored twice as the Predators (28-11-6, 62 points) earned their fifth straight win to maintain the top spot in the Central Division and move within two points of the Golden Knights (30-11-4, 64 points) for first place in the Western Conference. Nashville is part of a six-team group separated by only five points atop the League standings.

MATTHEWS SCORES 20TH GOAL AS LEAFS RALLY TO VICTORY
Auston Matthews (1-1—2) scored his 20th goal of the season – the first of three unanswered goals for Toronto – as the Maple Leafs overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third period to snap a four-game slide (0-1-3). Matthews – who captured the Calder Trophy after collecting 40-29—69 in 2016-17 (82 GP) –became the first Maple Leafs player to reach the 20-goal mark in each of his first two NHL seasons (all w/ TOR) since Daniel Marois did so in his first three campaigns from 1988-89 to 1990-91.

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