Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

03/17/2018 at 7:03am EDT

NHL Morning Skate

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

WASHINGTON 6, NY Islanders 3

OTTAWA 3, Dallas 2 (OT)

Nashville 4, COLORADO 2

San Jose 7, CALGARY 4

ANAHEIM 4, Detroit 2

Minnesota 4, VEGAS 2

PREDATORS CLINCH FIRST BERTH IN 2018 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

Colton Sissons and Filip Forsberg each scored twice to help the League-leading Predators (47-14-10, 104 points) become the first team to clinch a berth in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, their fourth consecutive postseason appearance and 11th in franchise history.

* Sissons recorded his first multi-goal game since scoring a hat trick in a Game 6 victory over the Ducks in the 2017 Conference Finals, propelling the Predators to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history.

* The Predators opened a four-point lead atop the NHL standings as they pursue the first Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history. The highest Nashville has ever placed at the conclusion of a season is third in the Western Conference standings (2014-15: 47-25-10, 104 points).

* The Predators extended their overall point streak to 14 games (13-0-1), matching the longest in franchise history (9-0-5 in 2015-16). Only one team has posted a longer point streak this season: the Bruins from Dec. 16 – Jan. 25 (14-0-4).

* The Predators extended their road win and point streaks to eight and 14 games (11-0-3), respectively, both franchise records and the longest such runs in the NHL this season.

KANE MATCHES SHARKS RECORD WITH FOUR-GOAL NIGHT

In his eighth game with the Sharks, Evander Kane scored a career-high four goals to match the franchise record for most in a game.

* Kane, who was acquired by San Jose on Feb. 26, became the fourth player to score four goals in a game this season, joining Alex Ovechkin (Oct. 7), Patrice Bergeron (Jan. 6) and Connor McDavid (Feb. 5). Prior to Friday, Kane had never scored more than two goals in a game (564 GP).

* In fact, Kane became just the fourth player in the last 15 years (since 2002-03) to score at least four goals in a game within his first 10 outings with a team, joining Dany Heatley (9 GP: 2005-06 w/ OTT), Tomas Hertl (3 GP: 2013-14 w/ SJS) and Auston Matthews (1 GP: 2016-17 w/ TOR).

* The Sharks (39-23-9, 87 points), who matched a season high with seven goals, earned their third consecutive win and sit second in the Pacific Division standings.

* Friday marked the 58th instance in 2017-18 of a team scoring at least seven goals in a game, the third-most in one season over the past 21 years, behind 2005-06 (65) and 2006-07 (62).

ZUCKER SHINES IN FIRST HOMETOWN APPEARANCE

Making his first NHL appearance in his hometown of Las Vegas, Wild forward Jason Zucker collected 1-1—2 to help Minnesota improve to 4-2-0 in their last six games. At 40-24-7 (87 points), the Wild sit in third place in the Central Division.

* Zucker has established single-season career highs in goals, assists and points with 29-27—56 in 2017-18 (71 GP) and is one goal shy of becoming the second Minnesota player to reach the 30-goal mark this season (Eric Staal: 37). The Wild have had multiple 30-goal scorers in a season on only three occasions – Marian Gaborik and BrianRolston combined for the feat in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.

HOLTBY REACHES 30-WIN MARK, CAPITALS HONOR OVECHKIN

Six different skaters scored and Braden Holtby made 22 saves as the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals (41-23-7, 89 points) extended their win streak to four games.

* Holtby improved to 30-15-4 in 2017-18 (3.03 GAA, .906 SV%) and reached the 30-win mark for the fourth consecutive season. He leads the NHL with 161 regular-season wins since the beginning of the 2014-15 campaign, 16 more than the next-closest goaltender in that span (Pekka Rinne: 145).

* ICYMI: The Capitals honored Alex Ovechkin (0-1—1) for recently reaching the 600-goal milestone. Click on the photo below to watch the entire pre-game ceremony.

DUCKS REMAIN HOT AT HOME

Corey Perry scored the go-ahead goal in the second period as the Ducks (36-24-12, 84 points) improved to 9-1-2 in their last 12 home games. Anaheim moved into a tie with Los Angeles (39-26-6, 84 points) for the third-most points in the Pacific Division; the Kings, however, hold a game in hand.

* Perry scored his first game-winning goal of the season and 63rd of his NHL career (all w/ ANA). Only Teemu Selanne (77) has scored more such goals in franchise history.

MacKINNON, BARRIE EXTEND POINT STREAKS

Avalanche teammates Nathan MacKinnon (1-0—1) and Tyson Barrie (0-1—1) each found the score sheet to extend their respective point streaks.

* MacKinnon scored his 11th goal in the last 11 contests to extend his point streak to 11 games (11-10—21). MacKinnon (36-50—86 in 63 GP) moved into a tie with Connor McDavid (33-53—86 in 70 GP) for the third-most points in the NHL this season.

* Barrie, meanwhile, collected an assist to extend his career-high point streak to nine games (4-8—12). Only one defenseman in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history has recorded a longer point streak: Steve Duchesne in 1992-93 (15 GP w/ QUE).

QUICK CLICKS

· Patrik Laine making magic for Jets, thanks to line juggling (via Tim Campbell)

· Maple Leafs holding their own with Auston Matthews, Frederik Andersen out (via Mike Zeisberger)

· Evander Kane hitting it off with Sharks after trade from Sabres (via Amalie Benjamin)

· Pekka Rinne, Scott Hartnell show up for Predators fan's 95th birthday party

SNEAK PEEK AT SATURAY’S ACTION

NBC Sports Channel Finder | Sportsnet Channel Finder | NHL Network Channel Finder

BLUE JACKETS LOOK TO PUSH WIN STREAK TO SEVEN

The Blue Jackets (38-28-5, 81 points) – who hold the first Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference – look to push their winning streak to a season high seven games when they host the Senators at Nationwide Arena. Columbus’ current run is its second six-game win streak of the season, joining Philadelphia (6-0-0 from Dec. 4–16 and Feb. 16–26) as the only teams to record two winning streaks of at least six games this season. In 2016-17, the Blue Jackets posted a franchise record 16-game winning streak (16-0-0 from Nov. 29 – Jan. 3, 2017) – the second longest in NHL history.

ATLANTIC DIVISION’S TOP TEAMS FACE OFF IN TAMPA

The top two teams in the Atlantic Division meet in Tampa when the first place Lightning (48-18-4, 100 points) host the second place Bruins (44-17-8, 96 points) at AMALIE Arena. Although both clubs are coming off a loss, Tampa Bay and Boston are amid successful 10-game stretches (TBL: 8-1-1; BOS: 7-3-0). This marks the second of four meetings between the teams this season – Boston won the first game 3-2 on Nov. 29 behind multi-point efforts from Charlie McAvoy (1-1—2) and Brad Marchand (0-2—2). The clubs will meet two more times following Saturday’s contest as they continue their battle for the division crown: March 29 in Boston and April 3 in Tampa.

the information above was supplied by the NHL PR department

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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