Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

12/13/2018 at 8:12am EST

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

Vegas 3, NY ISLANDERS 2

CHICAGO 6, Pittsburgh 3

CALGARY 6, Philadelphia 5 (OT)

ANAHEIM 6, Dallas 3

NHL Morning Skate – Dec. 13, 2018

QUICK HITS: COMEBACKS, HAT TRICKS ABOUND ON HIGH-SCORING WEDNESDAY

A total of 34 goals were scored across four games Wednesday, an average of 8.5 per game, highlighted by a pair of two-goal comeback wins, two hat tricks and two captains hitting milestones:

* The Flames recorded the 28th instance in NHL history of a team overcoming a multi-goal deficit in the final two minutes of regulation to win in any fashion.

* Bryan Rust and Ondrej Kase brought the total number of hat tricks this season to 40, as the League featured its fourth-straight day with at least one three-goal performance.

* Captains Ryan Getzlaf and Jonathan Toews each played crucial roles in victories while reaching the 900 and 700-point milestones, respectively.

MONAHAN, GAUDREAU AND TKACHUK LIFT FLAMES IN FRANTIC FINISH

The trio of Sean Monahan (2-1—3), Johnny Gaudreau (1-2—3) and Matthew Tkachuk (0-4—4) ignited the offense as the Flames (20-10-2, 42 points) rallied from a multi-goal deficit in the final two minutes of regulation - scoring three goals in a span of 1:43 - to defeat the Flyers and reclaim first place in the Western Conference.

* Calgary moved into the top spot in the Western Conference Saturday but fell behind Nashville following Tuesday’s games. This marks the first season with a full-length schedule that the Flames have held first place in the conference past Dec. 1 since 1992-93, when they last held first place in the West on Jan. 5, 1993 (25-11-4, 54 points).

* The club required the second-fewest games to reach the 20-win mark in franchise history (32 GP). The Flames set a club record with 20 wins in only 28 games in 1988-89 en route to claiming their second Presidents’ Trophy and first Stanley Cup.

* Monahan collected the NHL’s third game-tying goal in the final 10 seconds of regulation this season to become the second player in Flamesfranchise history to record 20 or more goals in each of his first six NHL seasons. Monahan, however, is the first to do so immediately following his draft year, as Kent Nilsson posted an equal run of 20-goal seasons from 1979-80 to 1984-85, making his League debut more than three years after being drafted in 1976.

* In fact, only four other Flames players have strung together six or more consecutive 20-goal seasons at any point of their career: Jarome Iginla(13), Theo Fleury (10), Joe Nieuwendyk (8) and Gary Roberts (6).

* Gaudreau, who has led the Flames in points in each of the past three campaigns, scored 35 seconds into overtime to boost his team-leading stat line to 13-29—42 this season (32 GP). He is one of only three players selected outside the first two rounds of an NHL Draft to currently lead his team in scoring.



* Tkachuk posted his third four-point outing of the season and second with four assists - the only player to do so in 2018-19. Last season, Mathew Barzal (NYI) and Artemi Panarin (CBJ) were the only players to post multiple four-assist performances (two each).


INSIDE THE NUMBERS: CALGARY’S MULTI-GOAL COMEBACK
Calgary’s victory marked the 28th time in NHL history that a team won a game in which they trailed by multiple goals in the final two minutes of regulation. It was the third time the Flames have achieved the feat, following similar comebacks in back-to-back seasons, on March 13, 1999 at WSH and Nov. 3, 1999 vs. NSH.

* Did You Know? The first such occurrence in the NHL's modern era (since 1943-44) came on Jan. 18, 1984 when the original Jets rallied past the Penguins. The next such rally came less than one year later when Pittsburgh returned the favor against Winnipeg on Nov. 14, 1984, with Mario Lemieux scoring in overtime of that contest. It was the third goal of Lemieux’s NHL career, his first game-winning goal in his 14th career game, and marked the start of a 12-game point streak for "Le Magnifique,” who finished his first season with 43-57—100 (73 GP).

* Pittsburgh is the only other team in NHL history to accomplish this feat on three separate occasions. Lemieux also scored in overtime of their second such win on Jan. 22, 1996 vs. BOS, while Sidney Crosby netted the tying goal and shootout winner on Jan. 7, 2014 at VAN.

* Only once in the League’s modern era has a team won in regulation after trailing by multiple goals in the final two minutes of the third period. The Stars turned a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 victory with three goals in a span of 44 seconds in the final 49 seconds on Oct. 14, 1995 vs. BOS.

* Calgary and Anaheim posted the 66th and 67th instances of a team overcoming a multi-goal deficit to win a game in any fashion this season, while the Flames’ multi-goal third-period comeback marked the 21st such instance of 2018-19.

CAPTAINS POST MILESTONE NIGHTS IN HOME VICTORIES

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf (0-2—2) and Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews (1-1—2) each posted multi-point outings to reach career milestones Wednesday:

* Getzlaf (255-646—901 in 944 GP) became the 112th player in League history - and eighth active NHLer - to record 900 career points. He joinedTeemu Selanne (457-531—988 in 966 GP) as the only players to accumulate 900 points for the Ducks franchise, achieving the feat seven years and two days after Selanne hit the mark in his 803rd game with Anaheim on Dec. 10, 2011 in Nashville.


* Toews boosted his career total to 306-394—700 to become the seventh player to accumulate at least Blackhawks and the 16th active player to hit the mark all with the same franchise. He joined teammate Patrick Kane (327-538—865) as just the second active Chicago skater to reach the milestone, making the Blackhawks one of five teams with two currentplayers who each have compiled at least 700 points with the franchise.


WEDNESDAY MARKED FOURTH STRAIGHT DAY WITH A HAT TRICK

Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust posted his second career three-goal performance while Anaheim’s Ondrej Kase had his first, marking the 39th and 40th hat tricks of the season.

* With less than 40% of games played (478 of 1,271, 37.6%), NHL players have combined for nearly half the total number of hat tricks scored in 2017-18 (81 in 1,271 GP).

* Rust became the fifth Pittsburgh player to record a hat trick in 2018-19, the most by any club. This marks the sixth time that Penguins players scored at least five hat tricks in the team’s first 30 games of the season - the last time was in 2008-09 en route to the club clinching its third Stanley Cup (Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Petr Sykora and Pascal Dupuis). That also marked the last season in which any team scored at least five hat tricks in their first 30 games.

* Kase tallied one goal per period for the Ducks’ second hat trick of the season (also Cam Fowler on Nov. 4), matching the club’s total from last season. The last time the Ducks had three hat tricks in one campaign was 2014-15 when Corey Perry tallied all three to match a franchise record for most in one season by a player, a feat first achieved by Teemu Selanne in 1997-98 and also by Perry in 2010-11.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS EARN ANOTHER WIN TO CLIMB WEST STANDINGS
Jonathan Marchessault was one of three different Golden Knights players to find the back of the net as the club improved to 11-4-0 in their last 15 contests dating to Nov. 12. Their 11 victories are the most by any Western Conference club over that span and trail only the Lightning (12-3-0) for the most in the past month. Vegas now has at least one win against every NHL club.

* Marchessault (39-60—99) netted his team-leading 12th goal of the season just 34 seconds into the contest and now sits one point shy of joiningWilliam Karlsson (54-48—102) as the second player to record at least 100 points with the franchise.

QUICK CLICKS

* NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman inducted into Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame

* Jim Johannson remembered at U.S. Hall of Fame induction ceremony
* Weezer to headline entertainment for Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium

* Steven Stamkos happy childhood friend John TavaresMaple Leafs

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION

LIGHTNING RIDE SEVEN-GAME STREAK INTO SHOWDOWN WITH MAPLE LEAFS

The top two teams in the Eastern Conference, both of whom reside in the Atlantic Division, will clash for the first time this season when the No. 1 Lightning (24-7-1, 49 points) host the No.2 Maple Leafs (23-9-1, 43 points) at Amalie Arena. The Lightning (130) and Maple Leafs (113; tied) also rank No. 1 and No. 2 in goals for this season (including shootout-deciding goals).

* Tampa Bay enters the contest on a seven-game winning streak, the League’s longest active run. They have only recorded a winning streak of more than seven games twice in franchise history: 2015-16 (9-0-0 from Feb. 18 - Mar. 5, 2016) and 2003-04 (8-0-0 from Feb. 23 - Mar. 6, 2004).

* Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews has recorded a point in six consecutive games since returning from injury on Nov. 28 (6-5—11 in 6 GP), including three multi-point performances. Overall, he is averaging 1.59 points per game in 2018-19 (16-11—27 in 17 GP), second only to NHL points leader Mikko Rantanen (1.68 P/GP).

OILERS AIM FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN, McDAVID FOR 300 POINTS

The Oilers look to earn their first five-game winning streak since the 2016-17 season (5-0-0 from Mar. 23 – Apr. 1, 2017) when they visit the Jets at Bell MTS Place. Edmonton has won four games in a row and seven of its last eight overall. The Jets, meanwhile, have won six of their last seven contests including back-to-back victories while scoring six or more goals (7-1 W vs. PHI on Dec. 9 and 6-3 W vs. CHI on Dec. 11).

* Connor McDavid has recorded a point in each of his last six appearances dating to Nov. 29 (4-6—10) and now sits one shy of the 300-point milestone (104-195—299 in 239 GP). At 21 years of age, McDavid can become the ninth player to reach 300 points before his 22nd birthday. Wayne Gretzky was the youngest to 300 points (20 years, 68 days), followed by Sidney Crosby (21 years, 72 days), the only active player to accomplish the feat before age 22.

information above was supplied by the NHL PR department

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