THREE HARD LAPS: QUICK HITS FROM THURSDAY

* The Lightning registered their fourth win streak of at least seven games to inch closer to rewriting NHL history.

* The Canadiens and Avalanche each stifled their opponents to move into the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, respectively.

* Patrice Bergeron reached the 30-goal mark for the fifth time in his career as the Bruins moved within one point of their second consecutive 100-point campaign.

LIGHTNING COLLECT ANOTHER WIN, INCH CLOSER TO NHL HISTORY
The League-leading Lightning (58-13-4, 120 points) scored six goals, including four unanswered in the final frame, to join the 1983-84 Oilers as the second team in NHL history to post four separate winning streaks of seven or more games in a season. Edmonton won the first of its five Stanley Cups that season.

* With seven games remaining, Tampa Bay sits five victories shy of establishing the NHL record for wins in a season. Of the five other teams to win at least 58 games, three went on to capture the Stanley Cup.

* Tampa Bay improved to 27-7-2 as visitors to move within five of setting the NHL record for road wins in a season. In order to accomplish the feat, the Lightning will need to win their five remaining road games against the Blues (Saturday), Senators (April 1), Canadiens (April 2), Maple Leafs (April 4) and Bruins (April 6).

* Yet another franchise record fell Thursday as the Lightning concluded the game with 298 goals in 2018-19 (including six shootout-deciding tallies), the highest single-season total in franchise history (296 in 2017-18). The last NHL team to score 300 or more goals in a season (including shootout-deciding goals) was the 2009-10 Capitals (318).

* Nikita Kucherov (0-1—1) found the score sheet for the sixth time in seven contests to reach the 120-point mark (37-83—120), tied for the second-most points in a season by a Russian player. Kucherov is the first player in 20 years to record 120 points in 75 or fewer games and fifth since 1993-94.

* Jon Cooper became the 49th head coach in NHL history to reach the 300-win milestone (300-156-44). Cooper, who debuted behind the Lightningbench on March 29, 2013, joined Bruce Boudreau (301-138-61) as the second head coach to have at least 300 career wins through 500 regular-season games.

NEW ENTRANTS INTO PLAYOFF PICTURE IN BOTH CONFERENCES
The Canadiens (39-28-7, 85 points) and Avalanche (33-29-12, 78 points) each climbed into playoff positions, while the Flyers (36-30-8, 80 points) and Panthers (33-29-12, 78 points) each skated to victories Thursday to benefit their chances of a trip to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* Carey Price turned aside all 28 shots he faced to record his 44th career regular-season shutout, helping the Canadiens overtake the Blue Jackets (40-30-4, 84 points) for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. Price needs two shutouts to tie Ken Dryden for third place on the Canadiens’ all-time list.

* Tyson Barrie scored his 72nd career goal (all w/ COL) to tie Sandis Ozolinsh for the most by a defenseman in franchise history and help the Avalanche leapfrog the Coyotes (36-32-6, 78 points) into the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Colorado owns the goal differential tiebreaker against Arizona ahead of their season series finale next Friday (COL: 1-1-0, ARI: 1-1-0). The Avalanche allowed no more than one goal for a third consecutive game, highlighted by back-to-back 3-1 wins against a pair of Central Division rivals in the Wild (34-31-9, 77 points) and Stars (38-30-6, 82 points) - teams also in the midst of the Western Conference playoff race.

* Carter Hart (40 saves) registered his fourth 40-save victory of the season to help the Flyers keep pace with the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Hart joined Patrick Lalime (4x in 1996-97) as just the second rookie netminder since 1955-56 to record four 40-save wins in a single season.

* Jonathan Huberdeau (23-59—82 in 74 GP) collected three assists to join teammate Aleksander Barkov (34-53—87 in 74 GP) as the second Panthers player to reach the 80-point mark in 2018-19. It marks the first season in franchise history in which two players each recorded as many points.

BERGERON PROPELS BRUINS WITH 30TH GOAL
Patrice Bergeron (2-1—3) and Brad Marchand (0-3—3) each posted three points as the Bruins (45-20-9, 99 points) scored five goals for the second time in as many games en route to their third straight victory. Boston will aim to reach the 100-point mark in consecutive seasons for just the second time in the last 27 years – they hit triple digits in 2010-11 (103 points) and 2011-12 (102 points).

* Bergeron reached the 30-goal mark for the fifth time in his career and second in as many seasons. He became the fourth player to record at least three 30-goal seasons for the Bruins after age 30, joining Johnny Bucyk (7x), Phil Esposito (4x) and Rick Middleton (3x).

* Meanwhile, Marchand reached the 90-point mark for the first time in his career (31-59—90 in 73 GP). He is just the fifth Bruins player since 1996-97 to record at least 90 points in a season, joining Marc Savard, Glen Murray, Joe Thornton and Jason Allison.

BARBASHEV NETS BLUES’ SECOND HAT TRICK IN AS MANY OUTINGS

Ivan Barbashev netted his first career hat trick to propel the Blues (39-27-8, 86 points) to their third win in four contests, gaining a point on the second-place Predators (42-27-6, 90 points) in their push to climb the Central Division standings. St. Louis owns a game in hand on Nashville and won their head-to-head season series (STL: 4-1-0, NSH: 1-3-1).

* Barbashev registered the Blues’ second hat trick in as many outings after Jaden Schwartz recorded a three-goal performance against the Oilers on March 19. It marked the 10th instance in franchise history that St. Louis players registered hat tricks in consecutive games (last: T.J. Oshie and David Backes on Jan. 3, 2015 and Jan. 6, 2015 respectively).

* There have been 88 hat tricks thus far in 2018-19, already the most in one season since 2000-01 when there were a total of 93.

FLAMES, COYOTES CONTINUE SHORTHANDED SUCCESS
The Flames (46-21-7, 99 points) and Coyotes (36-32-6, 78 points) each continued their offensive success while shorthanded:

* Mark Giordano opened the scoring for the Flames and became the first defenseman to score four shorthanded goals in a season since Nicklas Lidstrom in 1999-00 (also four). Giordano’s tally marked Calgary’s 18th shorthanded goal of 2018-19, which trails only their 1987-88 campaign (23) for the most in a season in franchise history.

* Michael Grabner opened the scoring with his sixth shorthanded goal of the season as the Coyotes netted their 16th such goal of 2018-19 to establish a franchise record for most in a season, passing the previous benchmark set by the original Winnipeg Jets in 1988-89.

QUICK CLICKS

* Global Series games announced: PHI vs. CHI in Prague; BUF vs. TBL in Stockholm

* Rasmus Dahlin, Sabres to play Victor Hedman, Lightning in Sweden for Global Series

* Global Series in Prague excites Blackhawks, Flyers

* Timo Meier fined for actions in Sharks game against Predators

* Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau suspended one game for boarding

SNEAK PEEK AT FRIDAY’S ACTION

OVECHKIN PURSUES ANOTHER 50-GOAL SEASON AGAINST WILD

Leading the League in goals for nearly two-thirds of the season to date, Alex Ovechkin sits two goals shy of his eighth 50-goal season as theCapitals enter their final eight games of 2018-19. Ovechkin has tallied 15-11—26 in 15 career games against the Wild, his best goals-per-game average against any opponent (1.00).

* The League’s leading goal scorer enters Friday’s contest with at least one point in each of his last 13 games played against the Wild dating to Nov. 24, 2008 (15-10—25), the second-longest active stretch against one opponent (Blake Wheeler: 6-15—21 in 15 GP vs. TBL).

* Ovechkin needs one goal to tie Brendan Shanahan for 13th on the NHL’s career regular-season goals list and to pass him into sole possession of 13th place for career goals, including playoffs. A power-play goal would also propel him ahead of Phil Esposito up the NHL’s career list.

* Should he hit the 50-goal mark, Ovechkin (33 years, 186 days as of March 22) will become the third-oldest player in League history to score 50 goals in a season, behind Johnny Bucyk in 1970-71 with the Bruins (35 years, 308 days) and Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06 with the Rangers (34 years, 37 days).

the above information was supplied by the NHL PR department