Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

04/12/2021 at 12:21am EDT

THREE HARD LAPS

* It's all coming up fours for Marc-Andre Fleury. He earned his 484th career win to move into a tie with Ed Belfour for fourth place on the NHL's all-time list.

* The Capitals scored eight goals in a game for the first time in over 10 years to defeat the Bruins at TD Garden.

* The 2021 NHL Trade Deadline is today at 3 p.m. ET. There have been 627 trades on deadline day since 1980 (1,152 players and 439 draft picks) – including 32 swaps in 2019-20. Click here for a year-by-year rundown of trade day activity since 1979-80.




FLEURY TIES BELFOUR ON ALL-TIME WINS LIST
Marc-Andre Fleury
earned his 484th career win and moved into a tie with Ed Belfour (963 GP) for fourth place on the NHL's all-time list as Vegas (27-11-2, 56 points) kept pace with Colorado (28-9-4, 60 points) in the Honda West Division. Fleury, the active leader in shutouts, also recorded the 66th of his career and moved into a tie with Patrick Roy for 15th place on the League’s all-time list.



CAPITALS ERUPT FOR EIGHT GOALS AT TD GARDEN
T.J. Oshie (2-1—3), Conor Sheary (2-0—2) and Lars Eller (2-0—2) each posted multi-goal games as the Capitals (27-11-4, 58 points) scored eight goals in a game for the first time this season and maintained their lead in the MassMutual East Division standings.



* The Capitals became the seventh team to score eight or more goals in a game this season and fifth in the month of April - only the Avalanche and Rangers have accomplished the feat multiple times in 2020-21 (both w/ 3). Sunday’s outing also marked the first time Washington scored at least eight goals in a game since Jan. 9, 2010 (8-1 W at ATL).

* Washington, who moved into a tie with Toronto and Winnipeg (all w/ 14) for the most road wins this season, is averaging an NHL-best 3.50 goals for per game played as the visitors. Only one season in the last 25 years has concluded with the Capitals scoring at this rate or better on the road: 2009-10 (3.83 GF/GP).

* Rookie VitekVanecek made 34 saves to improve to 17-7-3 in 2020-21 (2.60 GAA, .913 SV%, 1 SO) and sits tied for fifth in wins this season. Only three rookie netminders in Capitals history have recorded more than 16 victories in a single season.



MacKINNON, LANDESKOG HELP AVALANCHE REACH 60-POINT MARK
Nathan MacKinnon (1-1—2) extended the NHL’s longest active point streak to nine games and captain Gabriel Landeskog (1-2—3) collected his 500th career point as the Avalanche (28-9-4, 60 points) became the first team to collect 60 standings points in 2020-21.

* MacKinnon has collected 6-9—15 over his nine-game point streak dating to March 27, with his 15 points over that span tied with Toronto’s Auston Matthews (10-5—15 in 8 GP) for the most among all players. The Avalanche forward is averaging 1.35 points per game in 2020-21 (16-34—50 in 37 GP) - tied for the highest average of his career first accomplished in 2019-20 (35-58—93 in 69 GP; 1.35).

* Landeskog (214-286—500) became the eighth player to collect 500 points with the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise and just the second from the 2011 NHL Draft, joining Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (221-326—547).



* Colorado, which matched the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise mark for fewest games to reach 60 points in a single season (also 41 GP in 1994-95), required the fewest by any team since Tampa Bay in 2018-19 (38 GP) – en route to its 62-win campaign.

ISLANDERS, PENGUINS KEEP PACE IN TIGHTLY-CONTESTED MASSMUTUAL EAST
The Islanders (27-11-4, 58 points) and Penguins (27-13-2, 56 points) each earned two points on Sunday to maintain second and third place in the MassMutual East Division standings.

* After Kyle Palmieri scored his first goal with the Islanders in regulation and Ryan Pulock netted his third career overtime winner, Ilya Sorokin (24 saves) improved to 8-0-0 in his first eight appearances at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in 2020-21. Only five rookie goaltenders in NHL history have recorded a longer home win streak.



* Jake Guentzel (3-0—3) scored his third career hat trick as the Penguins netted at least five goals for the fourth time in five games. Guentzel, who also has two playoff hat tricks on his resume, reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth straight season and extended his point streak against the Devils to six games (6-4—10 in 6 GP). His career numbers against New Jersey (10-10—20 in 18 GP) are his highest total against any team.

QUICK CLICKS

* Canucks facility closed at least another day with new player in protocol
* Michael McCarron of Predators suspended two games
* Maple Leafs acquire Nick Foligno from Blue Jackets
* Foligno shares emotional goodbye to Blue Jackets after trade
* Henrik Lundqvist won't play for Capitals this season after open-heart surgery

MAPLE LEAFS ENTER MONDAY 9-0-1 IN THEIR LAST 10 GAMES
The Maple Leafs (28-10-3, 59 points), with points in each of their last 10 games dating to March 20, eye their seventh consecutive win when they take to the ice against the Canadiens (17-12-9, 43 points) at Bell Centre tonight.



* Auston Matthews (31 in 38 GP) scored his third career hat trick in Saturday’s victory over the Senators and now holds an eight-goal edge over Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen (23 in 41 GP) and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (23 in 42 GP) in the 2020-21 Maurice “Rocket” Richard race. The last player to win the “Rocket” with as high a margin as Matthews currently holds was Alex Ovechkin (53) over Steven Stamkos (43) in 2014-15.

* Toronto is one of four teams to record a point streak of at least 10 games this season, joining Colorado (15 GP from March 10 – April 5), NY Islanders (Feb. 22 – March 14) and Boston (Jan. 21 – Feb. 12).

TROCHEK, BROWN LOOK TO EXTEND STRINGS OF SUCCESS
Carolina’s Vincent Trocheck and Ottawa’s Connor Brown each enter tonight’s action against the Red Wings and Jets, respectively, with streaks of seven games.

* Trocheck, whose seven-game point streak is the longest of his career, has also collected at least one point in each of his last 13 appearances dating to Feb. 27 and can join Dougie Hamilton as the second Hurricanes player to post 14 consecutive appearances with a point this season.

* The 2020-21 campaign can be the fourth season in 15 years to feature two teammates each post a run of at least that length: 2019-20 (Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov: 19 GP & Steven Stamkos: 15 GP), 2007-08 (Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby: 19 GP & Evgeni Malkin: 15 GP) and 2006-07 (Ottawa’s Dany Heatley: 16 GP & Jason Spezza: 15 GP).



* Brown established the longest goal streak in Senators history when he scored against his former club on Saturday. Should he find the back of the net again tonight, it would mark the NHL’s longest such run since Washington’s Mike Green recorded the longest goal streak by a defenseman in League history (8 GP in 2008-09).

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.

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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.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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