Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

04/15/2021 at 5:22am EDT

THREE HARD LAPS

* Marc-Andre Fleury earned his 485th career win and now trails only Martin Brodeur (691), Patrick Roy (551) and Roberto Luongo (489) for the most in NHL history.

* Mark Giordano led the Flames past the Canadiens in a crucial Scotia North Division clash, with the two clubs set to go head-to-head four more times before the end of the month.

* The NHL entered the Final Quarter of the 2020-21 season at the completion of Wednesday’s third game. Click here for a collection of NHL Stats as the League prepares for the race to the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.




FLEURY PASSES BELFOUR FOR FOURTH PLACE ON ALL-TIME WINS LIST
Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (20 saves) earned his 485th career win and passed Ed Belfour (484) for sole possession of fourth place on the NHL’s all-time list.



* Fleury (876 GP), who owned a career record of 56-57-17 at the time Belfour recorded win No. 484 on April 6, 2007, required 87 fewer games to collect his 485th win than Belfour needed to reach his mark (963 GP).

* Fleury (w/ PIT) and Belfour (w/ TOR & FLA) went head-to-head twice in their careers, both in the regular season (Nov. 4, 2003 and Jan. 30, 2007), with each goaltender earning one win.

* The four winningest goaltenders in NHL history were born in Quebec. The last time the four goaltenders with the most career regular-season wins were all born in the same Canadian province at the conclusion of a campaign was 1932-33, when Ontario-born netminders John RossRoach (203), Clint Benedict (189), George Hainsworth (165) and Alec Connell (158) sat atop the League’s all-time list.

FLAMES BEAT CANADIENS TO CLOSE GAP IN SCOTIA NORTH. . .
Mark Giordano (1-1—2) scored his 23rd career game-winning goal to help the Flames (19-21-3, 41 points) continue their chase for the final playoff spot in the Scotia North Division – a position the Canadiens (18-13-9, 45 points) have held since Feb. 19. Calgary is set to play Montreal four more times in the next 11 days (April 16, 23, 24 & 26).

* Giordano’s game winner eclipsed Al MacInnis (22) for the most among defensemen in Flames franchise history. It also marked the 37-year-old captain’s second game-winning goal of the season (also March 19), joining Craig Conroy (3x) as just the second player in franchise history to score multiple such tallies at age 37 or older.



. . . WHILE JETS EARN NHL-BEST 15TH ROAD WIN
Nikolaj Ehlers collected an assist on Mark Scheifele’s game-opening goal to record his 300th career point (133-167—300 in 412 GP) and help the Jets (26-14-3, 55 points) earn their NHL-leading 15th road win. Among players to debut with the franchise, he became the fifth in Jets/Thrashers history to reach the mark, joining Ilya Kovalchuk, Scheifele, Bryan Little and Toby Enstrom. Scheifele has factored on 77 of Ehlers’ 300 career points – the most among all teammates en route to the benchmark.



DUBNYK WINS DEBUT WITH AVALANCHE AS COLORADO SETS FRANCHISE MARK
While Mikko Rantanen (1-1—2) and Nathan MacKinnon (0-1—1) pushed their point streaks to six and 11 games, respectively, Devan Dubnyk (31 saves) backstopped the Avalanche to their 30th win of 2020-21 in his team debut. Colorado (43 GP) required the fewest games in franchise history to collect 30 victories in a season, besting 2013-14 and 2000-01 (47 GP).



* Dubnyk became the 11th goaltender in Avalanche team history to win his debut with the club, while his 31 saves were the third most among the 10 previous instances behind Adam Werner (40 on Nov. 12, 2019) and Craig Anderson (38 on Oct. 1, 2009).

* Twenty-four-year-old Rantanen scored his 26th goal of the season and now sits six behind 23-year-old Auston Matthews (32) in the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race. The 2020-21 campaign can be the ninth in NHL history, and fifth in the last 30 years, to conclude with the top two goal scorers 24 or younger (2009-10, 2008-09, 2007-08 & 1992-93).

QUICK CLICKS

* Golden Knights-Sharks game April 23 rescheduled to May 10
* Scotiabank fan vote open for 32nd virtual Gaming World Championship name
* Canucks to have first practice after COVID-19 pause, then play Oilers
* Donald Conaway named Future Goals Most Valuable Teacher for March
* Mats Zuccarello, Wild top Coyotes in Antti Raanta’s return


BACKSTROM SET TO APPEAR IN 1,000TH CAREER GAME
Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom (257-714—971 in 999 GP) is set to skate in his 1,000th career game when the MassMutual East Division-leading Capitals host the Sabres at Capital One Arena.



* Backstrom would join longtime teammate Alex Ovechkin (1,191 GP) as just the second player in Capitals history to appear in 1,000 career games with the franchise. Additionally, he would be the NHL’s eighth player to skate in the milestone contest in 2020-21 and third in four days: Jordan Staal (April 12 w/ CAR) and Milan Lucic (April 13 w/ CGY).

KLINGBERG, ROBERTSON EYE 30TH POINTS AS STARS CONTINUE PLAYOFF PUSH
John Klingberg
(6-21—27 in 40 GP) and Jason Robertson (12-17—29 in 36 GP) set their sights on their 30th point of 2020-21 when the Stars (15-14-12, 42 points) host the Blue Jackets (15-20-9, 39 points). Dallas sits seven points back of Nashville (24-19-1, 49 points), who also play tonight, for fourth in the Discover Central Division – the former holds three games in hand.



* Klingberg collected at least 30 points in each of his first six career seasons dating to 2014-15. He can join Sergei Zubov (11: 1996-97 to 2007-08) and Darryl Sydor (7: 1996-97 to 2002-03) as just the third defenseman in Stars/North Stars history to accomplish the feat in at least seven consecutive campaigns.

* Robertson has recorded 5-2—7 since April 1 (8 GP) and can join Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov (16-19—35) as the NHL’s second rookie to reach the 30-point mark in 2020-21. Should Robertson find the score sheet tonight, he would require the fewest games by a Stars rookie to reach the benchmark in a single season. The franchise mark is 29 games, set by Neal Broten in 1981-82 with the North Stars.

MARNER SETS SIGHTS ON ANOTHER 40-ASSIST SEASON
Mitch Marner (14-39—53) sits tied with Auston Matthews (32-21—53) for the Maple Leafs lead in points this season and is one assist shy of joining Oilers captain Connor McDavid (23-46—69) and Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane (14-40—54) as the NHL’s third player to collect 40 helpers in 2020-21.



* After he posted 51 assists in 59 games in 2019-20, Marner can become just the fifth active player to start their career with 40-plus assists in each of their first five or more NHL seasons. Alex Ovechkin (6 straight w/ WSH), Sidney Crosby (5 straight w/ PIT), Kane (5 straight w/ CHI) and Artemi Panarin (5 straight w/ CHI, CBJ & NYR) have all done so. Panarin can stretch his run to six consecutive seasons in 2020-21.

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.

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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.

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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