FOR THE 17TH CONSECUTIVE SEASON, OVECHKIN SCORES 20 GOALS
Alex Ovechkin (1-0—1) accomplished a number of noteworthy feats on Saturday:

* The Capitals captain became the seventh player in NHL history to record 20 goals in 17 consecutive seasons. Only two players posted a longer run: Gordie Howe (22) and Brendan Shanahan (19).

* Ovechkin (36 years, 78 days) required the fewest games by a player age 36 or older to reach 20 goals in a season, doing so in his 25th contest. The previous mark was held by Shanahan who was 37 years, 314 days at the time of his 20th tally in 2006-07 (27 GP).

* Ovechkin scored his 118th career game-winning goal, which tied Phil Esposito (118) for the third most on the NHL’s all-time list.

* Ovechkin (750-609—1,359 in 1,222 GP) became the second-fastest player in NHL history to score 750 goals (1,222 GP) behind only Wayne Gretzky (1,001 GP).

PANTHERS, WILD, RANGERS EARN NOTABLE WINS AT HOME
The Panthers, Wild and Rangers all secured wins in front of their fans Saturday, with the latter two teams each extending their win streak to six games – tied with the idle Stars for the longest active run in the NHL.

* Sam Reinhart recorded one of his team’s three tying tallies in regulation and scored the decisive goal in the shootout as League-leading Florida (17-4-3, 37 points) improved to 14-1-0 (28 points) at FLA Live Arena this season. The Panthers’ 14 home wins in 2021-22 are four more than the next-closest teams (TOR: 10-3-1, 21 points; MIN: 10-2-0, 20 points).



* Kirill Kaprizov (0-1—1) collected a point in his fifth consecutive contest (4-7—11) as the Wild withstood a three-goal Maple Leafs rally to earn a shootout victory. Minnesota, which leads the Central Division (17-6-1, 35 points), extended its win streak at Xcel Energy Center to six games, tied for the third longest in franchise history.



* Artemi Panarin (1-2—3) led the Rangers to their sixth straight win as New York improved to 8-0-0 at Madison Square Garden dating to Oct. 29. Saturday marked Panarin’s 51st career outing with three-plus points – since his NHL debut in 2015-16, only two players have recorded more such performances: Connor McDavid (78) and Leon Draisaitl (57).



GUENTZEL NETS HAT TRICK, CROSBY COLLECTS THREE POINTS
Jake Guentzel (3-1—4) scored his fourth career hat trick, became the first Penguins player to record a four-point outing this season and extended the NHL’s longest active point streak to 12 games, while captain Sidney Crosby tallied 1-2—3 to lead the Penguins to victory. Guentzel is currently averaging 1.90 points per game against Vancouver and has found the score sheet in each of his 10 contests against the club (12-7—19 in 10 GP).



* Guentzel extended his season-opening road point streak to 11 contests (10-6—16 in 11 GP) and matched the franchise mark previously set by teammate Evgeni Malkin (11 GP in 2008-09).

* Crosby, who has 2-7—9 through his last five outings, recorded his 153rd career three-plus point performance – 31 more than the next-closest active skater (Alex Ovechkin: 122).

SEIDER HEADLINES A BUSY NIGHT FOR NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
Over 45 different notes were featured in the latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates from Saturday, including Moritz Seider’s second overtime goal of 2021-22 and Tim Stützle’s third career three-point outing (2-1—3) – tied for the most in Senators history by a teenager.



FOLIGNOS RAISE AWARENESS, SUPPORT THROUGH JANIS FOLIGNO FOUNDATION
The Foligno family sat down with Sportsnet’s Donnovan Bennett to talk about raising awareness and support through the Janis Foligno Foundation – named in honor of their late mother and wife – which helps other families find support services in their fight against cancer.

* Click here to view the full video, which includes NHL alumnus Mike Foligno as well as his sons Nick and Marcus.



QUICK CLICKS

* Nikita Kucherov skates with Lightning for first time since surgery
* Alex Ovechkin scores 750th goal, Capitals share funny picture gaining on Jaromir Jagr
* Tony Granato's play, coaching forges path to U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame
* Dean Blais had long run of success on way U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame
* Blake Wheeler to play 1,000th NHL game when Jets host Maple Leafs

SIX-GAME SUNDAY TO WRAP UP THE EIGHTH WEEK OF THE 2021-22 SEASON
Sunday will feature five teams on the tail end of a back-to-back weekend and the Oilers (16-6-0, 32 points), who will aim to extend their home win streak to seven games when they welcome the Kings (9-9-4, 22 points) to Rogers Place.