Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

01/03/2015 at 11:32am EST

PENGUINS OVERTAKE LIGHTNING FOR TOP SPOT IN EAST . . .
Five players registered multi-point performances – highlighted by 0-4—4 from Sidney Crosby – to power the Penguins to their ninth consecutive regular-season home victory against the Lightning dating to Nov. 12, 2010.

* With the win, the Penguins (24-9-5, 53 points) leapfrogged the Lightning (24-12-4, 52 points) for first place in the Eastern Conference.

* Crosby, who posted 0-5—5 on Nov. 8 at BUF, is the third player to record multiple four-point games this season, joining Jeff Carter and Vladimir Tarasenko. Per Elias, Crosby leads all players with 27 such performances since making his NHL debut in 2005-06; Joe Thornton ranks second with 20 such games in that span.

* Crosby now has collected four or more assists eight times in his career. Elias says that ranks second since 2005-06; Nicklas Backstrom paces all players with nine such performances in that span (though he didn’t make his NHL debut until 2007-08).

* Steve Downie (2-0—2), Andrew Ebbett (1-1—2), Evgeni Malkin (1-1—2) and Kris Letang (0-2—2) also recorded multiple points for the Penguins, who earned their second straight win following a four-game skid.

* Downie notched his first multi-goal game since Feb. 12, 2012, when he scored twice for the Lightning in a 4-2 loss to the Penguins. Celebrating his 32nd birthday, Ebbett registered his first goal and multi-point game since March 14, 2013 vs. NSH (1-2—3 w/ VAN).

* Christian Ehrhoff potted his third goal of the season, all of which have been game-winners. Since 2009-10, he leads all defensemen with 16 game-winning tallies.

* The Penguins picked up their 15th home victory of the season, tied for the most in the NHL (w/ TBL). They also improved to 11-1-2 against Atlantic Division opponents.

. . . ISLANDERS, CANADIENS STAY ON THEIR HEELS
The Islanders and Canadiens also earned wins on Friday to keep pace with the Penguins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

* John Tavares scored twice to lift the Islanders to their third straight victory and League-leading 26th win of the season. At 26-11-1 (53 points), the team is 15 games over .500 for the first time since Feb. 19, 1984 (37-22-2). Their 26 victories also match a franchise record through the first 38 games of any season, a mark set in 1978-79 (26-5-7).

* Tavares registered his 25th career multi-goal game and third of the season (also Nov. 5 at ANA and Dec. 27 at BUF). He paces the club with 17 goals. Linemate Kyle Okposo assisted on both markers. With 8-26—34 in 38 appearances, he shares the team lead in scoring (w/ Tavares: 17-17—34 in 38 GP).

* Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves to earn his seventh consecutive victory. He has a 1.68 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in that span and is the only goaltender with two winning streaks of at least seven games this season.

* Playing in his 400th NHL game, Carey Price made 22 saves to pick up his 200th career victory and backstop the Canadiens to their fifth straight win. With the victory, the Canadiens leapfrogged the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division; Montreal has played two fewer games, but Tampa Bay owns the ROW tiebreaker (TBL: 23, MTL: 20).

* Price is the fifth goaltender in Canadiens history to record at least 200 wins for the team, joining Jacques Plante (314), Patrick Roy (289), Ken Dryden (258) and Bill Durnan (208). Elias says only one other club has five goaltenders with at least 200 victories for the franchise: the Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist, Mike Richter, Ed Giacomin, Gump Worsley and John Vanbiesbrouck).

* Michael Bournival (2-0—2) found the back of the net for the first time since April 5, 2014, and registered his first career multi-goal game. P.K. Subban added three assists, matching a career high achieved five previous times (most recently March 15, 2014 vs. OTT).

BELESKEY (AGAIN) POWERS DUCKS
The Ducks surrendered a trio of one-goal leads, but Matt Beleskey scored the tiebreaking marker with 9:05 remaining in regulation to power the club to an 11-3-1 record in its past 15 outings.

* At 25-9-6 (56 points), the Ducks maintained the top spot in the NHL standings – three points ahead of both the Penguins (24-9-5, 53 points) and Islanders (26-11-1, 53 points).

* Beleskey (1-1—2) notched his team-leading 16th goal of the season, including his fifth game-winning tally. That is tied for the tops in the NHL with Patrick Kane, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Lars Eller. Beleskey also posted his 100th NHL point (51-50—101 in 304 GP).

* Ryan Getzlaf recorded his 13th goal of the season, moving into a share of third in the NHL in scoring (13-30—43 in 39 GP). He has points in nine of his past 10 outings, totaling 5-9—14 in that span.

* Ryan Kesler and Sami Vatanen each added two assists. They rank second and third on the team in points this season, compiling 12-17—29 and 9-17—26, respectively.

* Frederik Andersen matched a season high with 39 saves (also Oct. 14 at PHI) to pick up his 21st win, tied for second in the NHL with Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price. He owns an 11-2-1 record in his past 14 decisions.

* The Ducks extended their home winning streak against the Blues to nine games dating to Jan. 7, 2010. They also have won five of their last six overall meetings with St. Louis, including a three-game season sweep in 2013-14.

LUONGO, PANTHERS CONTINUE DOMINANCE OF SABRES
Roberto Luongo stopped all 30 shots he faced, including 12 in the final period, to earn his 68th career shutout (second this season) and lead the Panthers to their sixth win in their past seven meetings with the Sabres dating to Jan. 9, 2014 (6-0-1).

* At 17-10-9 (43 points), the Panthers moved within one point of the idle Rangers (20-11-4, 44 points) for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

* Luongo’s only other shutout this season also came against the Sabres, on Oct. 17 at BUF (26 saves). In fact, his last three shutouts all have come versus Buffalo (also March 7, 2014 vs. BUF: 25 saves).

* Luongo improved to 13-6-2 with a 1.75 goals-against average, .943 save percentage and five shutouts in 22 career appearances against the Sabres, including six straight wins. His five shutouts are tied for the most by any goaltender versus Buffalo (with Patrick Roy and Ron Tugnutt).

* With his performance, Luongo moved past Roy Worters and into sole possession of 13th place on the NHL’s all-time list for shutouts.

* Aaron Ekblad (5-16—21 in 36 GP) collected one assist to tie Ed Jovanovski’s franchise record for points by a rookie defenseman (10-11—21 in 70 GP in 1995-96).

* Fresh off signing a six-year contract extension, Nick Bjugstad scored his team-leading 14th goal and 22nd point of the season.

BRICK WALLS
The Wild, Avalanche and Hurricanes also recorded victories on Friday behind strong performances from their goaltenders:

* Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves to help the Wild snap a four-game skid at home (0-1-3). Including the playoffs, Kuemper is 19-7-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and three shutouts in 31 career appearances at Xcel Energy Center. Knotted at 1-1 midway through the third period, Jared Spurgeon scored the tiebreaking goal and Mikko Koivu (1-1—2) added an insurance marker. The Wild earned their second straight win against the Maple Leafs; they had three total victories in their first 11 all-time meetings.

* Semyon Varlamov recorded 27 saves – and denied both shootout attempts he faced – to lead the Avalanche to their fifth win in their past seven outings. Varlamov improved to 3-1-0 with a 1.68 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and one shutout in four appearances since returning from an injury on Dec. 23. Matt Duchene potted the decisive tally in the shootout, the seventh such goal of his career and second this season (also Nov. 6 vs. TOR), while Alex Tanguay added the clinching marker.

* Cam Ward stopped 23 shots, including nine in the final frame, to help the Hurricanes snap a three-game skid and pick up their fifth win in their last six meetings with the Flyers dating to Oct. 6, 2013. Eric Staal found the back of the net for the third straight contest, stretching his point streak to four games (3-1—4), while Brad Malone recorded his fifth career goal and first since April 13, 2014 (w/ COL).

LOOSE PUCKS
Victor Hedman (1-1—2) and Ondrej Palat (0-2—2) notched multi-point performances for the Lightning, who saw their winning streak end at four games . . . Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (1-1—2) recorded his League-leading 20th power-play point. He also ranks second among defensemen with 6-25—31 overall in 38 games this season . . . Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau posted his 13th goal of the season, moving within one of Predators forward Filip Forsberg for the lead among rookies . . . Devils forward Michael Ryder snapped a 21-game goal drought . . . Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot scored in his return from an 18-game absence . . . Flames forward Jiri Hudler posted one helper to stretch his assist/point streak to six games (0-8—8) . . . Penguins defenseman Nick Spaling registered his 100th NHL point . . . Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin played in his 200th NHL game . . . The Penguins acquired forward David Perron from the Oilers in exchange for forward Rob Klinkhammer and a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft . . . Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane and Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky were named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the month of December . . . Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for December.

SNEAK PEEK AT SATURDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Ottawa @ Boston, 1:00 p.m., TSN5, RDS, NESN
Nashville @ Los Angeles, 4:00 p.m., SN, SPSO, FS-W
Philadelphia @ New Jersey, 7:00 p.m., CSN-PH, MSG+
Buffalo @ NY Rangers, 7:00 p.m., MSG-B, MSG
Montreal @ Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m., CITY, TVA, ROOT
Toronto @ Winnipeg, 7:00 p.m., NHLN-US, CBC
Minnesota @ Dallas, 8:00 p.m., FS-N, FS-WI, FS-SW
Columbus @ Arizona, 8:00 p.m., FS-O, FS-A
Detroit @ Vancouver, 10:00 p.m., CBC, FS-D
St. Louis @ San Jose, 10:30 p.m., SN, FS-MW, CSN-CA
NBCSN Channel Finder
Sportsnet Channel Finder

FIVE GAMES HIGHLIGHT NATIONAL SCHEDULE
Five games highlight Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada schedule: the Kings, who went 1-1-1 on their recent three-game road trip, return home to play the Predators in a matinee at STAPLES Center; two of the top clubs in the Eastern Conference face off when the Canadiens visit the Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center; the Maple Leafs and Jets try to reverse their recent skids when they meet at MTS Centre (also on NHLN-US); the Red Wings, who are 6-0-2 in their last eight contests versus the Canucks, begin a six-game road swing at Rogers Arena; and the Blues continue to their four-game road trip when they visit the Sharks at SAP Center.

thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above

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