Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

01/07/2015 at 11:02am EST

BACKES SCORES FOUR (IN A ROW) TO POWER BLUES
David Backes scored four consecutive goals – in a 17:00 span between the second and third periods – to power the Blues to their second straight win.

* Backes notched his third career hat trick and second career four-goal game (also April 2, 2009 at DET: 4-0—4). Per Elias, he is the second player in Blues history to register multiple four-goal performances, joining Brett Hull (April 16, 1995 vs. DET and Oct. 10, 1995 vs. EDM).

* Elias says Backes is the first player to post four consecutive goals in one game (for any team) since Nov. 11, 2005, when Ilya Kovalchuk did so for the Thrashers in a 5-2 win vs. TBL. The only other player to accomplish that feat in Blues history is Red Berenson, who scored five straight goals (an NHL record for one game) and six total in an 8-0 victory on Nov. 7, 1968 at PHI.

* Backes is the fifth Blues player to notch a hat trick this season, joining Vladimir Tarasenko (2), Jori Lehtera, T.J. Oshie and Jaden Schwartz. Via Elias, the Blues are the first team to have five different players record hat tricks in one season since the 2011-12 Oilers (Sam Gagner, Taylor Hall, Ales Hemsky, Ryan Jones and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins).

* The last time the Blues accomplished that feat was in 1984-85, when eight different players tallied hat tricks for the club (tied for an NHL record). The eight to do so: Dave Barr, Kevin LaVallee, Alain Lemieux, Joe Mullen, Jorgen Pettersson, Mark Reeds, Brian Sutter and Doug Wickenheiser.

* After being named the NHL’s First Star for the week ending Jan. 4, Oshie collected three assists to stretch his point streak to six games (5-6—11). He had 5-7—12 in his first 26 appearances of the season.

* Paul Stastny (1-1—2), Patrik Berglund (0-2—2) and Alexander Steen (0-2—2) also recorded multiple points for the Blues, who picked up their sixth straight win at Gila River Arena dating to Dec. 23, 2011.

* Brian Elliott stopped all 23 shots he faced to earn his 27th career shutout and second this season (also Oct. 16 at LAK: 18 saves). He leads the NHL with a 1.80 goals-against average and ranks third with a .933 save percentage in 17 appearances.


VLASIC (AGAIN) LIFTS SHARKS, THIS TIME IN OT
One night after recording the game-winning goal with 4.5 seconds remaining in regulation, Marc-Edouard Vlasic found the back of the net at 3:09 of overtime to lead the Sharks to their third victory in their past four outings.

* Per Elias, Vlasic is the third defenseman in Sharks history to register the winning goal in consecutive team games of one season. The others: Bill Houlder (March 1-3, 1999) and Marcus Ragnarsson (Oct. 27-31, 2001).

* Elias says only one other defenseman has scored winning goals (for any team) on back-to-back days over the past seven seasons: Eric Brewer, who did so for the Lightning on April 10-11, 2014.

* Vlasic posted his first career overtime goal and third game-winning marker of the season (40 GP); he had four such goals in 600 appearances prior to 2014-15.

* Joe Pavelski (1-1—2) and Brent Burns (0-2—2) added multi-point performances. Pavelski scored his 21st goal of the season, tied for fourth in the NHL, while Burns registered his 33rd point, which ranks third among defensemen.

* St. Paul, Minn., native Alex Stalock made 28 saves to improve to 5-4-1 in 11 appearances this season (2.33 GAA, .916 SV%, 1 SO). Earlier in 2014-15, he became the first Minnesota native ever to defeat the Wild, picking up a 2-1 on Dec. 11 at SAP Center (18 saves).

VARLAMOV UNBEATABLE IN AVALANCHE WIN
Semyon Varlamov denied all 54 shots he faced to earn his 16th career shutout (third this season) and backstop the Avalanche to their third win in their past four outings.

* Elias says Varlamov’s 54 saves are the most ever in a regular-season road shutout since the League officially began tracking shots on goal nearly 60 years ago. Only two goaltenders have recorded 54 or more saves in a home shutout in that span: Ben Scrivens (59 saves; Jan. 29, 2014 vs. SJS) and Mike Smith (54 saves; April 3, 2012 vs. CBJ).

* Varlamov’s 54 saves also set a career high (regardless of goals allowed), breaking his previous mark of 50 set in a 6-4 loss Feb. 16, 2013 at EDM.

* Varlamov improved to 8-3-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average, .945 save percentage and two shutouts in 12 career appearances versus the Blackhawks. That includes five straight wins dating to Dec. 27, 2013.

* Nathan MacKinnon posted 1-1—2, including his sixth career game-winning goal and first since Jan. 30, 2014 vs. MIN.

* The Avalanche picked up their third consecutive win at United Center dating to Jan. 14, 2014, and improved to 7-3-2 in their last 12 visits to Chicago dating to March 8, 2009.

JOHNSON, LIGHTNING MOVE INTO FIRST IN EAST
Down 1-0 after 20 minutes, the Lightning scored four consecutive goals in the second period – including a pair from Tyler Johnson – to defeat the Canadiens and move into first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.


* The Lightning picked up their sixth win in their past seven outings. They also improved to 5-0-1 in their last six regular-season meetings with the Canadiens dating to Nov. 11, 2013.

* Johnson registered his second straight multi-goal game, following 2-0—2 on Sunday at OTT. He leads the team and ranks third in the NHL with 17-28—45 in 41 appearances this season.

* Elias says Johnson is the fourth player in Lightning history to notch multi-goal performances in consecutive team road games of one season. The others: Denis Savard (Feb. 23-24, 1995), Petr Klima (Jan. 3-6, 1996) and Martin St. Louis (Feb. 27 – March 1, 2014).

* Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat both contributed two assists. Kucherov ranks second on the team (and tied for ninth in the NHL) with 17-24—41 in 42 outings this season, while Palat has 1-8—9 during a four-game point streak.

* Ben Bishop made 20 saves to pick up his fourth consecutive victory and reach the 20-win milestone for the second straight season. He also improved to 7-1-2 with a 1.50 goals-against average and .941 save percentage in 11 career appearances against the Canadiens.

ELIAS REACHES TWO MILESTONES IN DEVILS’ WIN
Patrik Elias posted 1-2—3, including his 600th career assist and 1,000th career point, to help the Devils string together a pair of wins for the first time since Nov. 11-14.

* Elias (399-601—1,000 in 1,187 GP) became the 80th player in NHL history to reach 600 assists and the 82nd to achieve 1,000 points.

* Only five other active players have recorded 1,000 points: Jaromir Jagr (1,780), Joe Thornton (1,227), Jarome Iginla (1,192), Marian Hossa (1,022) and Martin St. Louis (1,011).

* Elias has spent his entire career with the Devils. He is the first player in franchise history to reach 1,000 points and also is the club’s all-time leader in goals, assists, power-play goals (110), game-winning goals (79) and hat tricks (8).

* Elias recorded his 73rd career three-point game and first since March 20, 2014 vs. MIN (0-3—3).

* Of the previous 81 players to reach the 1,000-point milestone, the Elias Sports Bureau says only one also achieved a century mark in goals or assists in the same game: Jean Ratelle, whose 1,000th point also was his 600th assist (April 3, 1977 vs. TOR).


DATSYUK’S HEROICS PROPEL RED WINGS
Knotted at 2-2 late in the third period, Pavel Datsyuk scored the tiebreaking goal with 34.0 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Red Wings to their fourth victory in their past six outings.

* Datsyuk became the 12th player to post a game-winning goal in the final minute of regulation this season and the second to do so in as many nights:

2014-15 GWGs in Final Minute of Regulation
Tomas Plekanec (MTL): 19:17, Oct. 8 at TOR
Ryan Getzlaf (ANA): 19:36, Oct. 11 at DET
Daniel Briere (COL): 19:59, Oct. 13 at BOS
Tyler Seguin (DAL): 19:57, Oct. 16 at PIT
Mark Letestu (CBJ): 19:39, Oct. 23 at SJS
Jason Zucker (MIN): 19:14, Nov. 20 at PHI
Matt Nieto (SJS): 19:48, Dec. 2 vs. PHI
Brandon Saad (CHI): 19:33, Dec. 5 vs. MTL
Nikita Kucherov (TBL): 19:29, Dec. 11 vs. CAR
Troy Brouwer (WSH): 19:47, Jan. 1 vs. CHI^
Marc-Edouard Vlasic (SJS): 19:55, Jan. 5 at WPG
Pavel Datsyuk (DET): 19:26, Jan. 6 at EDM
^ 2015 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic

* Via Elias, Datsyuk has scored two other tiebreaking goals in the final minute of regulation during his career: Oct. 23, 2010 vs. ANA (19:48) and Feb. 17, 2012 vs. NSH (19:54).

* Datsyuk (1-1—2) ranks second on the Red Wings with 14-16—30 in 29 appearances this season despite missing 11 games.

* Justin Abdelkader (1-2—3) posted his second three-point performance of the season (also Oct. 29 at WSH: 2-1—3).

* Jimmy Howard made 21 saves to improve to 11-1-2 with a 1.88 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and two shutouts in 14 career appearances against the Oilers.

* The Red Wings improved to 14-0-2 in their past 16 meetings with the Oilers dating to March 19, 2010, including seven straight wins.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS
Notes from the rest of Tuesday’s 10-game slate:

* Steve Mason made 41 saves – and denied four attempts in the tiebreaker – to help the Flyers snap a five-game skid (0-4-1) and 10-game drought in shootouts dating to Jan. 16, 2014. Per Elias, Mason improved to 19-7-3 in his career when facing 40 or more shots; that includes a 6-1-1 mark in such games since joining the Flyers in April 2013. Wayne Simmonds potted the tying goal with 11:01 remaining in the third period and then scored the decisive marker in the fifth round of the shootout. The Flyers improved to 4-0-1 in their past five overall meetings with the Senators dating to April 27, 2013, and 10-3-1 in their last 14 head-to-head matchups at Wells Fargo Center dating to Jan. 20, 2008.

* Down 2-1 midway through the third period, Mike Fisher and Roman Josi scored 4:48 apart to help the Predators improve to 13-0-0 in games following a loss (of any kind) this season. Filip Forsberg (14-24—38 in 39 GP) collected one assist to break Alexander Radulov’s franchise record for points by a rookie, established in 2006-07 (18-19—37 in 64 GP). Forsberg paces all rookies in goals, assists and points this season. Pekka Rinne made 23 saves, including a backward leg stop, to earn his League-leading 26th victory. The Predators improved to 15-2-1 at Bridgestone Arena this season; their 15 home wins share first in the NHL, while their 31 home points are tied for second overall.

* Nick Foligno (0-3—3), Ryan Johansen (1-1—2) and Scott Hartnell (0-2—2) all registered multiple points to power the Blue Jackets to their fourth victory in their past five outings. Foligno (1-7—8) and Johansen (4-5—9) extended their point streaks to five and eight games, respectively. Foligno also matched career highs for assists and points in one game; his only other three-assist performance came on March 24, 2012 vs. PIT (w/ OTT). Making his return to Dallas after being claimed off waivers on Nov. 18, Kevin Connauton scored the game-winning goal. He has 6-4—10 in 18 contests since joining the Blue Jackets; Connauton totaled 1-9—10 in 44 appearances with the Stars.

* One day after celebrating his 27th birthday with an on-ice shower from his teammates, Eddie Lack made 21 saves to backstop the Canucks to their fifth victory in their past seven games (5-1-1). Lack also picked up his third win of the season and first since Dec. 4. Ryan Stanton (83 games), Linden Vey (12 games) and Nick Bonino (7 games) all snapped their respective goal droughts. The Canucks improved to 4-1-0 in their past five overall meetings with the Islanders dating to Jan. 11, 2011, and 5-2-0 in their last seven head-to-head matchups at Rogers Arena dating to Feb. 18, 2001.

LOOSE PUCKS
Wild forward Jason Zucker (2-1—3) registered his first career three-point game and third career multi-goal performance – all this season (also Oct. 25 vs. TBL and Nov. 24 at FLA) . . . Senators forward Mika Zibanejad improved to 7-for-13 in his shootout career. His 53.8% efficiency ranks fifth among active players with a minimum of 10 attempts . . . Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (32 saves) suffered his first loss since Dec. 18, halting his personal winning streak at five games . . . Oilers forward Jordan Eberle (2-0—2) notched his first multi-goal performance since Oct. 24 vs. CAR (2-1—3) . . . Sabres forward Mikhail Grigorenko scored his first goal since Nov. 8, 2013 at ANA . . . Hurricanes captain Eric Staal (1-1—2) recorded his 300th NHL goal (300-412—712 in 804 GP) . . . Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin (700), Lightning forward Valtteri Filppula (600), Coyotes forward Joe Vitale (200) and Flyers forward Michael Raffl (100) all played in milestone games . . . ICYMI: Click here for a recap of the finale of Road to the NHL Winter Classic, which premiered on Tuesday. Fans who missed the episode or series can watch it on demand here . . . The Maple Leafs named Peter Horachek interim head coach . . . The Blue Jackets revealed their new center-ice logo in advance of the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Game.


SNEAK PEEK AT WEDNESDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Washington @ Toronto, 7:00 p.m., SN, CSN-DC
Boston @ Pittsburgh, 8:00 p.m., NBCSN, TVA
Detroit @ Calgary, 9:30 p.m., SN, FS-D+
NY Rangers @ Anaheim, 10:30 p.m., NBCSN, MSG+

thanks to the NHL PR department for the above information

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