WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
TAMPA BAY 4, Carolina 3 (OT)
CHICAGO 4, Pittsburgh 1

KANE NETS ANOTHER HAT TRICK TO POWER BLACKHAWKS
Patrick Kane earned his second hat trick in his last three games and Richard Panik scored a highlight-reel game-winner as the Blackhawks (40-18-5, 85 points) earned their fifth straight victory and improved to 10-1-0 in their last 11 contests, moving back within three points of the Wild (41-14-6, 88 points) for the top spot in the Western Conference.

* Kane (27-41—68), who also recorded a hat trick on Feb. 23 vs. ARI, moved into sole possession of second place in League scoring, four points back of Connor McDavid (21-51—72). Per Elias, Kane became the first Blackhawks player to record two hat tricks in a three-game span since the 1991-92 season when Brian Noonan did so in consecutive contests on Dec. 27 (3-0—3) and Dec. 29 (4-0—4).

* Additionally, the Blackhawks recorded a hat trick for the third time in their last four games, as Jonathan Toews posted 3-2—5 on Feb. 21 at MIN. Elias notes that they are the first team to have a player record a hat trick in three out of four games since Alex Ovechkin, Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin combined for the feat in three straight games for Washington from Feb. 7 – 11, 2010.

* Panik (5-5—10) and Nick Schmaltz (2-7—9) extended their career-high point streaks to seven and five games, respectively.

KUCHEROV CONTINUES HOT STREAK FOR LIGHTNING
Nikita Kucherov (1-2—3) recorded at least three points for the third time in his last four outings and Victor Hedman (2-0—2) scored his second career overtime goal as the Lightning improved to 7-1-2 in their last 10 games.

* At 29-25-8 (66 points), Tampa Bay moved three points back of Toronto (28-21-13, 69 points) for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

* Kucherov leads the Lightning with 27-34—61 this season (55 GP) – five points shy of his career high – including 6-6—12 in his last four games. Per Elias, he is the first Lightning player to record 12 points in a four-game span since Vincent Lecavalier accomplished the feat from Nov. 10-19, 2007.

* Hedman (12-41—53), who sits one goal and one assist shy of his career highs, has tallied points in six of his last seven games, recording 5-6—11 over that span. He sits in third place in League scoring among defenseman, trailing only Brent Burns (27-39—66) and Erik Karlsson (10-45—55).

LOOSE PUCKS
The Flyers signed forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and goaltender Michal Neuvirth to contract extensions . . . Jets forward Patrik Laine was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for February, while Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews, Predators forward Filip Forsberg and Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby were named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the month . . . The NHL unveiled two TV spots – “Imperfectly Perfect” and “If This Cup Could Talk” – to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup.

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
New Jersey @ Washington, 7 p.m., CSN-DC, MSG+
NY Rangers @ Boston, 7 p.m., TVAS, NBCSN, NESN, MSG
Florida @ Philadelphia, 7 p.m., CSN-PH, FS-F
Minnesota @ Columbus, 7 p.m., FS-O, FS-N, FS-WI
Arizona @ Buffalo, 7 p.m., MSG-B, FS-A PLUS
Nashville @ Montreal, 7:30 p.m., SN, RDS, FS-TN
Colorado @ Ottawa, 7:30 p.m., RDS2, TSN5, ALT
NY Islanders @ Dallas, 8:30 p.m., FS-SW, MSG+ 2
Toronto @ Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m., FS-W, SNO
Vancouver @ San Jose, 10:30 p.m., CSN-CA, SNP
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CAPITALS AIM FOR FRANCHISE-RECORD 14TH STRAIGHT HOME WIN
After becoming the first team to reach the 90-point mark on Tuesday, the Capitals (42-13-7, 91 points) set their sights on a new franchise record when they host the Devils (25-25-12, 62 points) at Verizon Center. Washington owns active home win and point streaks of 13 and 15 games (14-0-1), respectively, that have each matched the longest such runs in franchise history (set in 2009-10). Elias notes that the Red Wings were the last NHL team to post a home win streak of more than 13 games, winning 23 consecutive home starts from Nov. 5, 2011 to Feb. 19, 2012.

SUBBAN RETURNS TO MONTREAL
Former Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban returns to Montreal for the first time since being traded to the Predators (32-22-9, 73 points) in exchange for Shea Weber last June. Subban, who was on injured reserve when the teams first met on Jan. 3, has tallied 8-22—30 in his first 47 games with Nashville. Weber, meanwhile, scored the tying goal in an eventual overtime win for the Canadiens (35-21-8, 78 points) when the teams played in January and ranks third on the club with 14-23—37 this season (64 GP).

Thanks to the NHL PR department fot the above information.