Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

03/01/2014 at 11:42am EST

SABRES EXTEND POST-OLYMPIC WINNING STREAK
Just hours after a blockbuster trade that sent goaltender Ryan Miller and captain Steve Ott to St. Louis, the Buffalo Sabres secured their third win in four days following the Olympic break. The Sabres have won their last six contests against San Jose, their longest active streak against any club.

* Tyler Myers tallied 1-2—3 for his first three-point game of the season. He last posted three points in a regular-season game on March 19, 2011 with three assists against Atlanta.

* Matt Moulson scored his second game-winning goal of the season to extend his point streak to five games (2-4—6).

* After being told he would start only an hour before game time, goaltender Jhonas Enroth made 36 saves in a winning effort. Enroth, who defeated Boston on Wednesday, has earned consecutive victories for the first time this season.

COLORADO QUIETS COYOTES
Colorado rookie Nathan MacKinnon notched two assists against Phoenix to extend his point streak to 10 games (5-9—14). MacKinnon became the first rookie to record a 10+ game point streak since Jonathan Toews did so from October 10-31, 2007. Avalanche teammate Paul Stastny, who added 1-1—2 on Friday, holds both the franchise and NHL records for longest point streak by a rookie (20 games in 2006-07).

* Gabriel Landeskog scored 1-2—3 in his third three-point game of the season. Landeskog has 5-10—15 in his last 11 games. His 51 points (19-32—51) are one shy of his career high, set in 82 games in 2011-12.

* Semyon Varlamov made 40 saves for his career-high 29th win of the season. He improved to 5-0-1 this season when making 40+ saves. Varlamov is 13-3-1 in his last 17 decisions and his 29 wins rank second in the League behind Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury (31).

BOUDREAU FASTEST TO 300 WINS
Anaheim head coach Bruce Boudreau earned the 300th win of his career in the Ducks' 1-0 win over St. Louis. Boudreau was working his 496th NHL regular-season game behind the bench, setting a record for fewest games to reach the milestone (300-137-59).

Fewest Games to 300 Wins – Head Coaches
Bruce Boudreau, 496
Toe Blake, 525
Mike Babcock, 526
Glen Sather, 528
Fred Shero, 539

CONSISTENT KEEPERS
Making in his 14th consecutive start, Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves and stopped all seven shooutout attempts he faced to backstop Minnesota's win at Vancouver. Kuemper improved to 10-2-2 since taking the Minnesota starting job on Jan. 7. He has won his last four games, allowing four goals in that span.

Anaheim's Jonas Hiller made 18 saves for his League-leading fifth shutout of the season (tied with Boston's Tuukka Rask) in a 1-0 victory over St. Louis. Hiller’s five shutouts match his season-season career high (2010-11). He improved to 26-9-4, four wins shy of his career-best 30 set in 2009-10.

UNFAMILIAR FACES
After Buffalo and St. Louis exchanged goaltenders Ryan Miller and Jaroslav Halak before their respective games, each team was left with only one available goalie to dress. As a result, Jeff Tyni, a Ducks’ locker room attendant, served as the Blues’ backup, while Ryan Vinz, who is the Director of Technology for Buffalo's HarborCenter and former video goaltending coach at Clarkson University, dressed for the Sabres.

LOOSE PUCKS
Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano tied a career high by scoring his 18th goal of the season (2007-08 and 2008-09)…Justin Fontaine scored the game-deciding goal on his first career shootout attempt for Minnesota…Colorado defenseman Nate Guenin scored his first goal of the season and his first with the Avalanche…Andre Benoit logged 21:25 in his 100th NHL game... The Rangers have agreed to terms with defenseman Dan Girardi on a contract extension. Girardi, 29, has ranked in the top six in the NHL in blocked shots in each of the last four seasons.

SNEAK PEEK AT SATURDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Washington @ Boston, 1:00 p.m., NHLN-US, CSN-DC, NESN
New Jersey @ NY Islanders, 1:00 p.m., MSG PLUS 2, MSG PLUS
NY Rangers @ Philadelphia, 1:00 p.m., MSG, CSN-PH
Florida @ Columbus, 2:00 p.m., FS-F, FS-O
Winnipeg @ Nashville, 3:00 p.m., TSN-JETS, FS-TN
Tampa Bay @ Dallas, 3:00 p.m., SUN, FS-SW
Carolina @ Los Angeles, 4:00 p.m., SPSO, FS-W
Toronto @ Montreal, 7:00 p.m., CBC, RDS
Pittsburgh @ Chicago, 8:00 p.m., NBC
Calgary @ Edmonton, 10:00 p.m., CBC

STADIUM SERIES QUICK HITS

* The Blackhawks and Penguins meet this evening at Soldier Field in the finale of the four-game 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, NBC, SiriusXM Radio).

* The game is the first-ever regular-season contest scheduled for primetime on NBC. The network's primetime broadcast of the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Penguins and Washington Capitals at Heinz Field on Jan. 1, 2011 was the result of a weather delay.

* This is the first meeting between the two teams since the Penguins skated to a 3-2 win on Dec. 20, 2011.

* Tonight's game will mark the first time that Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby have faced each other in a regular-season NHL game.

* Crosby will be playing in his second career regular-season NHL game in Chicago. His only other regular-season appearance in the Windy City was on Jan. 13, 2006, during his rookie season.

* Toews scored a hat trick in his first career appearance against the Penguins, a 5-4 Pittsburgh win on Feb. 27, 2009.

* In the Penguins’ most recent appearance in Chicago on Feb. 20, 2011, Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane scored the game-deciding shootout goal in a 3-2 win.

* One player has appeared in a regular-season outdoor NHL game with both the Blackhawks and the Penguins: Craig Adams (2009 with Chicago, 2011 with Pittsburgh).

* Visiting teams are 9-1-1 in the 11 regular-season outdoor NHL games to date.

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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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