Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

01/03/2018 at 7:19am EST

NHL Morning Skate


TUESDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps

Tampa Bay 2, TORONTO 0
Boston 5, NY ISLANDERS 1
Pittsburgh 5, PHILADELPHIA 1
Washington 5, CAROLINA 4 (OT)
San Jose 4, MONTREAL 1
ST. LOUIS 3, New Jersey 2 (SO)
MINNESOTA 5, Florida 1
Columbus 2, DALLAS 1
COLORADO 3, Winnipeg 2 (OT)
Los Angeles 5, EDMONTON 0
Anaheim 5, VANCOUVER 0
VEGAS 3, Nashville 0

MAPLE LEAFS HONOR JOHNNY BOWER
The Maple Leafs honored late goaltender Johnny Bower prior to their game against the Lightning at Air Canada Centre. Toronto players donned his No. 1 jersey in warmup before several members of the Bower family and other Maple Leafs alumni were welcomed to the ice; the legendary netminder was then honored with a moment of silence, video tribute and standing ovation. Click on the photo below to watch the entire pre-game ceremony.


OVECHKIN SCORES 100TH GAME WINNER, ECLIPSES 25-GOAL MARK
Alex Ovechkin
tied the game in the third period and scored at 1:57 of overtime to power the Capitals to their third consecutive win. Ovechkin netted his NHL-record 22nd career regular-season overtime goal to become the ninth player in League history to record 100 career game winners.


* Ovechkin leads the League with 26 goals in 2017-18 (26-17—43 in 41 GP) and has eclipsed the 25-goal mark in each of his 13 NHL seasons. Elias notes that Ovechkin became the fourth player in NHL history to score at least 25 goals in each of his first 13 seasons, joining Jaromir Jagr(17 seasons), Mike Gartner (15 seasons) and Wayne Gretzky (13 seasons).

* Ovechkin scored his 583rd and 584th career goals (all w/ WSH) to leapfrog Gretzky (583 w/ EDM) for the sixth-most in NHL history with one franchise.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS EXTEND WIN, POINT STREAKS
Marc-Andre Fleury
turned aside all 29 shots he faced to help the Golden Knights extend their win and point streaks to eight and 13 games (12-0-1), respectively – the longest such runs in NHL history by a team in its inaugural season. Vegas became the second team to post an eight-game win streak this season, joining Los Angeles from Nov. 25 – Dec. 9.


* Elias notes that the Golden Knights became the first major North American professional sports franchise to win eight straight games at any point in its inaugural campaign since the Denver Nuggets posted an equal run from Oct. 22 – Nov. 9, 1976 to begin their first season in the NBA.

* The Western Conference-leading Golden Knights improved to 27-9-2 (56 points) overall, trailing only the Lightning (29-8-2, 60 points) for the most points in the NHL this season. Vegas also boosted its record to 17-2-1 (35 points) at T-Mobile Arena – the most home wins among all teams in 2017-18.

* Fleury improved to 8-1-1 this season (1.77 GAA, .943 SV%, 2 SO), including wins in each of his last five outings.

GOALTENDERS CARRY SUCCESS INTO THE NEW YEAR
Andrei Vasilevskiy
(TBL), Tuukka Rask (BOS) and Aaron Dell (SJS) each earned wins in their first games of 2018 to continue recent strings of success:

* Vasilevskiy made 29 saves to register his second straight shutout and help the League-leading Lightning (29-8-2, 60 points) become the first team to reach the 60-point mark this season. Vasilevskiy blanked opponents in consecutive games for the second time in his NHL career (also Nov. 14-19, 2016) and leads the League with 26 wins and six shutouts in 2017-18 (26-5-1; 1.95 GAA, .937 SV%, 6 SO).

* Rask made 25 saves and five different skaters found the back of the net to help the Bruins extend their point streak to nine games (7-0-2). Rask – who has allowed no more than one goal in each of his last five outings – improved to 11-0-1 in his last 12 decisions, including wins in each of his last six appearances.

* Dell made 30 saves to backstop the Sharks to a 4-1-0 record in their last five games. Dell improved to 8-3-1 this season (1.98 GAA, .934 SV%, 2 SO), including a 6-0-0 mark in his last six decisions.

KINGS, DUCKS EARN SHUTOUT WINS
In addition to the Golden Knights and Lightning, the Kings and Ducks also earned shutout wins on Tuesday:

* Jonathan Quick turned aside all 32 shots he faced and the Kings scored three power-play goals in the third period en route to a 5-0 win over the Oilers. Quick (Milford, Conn.) earned his 47th career shutout to extend his NHL record for most by an American-born goaltender.

* Ryan Miller made 31 saves in his return to Vancouver to blank his former club and help the Ducks improve to 5-1-0 in their last six games. Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) recorded his 41st career shutout and trails only Quick for the most in NHL history among American-born goaltenders.

FANS SELECT MODERN-ERA BLACKHAWKS AS GREATEST NHL UNIFORM
With close to 6 million votes cast from Nov. 28 – Dec. 31, 2017, the Chicago Blackhawks (1959-present) have been selected by fans as having the Greatest NHL Uniform of all time.


QUICK CLICKS

· Rask, Bailey, Kucherov named ‘Three Stars’ for December

· Canucks’ Boeser named Rookie of the Month for December

· Bower was champion on ice, beloved gentleman off it (via Dave Stubbs)

· Lecavalier named Grand Marshal for Gasparilla Pirate Fest during All-Star Weekend

SNEAK PEEK AT WEDNESDAY’S ACTION

NBC Sports Channel Finder | Sportsnet Channel Finder | NHL Network Channel Finder

the above information was supplied by the NHL PR department

Create an Account

In order to leave a comment, please create an account.

About Kukla's Korner Hockey

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.

Email Paul anytime at [email protected]

Most Recent Posts

Most Recent Comments

Comment by EthrDemon in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Seider's Year - 12 minutes ago
Comment by VPalmer in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Same Lineup Tonight - 1 hour ago
Comment by dca in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Same Lineup Tonight - 1 hour ago
Comment by dca in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Same Lineup Tonight - 1 hour ago
Comment by dca in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Same Lineup Tonight - 1 hour ago