THURSDAY’S RESULTS

CANUCKS THRILL WITH A HAT TRICK, FIVE-POINT OUTING AND EIGHT GOALS
A thrilling night at Rogers Arena starred a five-point performance for Elias Pettersson (1-4—5), a first career hat trick for Andrei Kuzmenko (3-1—4) and a third-straight multi-goal outing for Bo Horvat (2-1—3). The Canucks scored five goals in the third period – one shy of the most in a single frame in franchise history – and netted eight in a contest for the fourth time in the past 10 years (also Feb. 22, 2020, Oct. 9, 2019 & Nov. 8, 2018).

* Kuzmenko scored the NHL’s 11th hat trick of 2022-23, with all his goals coming in the third period. The forward became the fourth Canucks player in the past 20 years to record three goals in a single frame joining Horvat (Oct. 22, 2019), Mikael Samuelsson (March 9, 2010) and Markus Naslund (Oct. 21, 2002). The 26-year-old went undrafted and signed as a free agent with Vancouver on July 13 after playing eight years of professional hockey overseas – his long road to the NHL was capped by scoring a goal in his first game with the Canucks.

* Horvat (10-3—13 in 11 GP) matched the Canucks record for most consecutive multi-goal games, joining Alexander Mogilny (3 GP in 1995-96) and Petri Skriko (3 GP in 1986-87). He owns a goals-per-game average of 0.77 dating to March 1, which trails only Auston Matthews (0.79 G/GP) for the most among all players over that span (min. 10 GP).

PETTERSSON’S COUNTRYMEN CONTINUE NOTEWORTHY STARTS TO THE SEASON
Swedish-born players Jesper Bratt of the Devils and Erik Karlsson of the Sharks also left their mark on games Thursday:

* Bratt and Ryan Graves scored goals seven seconds apart as the Devils turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead with 3:08 remaining in regulation en route to picking up their fifth consecutive win. Bratt (5-12—17 in 11 GP) has found the score sheet in each of New Jersey’s 11 games and established a new Devils/Rockies/Scouts franchise record for longest season-opening point streak, eclipsing the previous mark set by Tim Higgins nearly 40 years ago (10 GP in 1984-85).

* Karlsson (10-8—18 in 13 GP) scored his 10th goal of the season and recorded his fourth consecutive multi-point game. He became the fastest defenseman in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) to score 10 goals in a season, besting Buffalo’s Phil Housley in 1987-88 (10-7—17 in 15 GP).

OVECHKIN MATCHES MR. HOCKEY FOR MOST GOALS WITH ONE NHL FRANCHISE
Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring in Detroit to reach 786 goals in his NHL career and tie Gordie Howe for the most by a player with one franchise in League history. Howe had 786 of his 801 NHL goals as a member of the Red Wings, including 441 at the Detroit Olympia (which was located fewer than five miles from Little Caesars Arena).

* Ovechkin’s marker was also the 400th road goal of his NHL career – he became the second player in League history to reach the milestone, following Wayne Gretzky (402). Howe, who Ovechkin now trails by just 15 on the NHL’s all-time goals list, had 352 as a visitor.
* ICYMI: Ovechkin met one of Howe’s sons, Mark, who was in attendance Thursday as the Red Wings honored members of the organization that won the Stanley Cup in 1997. Mark served as a pro scout with Detroit that season.

BRUINS, GOLDEN KNIGHTS REACHING 10-WIN MARK FEATURED IN LIVE UPDATES
Thursday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes from the 13-game slate including Boston (10-1-0, 20 points) and Vegas (10-2-0, 20 points), which began the campaign with new head coaches behind the bench, extending lengthy winning streaks and becoming the first teams to reach 10 victories this season. Jim Montgomery of the Bruins became the fifth head coach in NHL history to record his first 10 victories with a franchise in 11 games, while Bruce Cassidy of the Golden Knights became the sixth to do so in exactly 12 contests.

QUICK CLICKS

* Kruger Big Assist committed $600,000 to help keep kids on the ice and build a more equitable and inclusive future for the sport
* Troy Murray remains Blackhawks fixture ahead of Hockey Fights Cancer Night
* Oilers honor Lee Fogolin, Ryan Smyth as part of inaugural Hall of Fame class

* Canucks wear special patches honoring Kevin Bieksa
* Player Charity Spotlight: Aleksander Barkov

NOKIA ARENA READY TO HOST BLUE JACKETS, AVALANCHE FOR GLOBAL SERIES

The number of NHL regular-season games contested outside North America will rise to 38 following a back-to-back set between the Blue Jackets and defending Stanley Cup-champion Avalanche, which opens Friday at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland.

* The Finnish presence has steadily increased over the past 10 years, including in 2021-22 when 60 players born in the country appeared in at least one game – that marked the most in any season in NHL history, followed by 2020-21 (57), 2019-20 (48) and 2018-19 (47). Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine (177-151—328 in 411 GP; 0.43 G/GP), one of 37 Finnish-born players to appear in at least one NHL game during his debut season in 2016-17, sits within the top 10 in points among active Finnish skaters and trails only Jari Kurri (0.48 G/GP) and Teemu Selanne (0.47 G/GP) for the highest goals-per-game pace among all Finnish players in NHL history.

* Colorado has two Finnish-born players – Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen – who have combined for 251-332—583 in the NHL, the third-most cumulative goals and points by Finnish players on any active roster. The only clubs with more are Carolina (338-538—876: Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Sebastian Aho & Teuvo Teravainen) and Florida (255-394—649: Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell & Eetu Luostarinen).

* ICYMI: Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainensat down with NHL.com to talk about his homecoming to Tampere, Finland, and reminisce about his time playing for Tappara Tampere of SM-liiga when he was younger.

Photo via @Tapparaofficial

MORE GLOBAL SERIES LINKS

* Mikko Rantanen embracing trip home to Finland for Avalanche Global Series games
* Patrik Laine star of Global Series for Blue Jackets in home country of Finland
* Blue Jackets, Avalanche bring game to Finnish fans with Global Series
* Global Series blog: Nick Blankenburg
* Global Series blog: Josh Manson

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.