BRUINS, PENGUINS GET FIRST TASTE OF FENWAY AHEAD OF WINTER CLASSIC
The Penguins and Bruins each hit the ice – and a few (wiffle) balls – at Fenway Park on New Year’s Day ahead of their first head-to-head outdoor meeting.

* Several notes on Boston and Pittsburgh players can be found in the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic #NHLStats Pack, with numbers updated through games played Dec. 31, 2022.

* #NHLStats: Live Updates for Jan. 2 is up and running ahead of the 2 p.m. ET puck drop, with notes already loaded for the Winter Classic.

More Winter Classic links:
* Outdoor Game List
* Outdoor Game Standings
* Outdoor Game Skater Records
* Outdoor Game Goaltender Records
* Outdoor Game Team Records

* Interactive Information Guide

2023 DISCOVER NHL WINTER CLASSIC PITS BRUINS VERSUS PENGUINS AT FENWAY PARK
The League-leading Bruins (28-4-4, 60 points), who have yet to suffer a regulation loss at TD Garden this season, will look to match the NHL benchmark for wins in outdoor games when they host the Penguins (19-11-6, 44 points) in the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park on Monday.

* While the outcome of the game is top of mind, one burning question ahead of puck drop is: What will the pre-game wardrobes consist of this year?

* Boston will become the first team to contest a Winter Classic while occupying first place in the League standings and just the second top-ranked club to play in any NHL outdoor game, following Anaheim (38-10-5, 81 points) during the 2014 Stadium Series at Dodger Stadium. Of note, the Penguins (25-11-3, 53 points) entered the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field tied for the most points in the League standings, but the Red Wings (24-9-5, 53 points) held first place by virtue of games in hand.

* As the home team at Fenway Park, Boston will have a chance to improve upon its 18-0-3 record as hosts this season. That is tied for the longest season-opening home point streak in franchise history, equaling a 19-0-2 stretch as hosts to begin the 1973-74 season, when each home contest was played at Boston Garden. While this list details all season-opening home point streaks of 21-plus games, none of those happened to include a neutral site contest. It should also be noted that home/road streaks on Records.NHL.com exclude neutral site games.

* The Penguins can snap an opponent’s home point streak of 20 or more contests for the first time in franchise history. The longest home run Pittsburgh has halted was an 18-game stretch by Vancouver nearly 30 years ago (16-0-2 from Nov. 4, 1992 – Jan. 16, 1993), which came to an end when the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions earned a 5-2 win at Pacific Coliseum on Jan. 19, 1993.

* The lengthiest season-opening home point streak snapped by the Penguins is 10 contests – they defeated the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 19, 1972 to snap New York’s 9-0-1 start as hosts in 1972-73.

WE'RE FIVE GAMES INTO THE NEW YEAR
The first day of 2023 included a first NHL goal for a 27-year-old Senators forward Jacob Lucchini, milestone achievements by Marc-Edouard Vlasic and MathewBarzal, along with a number of franchise-record streaks extended.

HURRICANES SURGE TO ANOTHER WIN
The Hurricanes (25-6-6, 56 points) took three leads and scored a tying goal in the final five minutes of the third period to extend their winning streak to 11 games and their point streak to 17 (15-0-2) while padding their lead atop the Metropolitan Division. Carolina have now scored at least three goals in nine consecutive games – their longest such run since 2005-06 (10 GP; excluding shootout deciding goals).

* The Hurricanes’ 17-game point streak marks the 14th instance in the past 40 years of a team recording a run of that length and the first since the Avalanche last season (19 GP; 17-0-2).

* Carolina’s 11-game winning streak trails only New Jersey (13-0-0 from Oct. 25 – Nov. 21) for the longest by a team in 2022-23. It marks the seventh season in NHL history to feature multiple winning streaks of 11-plus games and first since 2016-17.

Of note, there were no divisions from 1917-18 to 1925-26 and 1938-39 to 1966-67 when the League was comprised of no more than seven teams in each campaign.

KARLSSON ESTABLISHES LONGEST POINT STREAK IN SHARKS HISTORY
Erik Karlsson recorded two assists, including a helper on the game-winning goal, to extend his point streak to 13 games and establish a Sharks franchise mark. He also became the sixth defenseman in NHL history to record an assist streak of 13 or more games, equaling CaleMakar (13 GP in 2021-22) for the longest run by a blueliner in the past 30 years.

* Karlsson (13-40—53 in 39 GP) moved into a share of fifth place in overall League scoring this season. He also became the eighth defenseman in NHL history to record 40 assists in a season in fewer than 40 games, joining Bobby Orr (6x; best: 32 GP in 1974-75), Paul Coffey (3x; best: 34 GP in 1987-88), Brian Leetch (37 GP in 1991-92), Borje Salming (37 GP in 1976-77), John van Boxmeer (38 GP in 1981-82), Randy Carlyle (38 GP in 1980-81) and Ray Bourque (39 GP in 1989-90).

LARSSON, FOX COLLECT POINTS IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
Two more defensemen turned in notable performances in the Sunday edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates, with Adam Larsson and Adam Fox finding the scoresheet to help the Kraken and Rangers each earn two points:

* Larsson scored the game-opening goal to extend his point streak to six games, matching Justin Schultz (6 GP from Nov. 17-29) for the longest run by a Kraken defenseman since the club’s inception in 2021-22. With the win, Seattle (19-12-4, 42 points) moved from outside the Western Conference playoff picture into the first Wild Card spot.

* Fox collected two assists to improve his career totals to 31-169—200 (241 GP) and help the Rangers (20-12-6, 46 points) move into a Wild Card position. Fox required the second-fewest games by a Rangers defenseman to reach 200 NHL points, behind Brian Leetch (211 GP).

QUICK CLICKS

* Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Tage Thompson named NHL’s “Three Stars” for December

* Pyotr Kochetkov named NHL’s “Rookie of the Month” for December

*Sidney Crosby looks back on his baseball days ahead of Winter Classic
* 2022 Year in Review by #NHLStats
* David Pastrnak pays homage to Red Sox, David Ortiz with Winter Classic equipment

MONDAY ALSO FEATURES VEGAS-COLORADO ON SPORTSNET AND TVA SPORTS

Four other teams are in action after the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic, with the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (25-12-2, 52 points) visiting the defending-champion Avalanche (19-13-3, 41 points) at Ball Arena on Sportsnet and TVA Sports followed by the Ducks (10-23-4, 24 points) hosting the Flyers (13-17-7, 33 points) at Honda Center.

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.