* The League’s two newest franchises will clash outdoors in the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic today (12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET on TNT, Max, truTV, SN & TVAS).
* Players and teams put a bow on 2023 by setting League benchmarks, reaching major milestones and achieving franchise firsts on the final day of the year.
* The Stars ended 2023 with a bang by scoring eight goals, led by Mason Marchment’s second career hat trick.
SEATTLE, VEGAS SET TO RING IN NEW YEAR OUTDOORS AT 2024 DISCOVER NHL WINTER CLASSIC The Kraken and Golden Knights will ring in the new year by squaring off outdoors in the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic at the home of the MLB’s Seattle Mariners, T-Mobile Park. The 39th regular-season outdoor game in League history will be available on TNT, Max and TruTV in the U.S. as well as on Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.
* Jordan Eberle and the Kraken practiced outdoors at the venue Sunday after the Golden Knights did so earlier in the day. Eberle is set to contest the second outdoor game of his NHL career and first since skating with Edmonton in the 2016 Heritage Classic at Investors Group Field.
ROAD TO THE WINTER CLASSIC FINALE PREMIERES TODAYThe final episode of the four-part docuseries “Road To The Discover NHL Winter Classic presented by Enterprise” chronicling the Kraken and Golden Knights leading up to the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic premieres today (1:30 p.m. ET on TNT & Max in the U.S., 2:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet in Canada). Cameras visit Vegas forward Jack Eichel at home with his bulldog and Seattle forward Yanni Gourde celebrating his 500th career NHL game with his family. Kraken players also get a sneak preview of T-Mobile Park as it transforms to host the iconic New Year’s Day game. The finale will also be available for streaming on Max starting Saturday, Jan. 6.
SUNDAY’S RESULTS The final gameday of 2023 saw plenty of milestone moments and scoring plateaus for stars like Marc-Andre Fleury, Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov as well as some New Year’s Eve fireworks from Warren Foegele and Mason Marchment, who led the Oilers and Stars to high-scoring wins.
FLEURY BECOMES FOURTH GOALTENDER TO 1,000 GAMES Marc-Andre Fleury (Sorel, Que.) became the fourth goaltender in NHL history to reach the 1,000-game milestone, joining a trio of Hockey Hall of Fame netminders from his home province – Martin Brodeur (Montreal, Que.), Roberto Luongo (Montreal, Que.) and Patrick Roy (Quebec City, Que.) – all of whom were part of a video tribute.
* Fleury’s 550 wins at the 1,000-game mark is the second-highest total by a goaltender at the conclusion of the milestone game (Brodeur: 557 W). That breakdown includes 39 victories with the Wild and 19 wins in part of a single season with the Blackhawks, however, Fleury is most known as the all-time franchise wins leader for both the Penguins (375 W) and the Golden Knights (117 W).
AND WITH THAT, THE 2023 CALENDAR YEAR COMES TO AN END
* David Pastrnak (0-2—2) factored on two of his team’s five goals to become the fourth player to reach the 50-point mark in 2023-24 (22-28—50 in 35 GP) and help the Bruins (32-9-4 on the road in 2023) become the first team in NHL history to capture 32 regular-season road victories in a single calendar year. * NathanMacKinnon (0-2—2) concluded his December by setting a franchise benchmark for points in a calendar month and finished the year with a League-leading 53-82—135. His penultimate point came from an assist on Mikko Rantanen’s 50th goal of 2023 as the pair became the first duo in Avalanche/Nordiques history to each score 50 goals in the same calendar year.
* Warren Foegele (2-3—5) registered his first career outing with at least four points and became the first player in Oilers history to register a five-point outing a game contested on New Year’s Eve. In fact, he registered the 11th instance in NHL history of a player collecting at least five points in that scenario and first since Sean Monahan on Dec. 31, 2018 (0-5—5).
* Mason Marchment (3-1—4), who netted the fifth-ever hat trick on New Year’s Eve in franchise history, factored on four of eight goals and did so a game after Roope Hintz also netted three goals against the Blackhawks on Dec. 29. The Stars/North Stars franchise has featured at least one hat trick in consecutive games for the seventh time following Dec. 1-4, 2022, March 4-6, 2022, Nov. 24-28, 2017, March 17-19, 1986, March 6-8, 1983 and March 16-21, 1971 (all 2 GP).
* Andrew Mangiapane (0-3—3) assisted on three of four Flames goals as Calgary improved to 13-4-2 on games played on New Year’s Eve since Dec. 31, 2000 – the most among all teams through that span and one more than the next closest (DET: 12-4-2, DAL: 12-5-2 & NYI: 12-2-1). KUCHEROV, HEDMAN HELP LIGHTNING CLOSE OUT 2023 ON A WINNING NOTE On a New Year’s Eve that saw captain Steven Stamkos become the franchise leader in games played, it was the League’s scoring leader, Nikita Kucherov (1-1—2), and Victor Hedman (0-2—2) who helped the Lightning (18-15-5, 41 points) conclude 2023 on a winning note.
* Hedman hit the 30-assist mark for the ninth straight season dating to 2015-16 and became just the 18th different defenseman in NHL history to record 30-plus helpers in at least nine consecutive campaigns. Tyson Barrie (9 from 2014-15 – 2022-23) is the only other active blueliner to accomplish the feat while Ray Bourque (20 from 1981-82 – 2000-01) leads the list.
* Kucherov (26-35—61 in 37 GP) became the first player to reach the 60-point mark this season and established a new franchise pace for fewest games to reach the plateau in a campaign, besting his previous mark of 38 contests set in 2018-19. The Lightning forward went on to win the Art Ross Trophy that season with 128 points.
Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.
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