KADRI NETS NHL’S FIFTH FIVE-POINT GAME IN FEBRUARY

Nazem Kadri (3-2—5) netted his fourth NHL hat trick and established a career high for points in a game as the Maple Leafs (35-19-5, 75 points) swept their five-game homestand to move within four points of the idle Lightning (38-16-3, 79 points) for first place in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference and NHL standings.

* Kadri recorded the 15th five-point game by an NHL player this season and fifth in the month of February – there were six instances of a player recording 5+ points during the entire 2016-17 campaign (1,230 GP). Since 2003-04, only six seasons have witnessed at least 15 performances of 5+ points.

* It marked the second time in the past three games that a Maple Leafs player registered five points, following Mitchell Marner’s 2-3—5 effort Saturday vs. OTT. Prior to Marner and Kadri, there were two instances of a Maple Leafs player recording 5+ points in a game over the previous 10 seasons: Jason Blake on Jan. 15, 2009 at CAR and Tomas Kaberle on Oct. 26, 2009 at ANA.

* Before this season, the last time a Maple Leafs player posted 5+ points in a game on home ice was Dec. 16, 2006, when Alexei Ponikarovsky and Kyle Wellwood each did so against the Rangers.

THREE STRAIGHT DAYS WITH A HAT TRICK
Toronto’s Nazem Kadri netted the 49th hat trick of 2017-18 and the third in as many days, following Florida’s Vincent Trocheckon Monday and Carolina’s Justin Faulk on Tuesday.

* This marks the second time this season that at least one hat trick has been scored on three consecutive days (also Dec.14-16; one per day). The last time four straight days featured one or more hat tricks was from Jan. 24-27, 2014 (one per day).

* In 1988-89, there was a span of nine consecutive days that featured at least one hat trick, with a total of 15 hat tricks scored from Oct. 11-19 (including two by Mario Lemieux).

AVALANCHE MATCH FRANCHISE RECORD WITH SHUTOUT WIN
Semyon Varlamov turned aside all 44 shots he faced to record his second shutout of the season and lift Colorado to its 10th consecutive victory at Pepsi Center, matching the longest home win streak in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history.

* Colorado matched Washington (10-0-0 from Dec. 2 – Jan. 9) for the longest home win streak of 2017-18. The Capitals also are the last NHL club to win more than 10 consecutive home games (15-0-0 from Jan. 1 – March 4, 2017).

* The Avalanche (31-21-4, 66 points) moved within two points of the Wild (31-19-6, 68 points) for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

PANTHERS EXTEND IMPRESSIVE RUN WITH EMOTIONAL WIN IN VANCOUVER
Four different players scored to lead the Panthers (25-23-6, 56 points) to their sixth win in seven contests and to within seven points of the Hurricanes (27-21-9, 63 points) for the second Wild Card Spot in the Eastern Conference.

* Prior to puck drop, the Panthers, Canucks and their fans observed a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy. Click the photo to watch the entire ceremony.

ANDERSEN POSTS 54-SAVE PERFORMANCE

Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen made a career-high 54 saves – including 22 in the second period – to record the second-highest save total in one game by a goaltender this season. Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov had a 57-save performance on Nov. 2 vs. CAR.

* Since 1955-56 when shots on goal became an official NHL statistic, only two other Maple Leafs goaltenders have made at least 54 saves in a game: Allan Bester (60) on Mar. 15, 1984 at HFD and Mike Palmateer (56) on Jan. 12, 1977 vs LAK.

* The Blue Jackets, who tallied 57 shots on goal, registered at least 50 shots for the third consecutive contest after doing so against the Devils on Saturday (50 SOG) and Islanders on Tuesday (51 SOG). Since 1955-56, only one other team has recorded 50+ shots on goal in three consecutive games: the Blackhawks achieved the feat from Oct. 9-16, 1955 against the Maple Leafs(51 SOG), Red Wings (54 SOG) and Canadiens (51 SOG).

QUICK CLICKS

· 2017-18 NHL Trade Tracker

· Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse attend World’s Longest Hockey Game

· Mitchell Marner, Maple Leafs play basketball on Raptors floor

· Madison Bowey (WSH), Deryk Engelland (VGK), Dustin Byfuglien (WPG) fined by Player Safety

· Biggest NHL Trade Deadline deals in past 10 seasons

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION

PENGUINS, WILD LOOK TO CONTINUE HOME ICE SUCCESS

The Penguins (32-22-4, 68 points) and Wild (31-19-6, 68 points) look to continue recent strings of success on home ice when they host the Kings (30-21-5, 65 points) and Capitals (32-17-7, 71 points), respectively.

* The Penguins look to win 10 consecutive games on home ice for the fifth time in franchise history and first since a franchise-record 13-game run from Nov. 15, 2013 – Jan. 15, 2014.

* The Wild look to extend their franchise-record home point streak to 14 games – their current 13-game run is the longest home point streak by any NHL team this season (10-0-3).

* The Penguins (21) and Wild (20) are among a group of seven teams to record 20 or more wins in 2017-18 (also: WPG: 21; DAL: 20; WSH: 20; VGK: 20; COL: 20).

TOP ROOKIES ON DISPLAY

Many of the top rookies in the NHL this season – including each of the top four in rookie scoring – take to the ice on Thursday as the race for the Calder Trophy heats up.

* Islanders forward Mathew Barzal leads all rookies with 16-43—59 in 58 GP. He is just the second rookie in NHL history – and the first since Joe Malone in the NHL’s inaugural season of 1917-18 – to record three five-point games.

* Canucks forward Brock Boeser – who scored Wednesday – ranks first in goals and second in points (27-22—49 in 53 GP) among first-year skaters. He looks to become just the third rookie in franchise history to reach the 30-goal mark in a season. The others: Pavel Bure (34 in 1991-92) and Trevor Linden (30 in 1988-89).

* Lightning forward Yanni Gourde enters tonight’s contest on a seven-game point streak (5-5—10). He ranks second among rookies in goals and third in points with 22-21—43 in 57 GP. Tyler Johnson (24), Steven Stamkos (23) and Ondrej Palat (23) are the only players in Lightning franchise history to score more goals in their rookie campaign.

* Clayton Keller – who leads the Coyotes in goals and points – ranks fourth among rookies with 16-24—40 in 57 GP. He is just the fourth Coyotes rookie since 1996-97 – when the franchise moved to Arizona – to record a 40-point season. No rookie in 2017-18 has strung together a point streak longer than his eight-game run from Dec. 14 – Dec. 31, 2017 (3-6—9).

the above information was supplied by the NHL PR department