TAVARES, MARNER LEAD MAPLE LEAFS TO FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN . . .

John Tavares (2-0—2) and Mitchell Marner (1-2—3) each recorded multi-point outings to lift the Maple Leafs (26-10-2, 54 points) to their fifth straight victory - the League’s longest active streak - and halt the Blue Jackets’ win and point streaks at five and seven games (6-0-1), respectively.

* Tavares extended his point streak to six games (7-4—11) - including an active run of five straight multi-point showings. Facing his former team for the first time Saturday, Tavares can post the ninth instance in Maple Leafs franchise history of a player recording multiple points in six or more consecutive team games (Auston Matthews had the last such occurrence this season; 7 GP).

* Marner (13-40—53 in 38 GP) became the 27th player in NHL history - and first in Maple Leafs franchise history - to post 40 or more assists in each of his first three NHL seasons. He became the sixth active player to achieve the feat, joining Nicklas Backstrom, Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin,Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

* Marner recorded his 17th multi-point contest of the season (amounting to 45% of his total games) to inch closer to last season’s career-high totals of 22-47—69 in 82 games played.

... AS TAVARES PREPARES FOR FIRST GAME AGAINST FORMER CLUB

John Tavares now sits two goals shy of 300 in his NHL career (298-367—665 in 707 GP) as he enters his first-ever meeting against the Islanders, with whom he scored 272 of his 298 regular-season goals from 2009-10 to 2017-18 (272-349—621 in 669 GP).

* Selected first overall by New York in the 2009 NHL Draft, Tavares remains among the top 10 in Islanders franchise history in assists (5th; 349), points (5th; 621), goals (7th; 272), games played (10th; 669), overtime goals (1st; 11), game-winning goals (4th; 42), power-play goals (6th; 83) and points per game (6th; 0.93, min 300 GP). He is on track to become the first player from the 2009 draft class to reach the 300-goal milestone.

* Signed by Toronto on July 1, Tavares now leads the team and shares second in the NHL with 26 goals in 2018-19. He aims to reach the 30-goal mark in his first season with the Maple Leafs, a milestone he hit four times in an Islanders uniform.

* Tavares has recorded at least one point in 14 of 18 contests at Scotiabank Arena this season, including 9-7—16 on an active 11-game home point streak. There have been only seven instances in the League’s modern era (since 1943-44) of a Maple Leafs player recording at least one point in 12 or more consecutive home games, with MatsSundin the last to do so to start the 2007-08 home slate.

ISLANDERS MOUNT LATEST COMEBACK WIN, CANADIENS SURVIVE IN FLORIDA

The Islanders and Canadiens each earned wins in games that featured multi-goal comebacks, with New York overcoming a deficit and Montreal emerging with a win despite surrendering an early 2-0 lead.

* The Islanders’ victory marked the 77th time this season that a team won a game in which it trailed by multiple goals at any point, tied for the second-most through 582 games in NHL history (also 77 in 1986-87; 79 in 1985-86).

* New York’s win also was the 260th game this season won by a team that trailed by at least one goal at any point, tied for the most through 582 games in NHL history (also 260 in 2005-06). It also was the 105th third-period comeback win in 2018-19, fourth-most through 582 games in NHL history (109 in 2014-15, 107 in 2013-14 and 106 in 2012-13).

* Mathew Barzal (2-1—3) scored twice in the third period, including the go-ahead, game-winning goal, to rally the Islanders to their fourth multi-goal comeback win of the season (also Nov. 15 vs. NYR, Dec. 1 vs. CBJ and Dec. 8 at DET). Barzal became the sixth player in franchise history to post at least ten three-point performances in his first 120 NHL games.

* Tomas Tatar (2-0—2) scored 35 seconds into the game as the Canadiens built a 2-0 lead in the opening three minutes before ending the first period tied. Tatar then netted the first of three Canadiens goals in the final frame to help the club to its third straight win. Tatar also tallied two points in Montreal's last game before Christmas, notching an assist on their second tying goal of the contest (with 1:25 left in regulation) en route to an overtime victory in Vegas.

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SNEAK PEEK AT SATURDAY’S ACTION

SETTING THE TABLE FOR SATURDAY’S 15-GAME SLATE

Saturday marks the second of three 15-game days in 2018-19, with all teams except the Blue Jackets in action. Stats and information on the previous 14 such days in NHL history can be found here. A few storylines heading into today’s games:

* The Bruins (at BUF) and Blackhawks (at COL) each play their final contest before facing off outdoors at Notre Dame Stadium in the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day. Chicago has won four of its past five games as it prepares to host an outdoor game for the third time - details of which were unveiled Friday.

* A clash between Pacific Division rivals will see Johnny Gaudreau (19-32—51 in 38 GP) and the No. 1-ranked Flames host rookie scoring leaderElias Pettersson (18-20—38 in 34 GP) and the Canucks. Pettersson scored his sixth game-winning goal of the season on Thursday to tie Pavel Bure for the most by a rookie in franchise history. Pettersson is within reach of becoming the 43rd player in the League’s modern era (since 1943-44) to scored 20 goals within his first 40 career games - teammate Brock Boeser (37 GP) was the last NHL player to accomplish the feat. Pettersson also needs two points in his next six outings to become the 53rd player in the modern era with 40 points in his first 40 NHL games.

* Dylan Larkin (6-9—15 in 12 GP) aims to extend the League’s longest active point streak to 13 games. Larkin would become the 12th different Red Wings player to record a point in 13 or more consecutive team games and first instance since Henrik Zetterberg in 2008-09 (13-14—27 in 17 GP).

* After pulling ahead in the NHL scoring race Thursday, Nikita Kucherov (17-44—61 in 38 GP) aims to extend his point streak to 10 games as the League-leading Lightning (29-7-2, 60 points) set out for their 30th win, with a 13-game point streak (12-0-1) and 11-0-1 December record in tow. Kucherov can become the 14th different player in NHL history to post multiple point streaks of 10 or more games in consecutive seasons. The only player to do so since 1994-95 is Evgeni Malkin (2 in 2007-08 and 2 in 2008-09).

* Alex Ovechkin looks to score his 30th goal of the season and become just the sixth player in NHL history to record at least 14 career 30-goal seasons (consecutive or otherwise). He would join Mike Gartner (15 straight) as the only players in League history to begin their careers with 14 or more consecutive 30-goal campaigns.

* For the fifth time in the past week, a franchise will play its 4,000th regular-season game as the Blues host the Penguins at Enterprise Center. The record through 4,000 games is noted below for the four other clubs to hit the mark this season. Four other franchises will reach regular-season games played milestones later in 2018-19: the Jets (1,500 GP; Feb. 14 vs. COL), Devils (3,500 GP; March 19 vs. WSH), Capitals (3,500 GP; March 20 vs. TBL) and Bruins (6,500 GP; April 6 vs. TBL).

* Saturday’s action begins with the NHL European Game of the Week as Sebastian Aho (15-24—39 in 36 GP) and the Hurricanes visit Nico Hischier (10-15—25 in 32 GP) and the Devils. Aho has five points over his past two games (3-2—5), while Hischier has tallied 1-1—2 twice in his past three outings.

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.