AHO SCORES HAT TRICK AS HURRICANES CONTINUE TO ROLL

Sebastian Aho (3-1—4) scored three of Carolina’s six goals to record the second hat trick of his NHL career (also Jan. 31, 2017 vs. PHI) and help the Hurricanes improve to 7-1-0 in their last eight games. Carolina (22-18-5, 49 points), which also extended its home win streak to five contests, moved within four points of the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

* Aho (21-30—51 in 45 GP) eclipsed the 20-goal mark for the third time in as many NHL seasons (also 24 G in 2016-17 and 29 G in 2017-18). He became the fourth player to debut with the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise and reach the 20-goal mark in each of his first three NHL seasons (all w/ CAR/HFD), joining Ron Francis (1981-82 to 1983-84), Sylvain Turgeon (1983-84 to 1985-86) and Kevin Dineen (1984-85 to 1986-87).

* Aho (Rauma, Finland) also became the sixth Finnish-born player in League history to score at least 20 goals in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining Jari Kurri (1980-81 to 1982-83), Tomas Sandstrom (1984-85 to 1986-87), Petri Skriko (1984-85 to 1986-87), Teemu Selanne (1992-93 to 1994-95) and Patrik Laine (2016-17 to 2018-19).

WILLIAMS JOINS RARE COMPANY WITH FIVE-GAME GOAL STREAK

Hurricanes captain Justin Williams scored to extend his goal streak to five games (5-0—5), the longest active run in the NHL. He became the sixth player in League history to record a goal streak of at least five games at 37 years of age or older.

RED-HOT FLAMES MATCH FRANCHISE RECORD WITH 30TH WIN IN 47TH GAME

Mark Giordano (2-1—3), Matthew Tkachuk (2-0—2), Johnny Gaudreau (1-1—2), Sean Monahan (1-1—2) and Elias Lindholm (0-1—1) each found the scoresheet to help the Western Conference-leading Flames (30-13-4, 64 points) improve to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, including five straight wins. Calgary matched a franchise record for fewest games to record 30 wins in a season (47 GP), a mark set in 1988-89 (30-10-7, 67 points) en route to capturing the Stanley Cup.

* The Flames scored at least seven goals in a game for an NHL-best sixth time this season and rank second among all teams with 173 goals for, trailing only the League-leading Lightning (189). Calgary scored at least seven goals in a game six or more times in a season for the first time since 1992-93 (8x).

* Gaudreau extended his point streak to eight games (8-10—18) and is second in the NHL with 69 points this season (27-42—69 in 47 GP), trailing only Nikita Kucherov (22-53—75 in 46 GP). His 21 multi-point games in 2018-19 are 12 shy of the franchise record for most in a season (33), a mark set by Bob MacMillan in 1978-79 (w/ AFM) and matched by Kent Nilsson in 1980-81 (w/ CGY).

* Sunday’s game was the 12th this season in which Giordano, Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Monahan and Lindholm each collected at least one point. TheFlames improved to 11-0-1 in those contests.

BLUE JACKETS SCORE SEVEN AFTER HONORING NASH

The Blue Jackets matched a season high with seven goals to defeat the Rangers and pick up their third straight win. Columbus improved to 27-15-3 (57 points) this season and leapfrogged idle Pittsburgh (25-14-6, 56 points) for second place in the Metropolitan Division standings.

* Cam Atkinson (1-1—2), who has played all eight of his NHL seasons with Columbus, boosted his career totals to 171-148—319 (491 GP) and passed David Vyborny (113-204—317 in 543 GP) for sole possession of second place on the franchise’s all-time regular-season points list. Atkinson now trails only Rick Nash (289-258—547 in 674 GP), who the Blue Jackets honored in a pre-game ceremony for recently announcing his retirement after 15 NHL seasons.

DID YOU KNOW?

A total of 4,294 goals have been scored in 2018-19 (including 40 shootout-deciding goals), the most through the first 704 games of a season since 2005-06 (4,398). There have also been 46 instances of a team scoring at least seven goals in 2018-19, the highest such total through the first 704 games of a season since 1995-96 (72).

CENTRAL DIVISION-LEADING JETS RALLY PAST DUCKS

Winnipeg overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 before Bryan Little (1-1—2) scored with 10.1 seconds remaining in overtime as the Central Division-leading Jets (29-14-2, 60 points) improved to 8-2-0 in their last 10 home games, including four straight wins. Little scored the winning goal for the second straight game (also Jan. 11 vs. DET) and extended his point streak to five contests (4-3—7).

* Patrik Laine (25-8—33 in 45 GP), who will celebrate his 21st birthday on April 19, 2019, scored to reach the 25-goal mark for the third time in as many NHL seasons (also 36 G in 2016-17 and 44 in 2017-18).

ISLANDERS, CANUCKS PICK UP WINS

* The Islanders scored three goals in the opening five minutes en route to a 5-1 win over the League-leading Lightning. New York (25-15-4, 54 points), which became the first Metropolitan Division team to defeat Tampa Bay in any fashion this season, surpassed idle Montreal (25-17-5, 53 points) for the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

* With the game tied 1-1, Vancouver (21-21-5, 47 points) scored four unanswered goals in the final 13 minutes of regulation to defeat Florida and match the point total of idle Minnesota (22-19-3, 47 points), which occupies the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference standings. The Wild, however, hold three games in hand.

QUICK CLICKS

* Lightning’s Mikhail Sergachev fined for cross-checking

* Military working dog Helen drops puck at PNC Arena

* Brooks Orpikapproaches milestone, still leading on, off ice with Capitals

* Colin Delia making most with opportunity with Blackhawks

SNEAK PEEK AT MONDAY’S ACTION

PERRON, GUSTAFSSON LOOK TO EXTEND STREAKS

Blues forward David Perron (4-9—13 in 10 GP) and Blackhawks defenseman Erik Gustafsson (0-11—11 in 8 GP), who own the League’s longest active point and assist streaks, respectively, look to extend their runs on Monday.

* Perron can become the first Blues player to record at least one point in 11 or more consecutive team games since Alexander Steen from Oct. 17 – Nov. 16, 2013 (13-5—18 in 13 GP). The franchise record for longest point streak is 25 games, a mark set by Brett Hull from Nov. 28, 1991 – Jan. 23, 1992 (31-15—46).

* Gustafsson, meanwhile, can become the third different defenseman in franchise history to record at least one assist in nine or more consecutive team games; he would join Pierre Pilote from Feb. 4-26, 1961 (2-12—14 in 10 GP), Nov. 13 – Dec. 4, 1963 (1-12—13 in 9 GP) and Dec. 13-31, 1964 (1-12—13 in 9 GP), as well as Chris Chelios from Nov. 11-28, 1995 (3-11—14 in 9 GP).

the above information was provided by the NHL PR department