THREE HARD LAPS: QUICK HITS FROM TUESDAY

* Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Sam Steel scored the 91st, 92nd and 93rd hat tricks of 2018-19 to help their teams triumph. The last season to feature more hat tricks was 1992-93 (112).

* Alex Ovechkin scored to climb various all-time lists and move within one of his eighth career 50-goal season.

* Tomas Tatar and Max Domi each scored to join rare company in the Canadiens' history books.

NUGENT-HOPKINS, DRAISAITL EACH SCORE HAT TRICKS IN WIN OVER KINGS

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (3-0—3) scored three of Edmonton’s five first-period goals and Leon Draisaitl (3-1—4) also tallied three times as the Oilers(34-34-8, 76 points) earned an 8-4 win over the Kings. Edmonton, which scored eight goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 14, 2017 (8-2 W vs. VGK), moved within five points of Colorado (34-29-13, 81 points) for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference standings.

* Nugent-Hopkins scored the third regular-season hat trick of his NHL career and first since March 8, 2015 (3-1—4 at CAR). He became the seventh different player in franchise history to score a hat trick in the first period of a regular-season game.

* Draisaitl, meanwhile, scored his 44th, 45th and 46th goals of the season (46-53—99 in 76 GP) to move within three of Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (49-37—86 in 76 GP), who leads the 2018-19 Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race. His 46 goals are the most in a season by an Oilersplayer since 1988-89, when Jimmy Carson scored 49 (49-51—100 in 80 GP).

* Connor McDavid (1-3—4) collected four points to boost his total to 112 this season (39-73—112 in 72 GP), trailing only Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (38-83—121 in 77 GP) in the 2018-19 Art Ross Trophy race. His 112 points are the most in a season by an Oilers player since 1989-90, when Mark Messier had 129 (45-84—129 in 79 GP).

DID YOU KNOW?

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl became the first set of Oilers teammates to each score a hat trick in a regular-season game since Jari Kurri (4-2—6) and Paul Coffey (3-2—5) on Dec. 20, 1985 (9-4 W vs. LAK).

STEEL COMPLETES HAT TRICK WITH PENALTY-SHOT GOAL

Sam Steel (3-0—3) scored the first hat trick of his NHL career – including converting on a penalty-shot attempt late in the second period – to help the Ducks (32-36-10, 74 points) defeat the Canucks and improve to 4-1-1 in their last six games.

* Steel (21 years, 51 days) became the youngest player in franchise history to score a regular-season hat trick, eclipsing the previous mark set byBobby Ryan (21 years, 297 days) on Jan. 8, 2009. He also joined Ryan as the second rookie in franchise history to score a regular-season hat trick.

* Steel, the 30th overall selection in the 2016 NHL Draft, became the third rookie in League history to score a regular-season hat trick which included a penalty-shot goal, joining Philadelphia’s Eric Lindros on Dec. 26, 1992 and Winnipeg’s Teemu Selanne on March 9, 1993.

^Since 1934-35 when penalty shots were introduced

OVECHKIN CLIMBS ALL-TIME LISTS AS CAPITALS MOVE WITHIN TWO POINTS OF 100

Alex Ovechkin (1-1—2) scored the game winner at 4:31 of the third period – his League-leading 49th goal of the season (49-37—86 in 77 GP) – as the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals (45-24-8, 98 points) defeated the Hurricanes. Washington moved with two points of reaching 100 for the fifth consecutive season and 12th time in franchise history.

* Ovechkin scored the 656th regular-season goal of his NHL career to tie Brendan Shanahan for 13th place on the League’s all-time list. Ovechkin scored the 717th goal of his NHL career including playoffs to pass Shanahan (716) for sole possession of the 13th-highest such total in League history.

* Ovechkin scored the 107th regular-season game-winning goal of his NHL career to pass Patrick Marleau (106) for sole possession of seventh place on the League’s all-time list, two back of Shanahan (109) for sixth.

* Ovechkin is now one tally shy of becoming the third player in NHL history to record eight or more 50-goal seasons – a list topped by Mike Bossyand Wayne Gretzky, who each had nine.

CANADIENS SCORE SIX GOALS AS TATAR, DOMI JOIN RARE COMPANY

Tomas Tatar (2-1—3) and Max Domi (1-0—1) combined for three of Montreal’s six goals to help the Canadiens (41-28-8, 90 points) extend their point streak to five games (4-0-1). Montreal occupies the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference standings and moved within one point of Carolina (42-27-7, 91 points), which occupies the first.

* Tatar (25-32—57 in 75 GP) became the second player in his first season with the Canadiens to reach the 25-goal mark in 2018-19, joining Domi (27-41—68 in 77 GP). They became the fourth set of teammates to each score 25 or more goals while skating in their first season with theCanadiens.

* Domi leads the Canadiens in scoring this season, while Tatar ranks second. Domi and Tatar can become the third set of players to conclude a season ranking first and second in team scoring while skating in their first season with the Canadiens; they would join Joe Malone (44-4—48 in 20 GP) and Newsy Lalonde (23-7—30 in 14 GP) in 1917-18 as well as John Quilty (18-16—34 in 48 GP) and Joe Benoit (16-16—32 in 45 GP) in 1940-41.

BOBROVSKY RECORDS SECOND STRAIGHT SHUTOUT AS BLUE JACKETS KEEP PACE

Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside all 26 shots he faced to record his second straight shutout, and third in a span of four appearances, helping theBlue Jackets extend their home win streak to four games. Columbus remained two points back of Montreal in pursuit of its third straight berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and fifth in franchise history.

* Bobrovsky, who blanked the Hurricanes on March 15 (3-0 W) and Canucks on March 24 (5-0 W), improved to 3-1-0 in his last four appearances (0.76 GAA, .976 SV%, 3 SO). He recorded his eighth shutout of 2018-19 to move into a tie with Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury for the League lead and establish a career high for most in a season, eclipsing his previous mark of seven set in 2016-17.

QUICK CLICKS

* Darcy Kuemper blanks Blackhawks as Coyotes snap five-game slide

* Jon Cooper signs contract to remain Lightning coach

* Michael Raffl signs two-year contract with Flyers

* Jason Botterill part of management team for Canada at World Championship

* Top college free agents starting to sign with NHL teams

SNEAK PEEK AT WEDNESDAY’S ACTION

PLAYOFF-BOUND BRUINS LOOK TO EXTEND HOME WIN STREAK TO 12 GAMES

The Bruins (46-21-9, 101), who clinched a berth in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday, look to extend their home win streak to 12 games when they host the Rangers (29-33-13, 71 points) at TD Garden. Boston’s 11-0-0 mark at TD Garden dating to Feb. 5 is tied for its sixth-longest home win streak in franchise history and longest since a 14-game run from Oct. 25, 2008 – Jan. 1, 2009.

the imformation above was provided by the NHL PR department