NHL Short Notes

* Quinn Hughes factored on five of 10 Canucks goals and matched a franchise record for points in a game by a defenseman as Vancouver skated to its highest-scoring contest in over 30 years.

* Another Hughes brother had a big night – Jack posted a multi-point performance for the Devils and maintained his spot atop the NHL in points. The 2023-24 season marked the first in NHL history where brothers led the League in points among all players and scoring by defensemen at this stage (outright or tied, through 156 GP).

* Jonathan Marchessault netted a hat trick to guide the Golden Knights to victory as they became one of three teams to extend their respective streaks Thursday. With every hat trick this season, AstraZeneca will donate $5,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation up to $500,000. Click here for more information.

HUGHES, PETTERSSON LEAD CANUCKS TO DOUBLE-DIGIT OUTBURST
Quinn Hughes (1-4—5) and Elias Pettersson (0-3—3) were all over the score sheet as they led the Canucks to their eighth outburst of 10-plus goals in franchise history and first in more than 30 years. After missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2022-23, Vancouver (7-2-1, 15 points) is now off to its third-best start through 10 games in franchise history behind 2005-06 and 1991-92 (both 17 points).

* Vancouver became the second team this calendar year with a double-digit goal output following Dallas on March 9 (10-4 W at BUF). Only six other calendar years since 2000 have featured multiple such instances: 2022 (3), 2017 (2), 2016 (2), 2009 (2) and 2008 (2).

* Hughes’ five-point effort – and 20th career outing with three or more – tied the franchise record for most points in a game by a defenseman, a mark originally set by Jeff Brown (0-5—5) on Feb. 20, 1995. The Canucks captain also became just the ninth active blueliner to post as many points in a contest.

* Pettersson, who reached 200 career assists in the contest, recorded his seventh multi-point outing of the season and became just the eighth different player since 2000-01 with as many such performances through his first 10 contests of a campaign. Pettersson (5-14—19 in 10 GP) trails only Tony Tanti (13-8—21 in 1983-84) for the most points by a Canucks skater through the opening 10 games of a season.
… WHILE ANOTHER HUGHES BROTHER HELPS GUIDE DEVILS TO VICTORY
Jack Hughes (0-2—2) and Jesper Bratt (1-3—4) continued their scorching starts to the season, occupying first and third in the NHL in points, respectively, as New Jersey defeated Minnesota. Two Devils players rank in the top three in points through 156 League games for the first time in franchise history.

* Hughes (5-15—20 in 9 GP) became the third player in the past 25 years with 20 points before his 10th game of a season, following Leon Draisaitl (20 in 2021-22) and Mario Lemieux (20 in 2002-03).

* The 2023-24 season marked the first in NHL history where brothers led the League in points among all players and scoring by defensemen at this stage (outright or tied, through 156 GP). The next-closest campaign was in 1933-34, when Maple Leafs forward Charlie Conacher (25-15—40 in 31 GP) led all players with 40 points and Black Hawks blueliner Lionel Conacher (6-7—13 in 34 GP) ranked tied for fourth among defensemen.

STARS RISE TO THE OCCASION IN RANGERS’ TIGHTLY-CONTESTED AFFAIR
Artemi Panarin assisted on one of two Rangers goals and Igor Shesterkin (26 saves) allowed one goal or fewer in a regular-season game for the 53rd time in his career to help New York (8-2-0, 16 points) produce their second-best 10-game start to a season in franchise history behind 1983-84 (9-1-0, 18 points).

* Panarin, one of two players to extend their season-opening point streak to 10 games Thursday (also William Nylander w/ TOR), has recorded a double-digit point streak at any point in a campaign with the Rangers for the third time in his career (also 13 GP & 12 GP in 2019-20). Five other players in franchise history have had as many stretches with the club: Rod Gilbert (8x), Mark Messier (4x), Brian Leetch (4x), Mike Rogers (3x) and Jean Ratelle (3x).

* Shesterkin’s 53 performances with one goal against or fewer are the fourth most among all goaltenders since debuting in 2019-20 behind Andrei Vasilevskiy (58), Juuse Saros (58) and Connor Hellebuyck (57). Marc-Andre Fleury (51) and Frederik Andersen (51) are the only other netminders with at least 50 through that span.

TRIO OF TEAMS EXTEND STREAKS FRIDAY
The Golden Knights (10-0-1, 21 points), Bruins (9-0-1, 19 points) and Kings (6-2-2, 14 points) each extended their respective streaks Thursday. In the process, Boston joined Vegas as the second team with a season-opening point streak of at least 10 games this season, marking the third campaign in NHL history where multiple teams posted double-digit runs following 2006-07 (ANA & BUF) and 1972-73 (MTL & BUF). The Ducks and Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2006-07 and 1972-73, respectively.

* Jonathan Marchessault (3-0—3) scored his third hat trick with the Golden Knights – and the fourth of his career – to tie William Karlsson (3) for the most in franchise history as Vegas extended its season-opening point streak to 11 games. (10-0-1). It also marked the second-longest point streak at any point of a season for the club behind a 13-game run in 2017-18 (12-0-1).

* Jake DeBrusk (1-0—1) scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout as the Bruins (9-0-1, 19 points) quelled the Maple Leafs’ comeback attempt and extended their franchise-record season-opening point streak to 10 contests. Mason Lohrei logged an assist in his League debut with Boston.

* Anze Kopitar scored the game-winning goal to move within two tallies of 400 in his career as the Kings improved to 5-0-0 on the road and 6-2-2 (14 points) overall – their most points through the first 10 games of a season since 2017-18 (8-1-1, 17 points). Los Angeles bumped its goal total up to 42 this season – the club’s highest total through 10 games since 1993-94 (47).
SEVERAL OTHER STARS SPOTLIGHTED IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
The latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured a number of other stars from across the League with noteworthy performances during Thursday’s 12-game slate:

* Joe Pavelski (1-2—3) factored on three consecutive Dallas goals to help the Stars (7-1-1, 15 points) capture their third straight win and improve to 4-0-1 on the road to start 2023-24. Pavelski, who became the fourth different player age 39 or older with a three-point game for the franchise, recorded his 236th career contest with multiple points to surpass “Miracle on Ice” veteran Neal Broten (235) for sole possession of the 10th-most by a U.S.-born player in NHL history.

* Johnny Gaudreau got his first goal of the season and Adam Fantilli (0-1—1) also found the score sheet as the Blue Jackets rallied past the Lightning to improve to 4-4-2 (10 points). Fantilli (2-4—6 in 10 GP) trails only Logan Cooley (1-7—8 in 10 GP), Pavel Mintyukov (1-6—7 in 10 GP), Luke Hughes (1-6—7 in 9 GP) and Ridly Greig (2-5—7 in 9 GP) for the League scoring lead among rookies this season.

*Sergei Bobrovsky shut out the Red Wings to lift the Panthers to victory on the night Aleksander Barkov skated in the 672nd game of his NHL career and surpassed Jonathan Huberdeau (671 GP) for sole possession of the most in franchise history. Ahead of the milestone match, NHL.com wrote a feature on the Florida captain.

QUICK CLICKS

* Semyon Varlamov gets 2nd straight shutout, Islanders top Capitals
* Igor Shesterkin plays goalie for 1-year-old son in cute video
* Sidney Crosby set to play 1,200th NHL game for Penguins, continues to ‘love it’
* 2024 NHL Draft Notebook: Sacha Boisvert gets education watching Penguins’ Sidney Crosby

FLYERS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK DURING TWO-GAME SLATEA two-game slate begins with the Flyers looking to bounce back against the Sabres in a rematch of their Wednesday night contest, and ends with Jack Hughes and the Devils facing off against the Blues at Enterprise Center.

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.

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