*Crosby (2-1—3) recorded at least three points in a game for the tenth time this season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Crosby has tallied 56 points (17-39—56) in 48 games this season with 33 of his 56 points coming in the ten games in which he registered at least three points.

*David Perron (1-1—2) opened the scoring with what proved to be the eventual game-winning goal and added an assist to record his fourth multi-point game since making his Penguins debut on Jan. 3. Overall, Perron has 12 points (8-4—12) in 14 games since joining the team in a trade from Edmonton.

KANE VAULTS TO TOP OF SCORING RACE IN BLACKHAWKS WIN
Patrick Kane scored his team’s opening goal and assisted on Brandon Saad’s overtime-winner to lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 win over their Central Division rivals, the Winnipeg Jets. The Blackhawks improved to 32-18-2 (66 points) this season to remain third in the division, moving four points ahead of the Jets (26-18-10, 62 points).

*Kane (1-1—2) recorded his team-leading 17th multi-point game of the campaign to up his season total to 26-32—58 and move into a tie with Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers (17-41—58) for the League-lead in points. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kane’s 17 multi-point games is just one behind Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars for the League-lead (18).

*Saad’s overtime winner was his fourth game-winning goal of the season, which ranks second on the team behind Kane (5).

*Corey Crawford made 20 saves through regulation and overtime to improve to 20-12-2 this season with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.

*Joel Quenneville recorded his 300th win as Blackhawks head coach. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Quenneville (300-145-61) joined Billy Reay (516-335-161) as the only head coaches in franchise history to earn 300 wins with the club.

CAPITALS DEFEAT TOP-RANKED DUCKS, REMAIN HOT AT HOME
Making his first start of the season, Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves through regulation and overtime, then stopped two of three Ducks in the shootout to lead the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 win over the NHL’s top team. With the win, the Capitals improved to 28-15-10 (66 points) and took sole possession of third place in the Metropolitan Division. Washington has won three games in a row and earned at least a point in 12 of their last 13 home games (10-1-2).

*The Capitals received multi-point efforts from Jason Chimera (1-1—2, including the game-winning goal) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-2—2). Kuznetsov also scored in the shootout, where he has three goals on six attempts this season.

*Washington improved to 6-1-1 in their last eight games against Anaheim.

ELIAS REACHES ANOTHER MILESTONE IN DEVILS WIN
Patrik Elias (1-0—1) netted his first game-winner of the season and 400th goal of his NHL career to help the New Jersey Devils sweep their three-game season series versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the third major career milestone Elias has reached this season, after recording his 600th assist and 1,000th point in a 4-1 win over Buffalo on Jan. 7. A career Devil, Elias is the franchise’s all-time leader in goals (400), game-winning goals (80), assists (605) and points (1,005).

*The Devils have earned points in a season-high six straight games (5-0-1) and 10 of their last 12 (8-2-2).

*In his League-leading 45th start of the season, Cory Schneider made 33 saves to improve to 7-1-1 in his last nine decisions and 19-19-5 overall with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage.

FOLIGNO, JOHANSEN LEAD BLUE JACKETS PAST BLUES
Nick Foligno (2-1—3) and Ryan Johansen (1-2—3) sparked the offense to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 7-1 win over the St. Louis Blues, halting the Blues win streak at seven and their franchise-record point streak at 13 games.

*With identical totals, Foligno and Johansen share the team-lead in goals (20), assists (28) and points (48). Foligno has reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in his eight-season career, while Johansen has reached 20 goals for the second consecutive season after scoring 33 in 2013-14.

*The Blue Jackets also received multi-point performances from Scott Hartnell (1-1—2), Corey Tropp (1-1—2) and Brandon Dubinsky (0-2—2).

*The win marked the tenth time in franchise history the Blue Jackets scored at least seven goals in a game, and the first since April 7, 2012 (7-3 win vs. NYI).

LOOSE PUCKS
Devils defenseman Adam Larsson (0-2—2) posted his first multi-assist game of the season…Blue Jackets goaltender Curtis McElhinney stopped 33 shots to improve to 6-8-1 this season with a 2.88 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage…Blues forward Paul Stastny scored his tenth goal of the season to extend his point streak to four games (1-3—4)…Anaheim forward Ryan Kesler (1-1—2) posted his eighth multi-point game of the season and extended his point streak to three games (2-3—5)... Anaheim forward Corey Perry (1-0—1) extended his point streak to four games (4-2—6), including four goals in his last three games… Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski (0-1—1) recorded an assist while skating in the 200th game of his NHL career...The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired forwards Carter Ashton and David Broll from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

SNEAK PEEK AT SATURDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
NY Rangers @ Nashville, 3:00 p.m., MSG, FS-TN
Los Angeles @ Tampa Bay, 5:00 p.m., FS-W, SUN
NY Islanders @ Boston, 7:00 p.m., NHLN-US, FX-CA, MSG+ 2, NESN
Dallas @ Buffalo, 7:00 p.m., FS-SW+, MSG-B
Edmonton @ Toronto, 7:00 p.m., CBC
New Jersey @ Montreal, 7:00 p.m., CITY, TVA, MSG+
Columbus @ Ottawa, 7:00 p.m., SN, TVA2, FS-O
Detroit @ Arizona, 8:00 p.m., FS-D, FS-A
Pittsburgh @ Vancouver, 10:00 p.m., CBC, ROOT
Carolina @ San Jose, 10:30 p.m., FS-CR, CSN-CA
NBCSN Channel Finder
Sportsnet Channel Finder

FIVE GAMES HIGHLIGHT NATIONAL SCHEDULE
Five games highlight Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada Telecast: The Devils look to win their fourth consecutive game when they visit the Canadiens (CITY), the Oilers and Maple Leafs face-off in Toronto (CBC), the Blue Jackets visit the Senators (SN), the Islanders visit the Bruin with both teams in the thick of playoff races (FX-CA) and the Penguins visit the Canucks (CBC).

HOCKEY LEGEND GORDIE HOW CELEBRATED IN HOMETOWN
In a rare public appearance, “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howewas celebrated at the Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Friday night. Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull and Brett Hull were among those in attendance, as well as the Howe family including sons Marty and Mark. It was announced during the tribute dinner that city council in Saskatoon has agreed to change the name of a local recreation centre to the Gordie Howe Kinsmen Arena.

''He is, he was, he will always be the greatest of all time.'' – Wayne Gretzky


Photo courtesy of Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup)

thanks to the NHL PR department for the above information