* The Oilers struck twice in the opening 41 seconds to earn their fifth straight win – tied with the Coyotes for the longest active run in the League – while the Golden Knights benefited from two goals in 27 seconds to pass the idle Rangers for top spot in the NHL standings.
* Evan Rodrigues recorded his second four-point outing of the season while Sam Reinhart climbed the NHL’s goal-scoring leaderboard to help the Panthers skate to a high-scoring win.
* Thursday’s 13-game slate features an ESPN doubleheader, the Kings looking to set an NHL record for longest season-opening road winning streak, Patrick Kane making his Red Wings debut as well as the first meeting between Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson since they were taken with the top two picks in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Kukla's Korner Hockey
NHL Short Notes
QUICK GOALS HELP OILERS, GOLDEN KNIGHTS SKATE TO VICTORY
The Oilers scored twice in the opening 41 seconds to claim their fifth straight win while the Golden Knights (17-5-5, 39 points) benefited from two goals in 27 seconds to reclaim top spot in the League standings.
* Zach Hyman (3-0—3) recorded his second hat trick of the season, joining Auston Matthews (3), Frank Vatrano (2) and Brayden Point (2) as the only players with multiple three-goal performances. 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.
* Connor McDavid (0-3—3) factored on Edmonton’s second of two quick tallies and added another helper during his club’s four-goal first period to collect his 569th and 570th career assists, surpassing Jari Kurri (569) for third place on the Oilers all-time list.
* The Golden Knights opened their dad's trip with their third multi-goal comeback win of 2023-24 after going down 3-1 thanks to goals from six different players, including Zach Whitecloud (1-0—1) who became the 23rd Vegas player to score this season – now the most individual goal scorers by any team ahead of the Blue Jackets (22).
* Jonathan Marchessault (1-0—1), who is tied with William Karlsson (1-1—2) and Jack Eichel (1-1—2) for the team lead in goals (all w/ 12), scored his fifth game-tying tally of the campaign – tied with Filip Forsberg for third most among all players behind Auston Matthews (6) and Steven Stamkos (5).
RODRIGUES, REINHART POWER PANTHERS PAST STARS
Evan Rodrigues (2-2—4) opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game and didn’t stop there, factoring on four of five Florida goals to help the Panthers (15-8-2, 32 points) pass the idle Red Wings (14-7-3, 31 points) for second place in the Atlantic Division.
* Rodrigues, who recorded his first career four-point outing earlier this season (2-2—4 at WPG on Oct. 14), increased his 2023-24 totals to 6-14—20 (25 GP). Among players skating in their first season with a club, only four have as many points: Alex DeBrincat (13-11—24 in 24 GP w/ DET), Ryan O’Reilly (12-10—22 in 25 GP w/ NSH), Tyler Toffoli (12-9—21 in 23 GP w/ NJD) and Connor Bedard (11-9—20 in 24 GP w/ CHI).
* Sam Reinhart (1-2—3) netted his 17th goal of 2023-24 to move within one of Brock Boeser for the League lead while also matching the Panthers mark for fewest games to 100 assists with the club – a pace originally set by Keith Yandle (185 GP).
KUCHEROV SETS FRANCHISE RECORD ON #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
Wednesday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured Nikita Kucherov (1-1—2) extending his assist streak to a franchise-record 11 games while helping the Lightning log their second straight win on the heels of an 8-1 loss Saturday.
HYMAN’S FOUNDATION MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT
Zach Hyman’s charitable efforts are featured one day after his second hat trick of the season and on the first day of Hanukkah. The Hyman Family Foundation, also known as Hyman Helps, works with the UJA Federation, an organization that preserves and strengthens the Jewish community, as well as SickKids. A children’s book author and native of Toronto, Ont., Hyman has also donated to the Toronto Reference Library to support their children’s literacy initiatives.
QUICK CLICKS
* Patrick Kane returns to roots ahead of Red Wings debut
* Jake Walman fined $2,500 for actions in Red Wings game
* Eric Robinson traded to Sabres by Blue Jackets for draft pick in 2025
* Jacques Martin hired by Senators as senior adviser to coaching staff
* Blues launch new collaboration with V Foundation ahead of Hockey Fights Cancer night on ESPN
ESPN DOUBLEHEADER, KINGS’ STREAK AND KANE’S DEBUT HIGHLIGHT THURSDAY
A busy Thursday in the NHL is headlined by the Stars-Capitals and Devils-Kraken during an ESPN doubleheader. Jack Hughes (4-6—10 in 4 GP), who has three-point performances in three of his past four outings and a tally in all four of those contests, can tie his career high for longest goal streak (5 GP in 2022-23). Joe Pavelski (11-13—24 in 24 GP) can become the fifth player in NHL history to pace a team in goals at age 39 or older, with that group including Jaromir Jagr with Dallas in 2012-13; the only player in the past eight years to lead his team in goals at the end of a season at age 37 or older is Alex Ovechkin (2022-23), who is one away from the 1,500-point milestone.
* Los Angeles can become the first team in NHL history with 11 straight road wins to start a season, eclipsing a 10-game run by Buffalo in 2006-07. Part of the Kings’ road success can be attributed to the play of Trevor Moore (7-8—15 in 10 GP) and Anze Kopitar (6-6—12 in 10 GP), who have found the score sheet in each contest thus far – they can become the first Los Angeles players with a season-opening road point streak of at least 11 games since Wayne Gretzky (16 GP in 1990-91).
* Kane (451-786—1,237 in 1,180 GP), who leads all players on Detroit’s active roster in career goals, assists, points and games played, joins a Red Wings team that is 6-1-0 in their last seven games and looking to clinch their first playoff appearance since 2016. He can become the seventh player age 35 or older to score in his debut with the franchise – the eldest is Mike Modano, who is the only U.S.-born skater in League history with more points than Kane.
* Bedard (11-9—20 in 24 GP) and Carlsson (8-5—13 in 17 GP) rank first and second (tied), respectively, in rookie goal scoring this season. Bedard had four assists against Carlsson as Team Canada earned a 5-1 win versus Team Sweden to conclude its round-robin play at the 2023 World Junior Championship.
Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.
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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.
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