Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

12/29/2016 at 6:51am EST

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
Toronto 3, FLORIDA 2 (SO)
PITTSBURGH 3, Carolina 2
TAMPA BAY 4, Montreal 3 (OT)
ST. LOUIS 6, Philadelphia 3
VANCOUVER 2, Los Angeles 1

CROSBY, PENGUINS MOVE ATOP LEAGUE STANDINGS
Sidney Crosby (1-0—1) scored his 26th goal of the season to extend his League lead and propel the Penguins (24-8-5, 53 points) into the top spot in the NHL.

* Crosby (26-16—42) moved into a tie with Connor McDavid (13-29—42) for the League scoring lead, despite having played five fewer games. He has now scored in five straight contests and has 5-4—9 on a six-game point streak. Per Elias, Crosby has recorded goals in five consecutive games for the sixth time in his career, and for the first time since Jan. 21 - Feb. 8, 2016, when he scored 10 goals in a career-high seven straight games.

* The Penguins also extended their home point streak to 10 games (9-0-1). According to Elias, they last earned a point in 10 straight home contests from Dec. 21, 2015 - Feb. 8, 2016 (8-0-2). Pittsburgh improved to 11-1-2 in the month of December, earning 24 points in a calendar month for the second time this year (also 12-4-0 in March).

* Marc-Andre Fleury (19 saves) earned the victory in relief of an injured Matt Murray (25 saves) to improve to 5-0-1 in his last six decisions.

FABBRI HAT TRICK HELPS BLUES CONTINUE HOME SUCCESS
Robby Fabbri (3-0—3) tallied his first career hat trick and 12 different Blues players found the score sheet as St. Louis improved to 12-1-4 in their last 17 home contests.


* Per Elias, the Blues became the only team in the League to record three hat tricks this season (also David Perron: 3-1—4 vs. CGY on Oct. 22 and Vladimir Tarasenko: 3-1—4 vs. TBL on Dec. 1).

* Fabbri has earned at least one point in seven of his last 10 contests, picking up 6-5—11 over that span.

* Tarasenko (16-23—39) notched an assist to move within three points of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid for the League lead.

LOOSE PUCKS
Auston Matthews (17-11—28) scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season and added an assist to move within two goals and points of Patrik Laine (19-11—30) for the League lead among rookies . . . Mitchell Marner recorded the lone goal in the shootout and Frederik Andersen tied a season high with 45 saves as the Maple Leafs earned their fourth straight road win . . . Tyler Johnson (2-0—2) scored the fourth overtime goal of his career as the Lightning overcame a two-goal, third period deficit to improve to 3-1-1 in their last five games . . . Victor Hedman (1-1—2) earned a goal and an assist for his seventh multi-point game of the season . . . Henrik Sedin scored his second game-winner of the season to propel the Canucks to a 4-1-1 record in their last six home games . . . Shea Weber scored his eighth power play goal of the campaign to move within one of Sidney Crosby for the League lead . . . Grammy Award-winning artist and St. Louis native Nelly will headline the entertainment at the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic.

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Boston @ Buffalo, 7 p.m., MSG-B, NESN
New Jersey @ Washington, 7 p.m., NBCSN, CSN-DC
Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m., TVAS, SUN, SNO
Montreal @ Florida, 7:30 p.m., FS-F, SNE, RDS
Chicago @ Nashville, 8 p.m., FS-TN, CSN-CH
NY Islanders @ Minnesota, 8 p.m., FS-N, FS-WI, MSG+
Columbus @ Winnipeg, 8 p.m., TSN3, FS-O
Detroit @ Ottawa, 8 p.m., RDSI, TSN5, FS-D
Colorado @ Dallas, 8:30 p.m., FS-SW, ALT
Anaheim @ Calgary, 9 p.m., SN360, PRIME
Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 9 p.m., SNW, FS-W
NY Rangers @ Arizona, 9 p.m., FS-A PLUS, MSG
NBC Sports Channel Finder
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BLUE JACKETS, WILD LOOK TO EXTEND STREAKS, SET UP SHOWDOWN
The Blue Jackets (13-0-0) and Wild (11-0-0) will each try to extend their franchise-record win streaks prior to their meeting in Minnesota on New Year’s Eve. Per Elias, no two teams have ever faced off while each holding win streaks of 11+ games

* Columbus (24-5-4, 52 points) meets Winnipeg (17-7-3, 37 points) in the first of two meetings this season. The Blue Jackets are led by Sergei Bobrovsky (22-5-2), whose current win and point streaks — 11 and 13 games (12-0-1), respectively — are both career highs and franchise records.

* Minnesota (22-8-4, 48 points) wraps up its season series against the Islanders (14-14-6, 32 points) on the strength of goaltender Devan Dubnyk (18-6-3), who has won nine straight games and leads all goaltenders in goals-against average (1.58), save percentage (.947) and shutouts (5) this season.

SENATORS TO RETIRE ALFREDSSON’S #11 IN PREGAME CEREMONY
Former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson will see his number 11 raised to the rafters of the Canadian Tire Centre prior to Ottawa’s meeting with the Red Wings. The ceremony will contain speeches, special guests, videos and a tribute to Alfredsson, who holds Senators franchise records for goals (426), assists (682) and points (1,108) over his 1,178 games with the club.

the information above was supplied by the NHL PR department

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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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