Rounding out the second month of the 2019-20 NHL Regular Season, the competition for playoff spots is starting to take shape. Although much can change in the standings between now and April 2020, when we’ll know which teams will be battling towards reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, the month of November has brought plenty of exciting action.
For those of us who enjoy keeping an eye on facts and figures, key players have reached a variety of milestones, while individual games have treated us to some crazy numbers. Let’s take a look at our pick of the best through November.
Best & Worst Streaks
Top of the Eastern Conference and the League standings, the outstanding team of the NHL Regular Season so far has been the Boston Bruins. Following a fine start to their campaign in October, despite a dip in form in the middle of November, the team coached by Bruce Cassidy bounced back to winning ways, hitting 6 straight victories and 10-game point streak to conclude another exceptional month for the current Stanley Cup favorites.
Already proving a season to forget for the Detroit Red Wings, having suffered a horrible streak of 7 losses in October, it didn’t get any better in November. Another losing run of 4 games was finally halted and results took a brief turn for the better. Nevertheless, everything fell apart again and already the worst team in the NHL this season, the Red Wings slumped to finish November with a streak of 7 straight defeats.
The Best Comeback
On Saturday 23 November the Montreal Canadians hosted the New York Rangers at the Bell Center. Strongly tipped by bookmakers as favorites to win and with home advantage, the Canadiens were 0-3 ahead by the end of the first period. When Shea Weber made it 0-4 early in the second period, the men from Montreal looked as though they were cruising to a comfortable victory and living up to the betting expectations.
However, it all started to turn sour from there. The Rangers showed great fighting spirit and scored 3 goals in just under four minutes, narrowing the deficit to 3-4 by the end of the second period. Even though the Canadiens extended their lead to 3-5 early in the third period, the Rangers still refused to quit, scoring three more goals themselves to complete a spectacular 6-3 comeback win.
800 Consecutive Games Milestones
Playing 500 consecutive NHL Regular Season games is often met with great praise, earning those who reach that milestone the “ironman” status amongst their contemporaries and fans. This is such a difficult feat to achieve, only 24 players in the entire history of the NHL have done it, including just three who remain active. What’s more, they’ve all passed the 800 mark.
However, it all started to turn sour from there. The Rangers showed great fighting spirit and scored 3 goals in just under four minutes, narrowing the deficit to 3-4 by the end of the second period. Even though the Canadiens extended their lead to 3-5 early in the third period, the Rangers still refused to quit, scoring three more goals themselves to complete a spectacular 6-3 comeback win.
800 Consecutive Games Milestones
Playing 500 consecutive NHL Regular Season games is often met with great praise, earning those who reach that milestone the “ironman” status amongst their contemporaries and fans. This is such a difficult feat to achieve, only 24 players in the entire history of the NHL have done it, including just three who remain active. What’s more, they’ve all passed the 800 mark.
Keith Yandle had already joined the elusive 800 club in October with the Florida Panthers. 40-year-old Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks played his 800th consecutive game on Tuesday 5 November, followed by Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel on 27 November. The all-time NHL record is still held by Doug Jarvis, who never missed a single game during his entire NHL career with three teams, playing a remarkable 964 consecutive games.
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