NHL NEWS DECEMBER 20, 2022 – THOMPSON TALLIES 50TH POINT AS SABRES WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT

Tage Thompson (26-24—50 in 32 GP) scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season to reach the 50-point mark and help the Sabres to be the Vegas Knights 3-2 and claim their fourth straight victory. Thompson joined Connor McDavid (28-36—64 in 33 GP) and Leon Draisaitl (21-33—54 in 33 GP) as the third NHL player to record 50 points this season.

• Thompson (12-9—21 in 9 GP) has tallied 21 points in nine games since Dec. 1. He matched Gilbert Perreault (December 1976; 8-13—21 in 11 GP) and Rene Robert (December 1972; 11-10—21 in 10 GP) for the second-most points by a Sabres skater in a single month of December, behind only Alexander Mogilny (December 1992; 17-6—23 in 9 GP). Buffalo contests four more games before the New Year.

BERGERON HAS FOUR POINTS AS BRUINS, PASTRNAK AND ULLMARK CONTINUE TO ROLL

Patrice Bergeron (2-2—4) factored on four of the League-leading Bruins’ season-high seven goals to record his first four-point game of the campaign and help Boston improve to 17-0-2 (36 points) at TD Garden in 2022-23. The Bruins’ 19-game season-opening home point streak is two contests shy of the franchise record (19-0-2 in 21 GP from Oct. 10, 1973–Jan. 10, 1974).

• Bergeron (37 years, 148 days) became the oldest Boston player with a four-point game since Brian Rolston over 10 years ago (39 years, 27 days on March 19, 2012). The only other skaters in franchise history with at least one four-point game at age 37 or older are Johnny Bucyk (7x; last: March 11, 1976), Jean Ratelle (4x; last: March 12, 1980), Mark Recchi (April 9, 2009), Ray Bourque (Oct. 28, 1999) and Dit Clapper (Feb. 17, 1945).
• Bergeron provided the primary assist on the winning goal by David Pastrnak (7-4—11 in 9 GP), who extended his point streak to nine games and moved within one of his sixth double-digit run in the NHL. Linus Ullmark (36 saves) also extended a noteworthy streak Monday, improving to 11-0-1 in 13 home appearances this season with a 1.84 goals-against average and .939 save percentage.

DEFENSEMEN LIFT CAPITALS TO MULTI-GOAL COMEBACK VICTORY VERSUS RED WINGS

Nic Dowd (2-1—3) delivered two tallies in an 11-second span and Erik Gustafsson (1-1—2) also got a game-tying goal as Washington overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 before Dmitry Orlov’s 4-3 overtime winner to complete the comeback over the Detroit Red Wings.

• Gustafsson (4-1—5 in 2 GP) became the fourth defenseman in franchise history with four goals over a two-game span during the regular season, joining Mike Green (4-1—5 in 2 GP from Feb. 7-11, 2009), Sergei Gonchar (4-1—5 in 2 GP from Jan. 4-6, 2000) and Kevin Hatcher (4-1—5 in 2 GP from Jan. 9-13, 1993). Al Iafrate also achieved the feat with the Capitals in the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
• The Red Wings assigned center Austin Czarnik to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. The center has three points in 12 appearances with Detroit.

CENTRAL DIVISION CLUBS GOING 4-0-1

Monday, all five Central Division teams in action picked up points including the Blues and Stars:

• Jordan Kyrou (6-3—9 in 3 GP) scored the first hat trick of his NHL career and concluded the Blues’ Western Canada road trip with six goals and nine points. His six goals marked the most by a St. Louis player during a three-game Western Canada road trip, eclipsing the previous high of five by Brett Hull (5-4—9 in 3 GP from Feb. 12-17, 1991) and Brad Boyes (5-1—6 in 3 GP from March 8-11, 2008).
• Jake Oettinger made 27 saves to backstop the Stars to a one-goal victory while appearing in his 100th career NHL game (54-27-11, 2.44 GAA, .915 SV%). Oettinger’s 54 wins are the second most by a Stars/North Stars goaltender prior to their 25th birthday, trailing only Don Beaupre (99 in 224 GP w/ MNS). Of note, Oettinger just celebrated his 24th birthday on Dec. 18.

TOP TEAMS IN METROPOLITAN DIVISION SQUARE OFF TUESDAY

The top four teams in the Metropolitan Division are separated by just four points and will all face another team in that grouping as part of Tuesday’s eight-game slate: Carolina (19-6-6, 44 points) hosts New Jersey (21-8-2, 44 points) with first place in the division on the line, while the Rangers (18-10-5, 41 points) visit the Penguins (18-9-4, 40 points) as they jockey for third.

• The Metropolitan boasts the longest winning streak by any team this season (NJD: 13 GP from Oct. 25–Nov. 21), the longest active winning streak (NYR: 7 GP dating to Dec. 5) and the longest active point streak (CAR: 9-0-2 in 11 GP dating to Nov. 25).
• The Rangers aim to register a win streak of eight or more games within a regular season for just the seventh time in franchise history – they have done so just twice in the last 47 years (9 GP in 2015-16 and 8 GP in 2014-15).