NHL Recap December 20 2019
OVECHKIN CLIMBS ALL-TIME ROAD GOALS LIST
Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (1-1—2) scored his 346th career regular-season road goal (346-259—605 in 561 GP) and tied Marcel Dionne (346-465—811 in 668 GP) for the sixth-most in NHL history.
Ovechkin leads the League with 16 road goals this season (16-6—22 in 20 GP), four more than the next-closest players. He has concluded a regular season atop the NHL in road goals eight times (outright or tied), the highest such total in League history.
Ovechkin has experienced a goal drought of four or more games within a regular season just 10 times in his NHL career, with the most recent occurring from Dec. 19-27, 2017 (4 GP). That’s tied for the fifth-lowest total in League history among players to skate in at least 1,000 career games.
ACCIARI SCORES SECOND STRAIGHT HAT TRICK
Panthers forward Noel Acciari (3-1—4) scored three consecutive goals in a span of 3:59 after recording his first career hat trick in Florida’s last outing (Dec. 16 vs. OTT: 3-0—3). He became the second player in franchise history to score a hat trick in consecutive games, joining Pavel Bure from Feb. 10-14, 2001.
Acciari became the eighth player in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) to score each of his first two career hat tricks in consecutive games – a feat last achieved over 23 years ago.Only five players in the League’s pre-modern era (before 1943-44) scored each of their first two career hat tricks in consecutive contests, including three during the first week of games in NHL history: Cy Denneny (Dec. 19-22, 1917), Joe Malone (Dec. 19-22, 1917), Reg Noble (Dec. 19-22, 1917), Billy Boucher (Feb. 22-25, 1922) and Hooley Smith (Jan. 26-28, 1926).
Acciari established a franchise record for fastest three goals by one player, eclipsing the previous mark set by Steve Reinprecht also in natural hat trick fashion on Oct. 30, 2009 (5:11). Aside from Acciari and Reinprecht, only three other Panthers skaters have recorded a natural hat trick: Bure (March 3, 1999 and Feb. 14, 2011), David Booth (Nov. 9, 2008) and Jonathan Marchessault (March 25, 2017).
MORE NHL STATS FROM BB&T CENTER
Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau (1-3—4) recorded his second straight four-point game (also Dec. 16 vs. OTT: 0-4—4). He became the second player in franchise history to register four points in consecutive games, joining Jozef Stumpel from Dec. 16-19, 2006.
Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle skated in his 831st consecutive regular-season game dating to March 26, 2009 and passed Andrew Cogliano (830 GP; Oct. 4, 2007 – Jan. 13, 2018) for the fourth-longest “Ironman” streak in NHL history.
Stars forward Joe Pavelski (0-1—1), a seventh-round pick (205th overall) by San Jose in the 2003 NHL Draft, skated in his 1,000th career regular-season game. He became the 25th player selected in the seventh round of the NHL Draft or later to reach the milestone, with his 777 career regular-season points being the ninth-most among that cohort.