NHL Review February 5, 2021
OVECHKIN CONTINUES CLIMB UP ALL-TIME GOALS LIST
Alex Ovechkin continued his climb up the NHL record books as he scored the 709th goal of his career to pass long-time Capitals legend Mike Gartner (708) for sole possession of seventh place on the League’s all-time list.
Although Ovechkin broke a tie with Gartner on the all-time goals list, the former Capitals forward still sits tied with Ovechkin in another prominent stat – they share the NHL record for most consecutive 30-goal seasons with 15, alongside Jaromir Jagr who also played with Washington from 2001-02 to 2003-04. Ovechkin has a chance to extend that streak this season.
DUELING FIVE-POINT GAMES TAKE CENTER STAGE AT BB&T CENTER
In a back-and-forth affair that saw Nashville erase 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 5-3 deficits, Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau (3-2—5) netted his first career hat trick before Predators forward Filip Forsberg (2-3—5) answered back and scored the game winner with 1:00 remaining in overtime.
Huberdeau and Forsberg, the third and fourth players to have a five-point performance in 2020-21, became just the third opposing players over the last 30 years to have dueling five-point games in the regular season.
Huberdeau became the sixth player in Panthers history to collect at least five points in a regular-season game and first since teammate Aleksander Barkov on March 8, 2019. Meanwhile, Forsberg matched the Predators franchise record for points in a regular-season game – a feat accomplished on four other occasions and by just one other forward (J-P Dumont: 1-4—5 on Oct. 22, 2009).
Thursday marked the second time Nashville overcame four separate deficits in a game and won. The only other time occurred on Oct. 10, 2019 vs. Washington.
SPEZZA HAT TRICK, MATTHEWS AND MARNER STREAKS LIFT MAPLE LEAFS
Jason Spezza recorded his first hat trick in five seasons, while Auston Matthews (2-0—2) and Mitch Marner (1-2—3) registered multiple points to extend streaks as the Toronto Maple Leafs improved to 8-2-1 (17 points) to leapfrog Montreal (7-2-2, 16 points) – which lost to Ottawa Thursday – for first place in the Scotia North Division.
Spezza recorded his eighth career hat trick and first since April 9, 2016 with Dallas. At 37 years, 236 days, he became the second-oldest player in Maple Leafs history to score three or more goals in a game.
Matthews, who notched his first multi-goal outing of 2020-21, has scored a goal in six consecutive appearances and owns an official goal streak of five games (he missed Jan. 22 vs. EDM), one shy of his career high (6 GP in 2018-19). Since entering the League in 2016-17, Matthews has recorded 31 multi-goal games – the only player with more over that span is Alex Ovechkin (37).
Marner extended his point streak to six games (3-8—11) – he has collected multiple points in four of those six outings. It is the sixth time Marner has recorded a point streak of six or more contests, including three separate stretches in 2019-20 (8 GP twice and 7 GP).
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES LEAD CLUBS TO VICTORY
A number of other players had a notable performance on Thursday to help lead their club to victory:
Rookie Tim Stützle (1-2—3) factored on three goals, including two in a span of 18 seconds in the final minute of the opening frame, to help Ottawa snap its nine-game winless streak. Stützle (19 years, 20 days), who extended his goal streak to three games, became the second-youngest player in Senators history to record three or more points in a regular-season contest, behind only Alexandre Daigle (18 years, 244 days).
Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves to earn the 153rd win of his NHL career as Winnipeg extended its point streak against Calgary to six games (5-0-1 dating to March 16, 2019). He surpassed Ondrej Pavelec (152) for the most wins by a goaltender in Jets/Thrashers franchise history.
Artemi Panarin (0-3—3) factored on three of the Rangers’ four goals for his second straight three-point game to boost his team-leading total to 5-10—15 through 10 games in 2020-21. Only three Rangers players in the last 30 years have recorded more points through the club’s first 10 games of a season than Panarin: Jaromir Jagr (3-15—18 in 2006-07), Mark Messier (5-13—18 in 1992-93) and Darren Turcotte (6-12—18 in 1990-91).
Recently-acquired Patrik Laine (1-0—1) and Columbus-native Jack Roslovic (1-1—2) each scored their first goal with the Blue Jackets to help the club improve to 9-1-0 in their past 10 meetings against the Stars. Laine’s 19 goals and 26 points against Dallas are his most versus one opponent in his career (19-7—26 in 19 GP).
Patrick Kane (1-3—4) factored on four of six Chicago goals to record his 14th career four-point game as the Blackhawks improved to 4-1-1 at home in 2020-21. Kane became one of six Chicago players to record 14 or more contests of four-plus points with the franchise.
FIVE-GAME FRIDAY INCLUDES PAIR OF GAMES ON NHL NETWORK, SPORTSNET
A doubleheader on Sportsnet (Canada) and NHL Network (U.S.) is set to highlight Friday’s schedule, starting with the final meeting between the Bruins and Flyers before their showdown Outdoors at Lake Tahoe and ending with the first of eight games in 2020-21 between the Kings and Golden Knights.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar enters Friday with five multi-point performances so far in 2020-21 (1-11—12 in 9 GP) and already is the first Los Angeles player since Wayne Gretzky (12 A in 1995-96) to have at least 11 assists through the team’s first nine games of a season. With an assist tonight, Kopitar would become the third Kings player since the start of the 1990s to record 12 or more assists through the team’s first 10 games of a season – Gretzky did it four times in that span (last: 13 in 1995-96) and Ziggy Palffy achieved the feat in 2003-04 (13).
Avalanche Games Postponed At Least Through February 11
The National Hockey League announced today that Colorado Avalanche games have been postponed at least through Feb. 11 as a result of Players recently entering the NHL’s COVID Protocols. The decision was made by the League’s, NHLPA’s and Club’s medical groups in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Health who determined that more caution was warranted while the parties are analyzing test results in the coming days.
The team’s training facilities have been closed, effective immediately, and will remain closed until further notice. The League is in the process of reviewing and revising the Avalanche regular season schedule and it is expected that a decision on next week’s games will be made in the coming days. The Colorado organization has, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its Players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, state and national agencies.