NHL Review March 3 2020
LEAGUE-LEADING BRUINS MOVE WITHIN FOUR POINTS OF 100
Brad Marchand opened the scoring to extend his point streak to 10 games (5-10—15) and help the League-leading Bruins (42-13-12, 96 points) move within four points of becoming the first team to reach 100 in 2019-20. Boston, which played its 67th game this season, has hit the 100-point mark in fewer than 70 contests on four occasions in franchise history – with the last instance occurring 42 years ago.
Marchand recorded his second double-digit point streak this season, following a career-high 13-game run from Oct. 5 – Nov. 4, 2019 (10-18—28). Prior to 2019-20, the longest of his NHL career was nine games – set from Nov. 29 – Dec. 28, 2017 (6-8—14).
FIALA POSTS MULTIPLE POINTS IN FRANCHISE-RECORD FIFTH STRAIGHT GAME . . .
Wild forward Kevin Fiala posted 1-1—2 – marking his fifth consecutive game with multiple points dating to Feb. 25 (5-6—11). He became the first player in franchise history to record multiple points in five consecutive team games, eclipsing the previous mark of four shared by two skaters: Brian Rolston from Jan. 22-27, 2006 (4-4—8) and Marian Gaborik from Feb. 10-18, 2007 (5-4—9) as well as Jan. 10-16, 2008 (4-5—9).
Fiala became the third player on any club to record two-plus points in five straight team games this season, joining Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov from Jan. 16-31 (5-5—10) and Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl from Jan. 14 – Feb. 1 (4-9—13). Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin also had multiple points in five consecutive appearances from Jan. 13-31 (11-1—12), but not did dress in Washington’s game on Jan. 27.
Fiala eclipsed the 50-point mark for the first time in his NHL career (21-30—51 in 61 GP). He has registered 23 points since Feb. 1 (12-11—23 in 16 GP), the third-most among all players over that span.
The Wild moved to 6-3-0 (12 points) since Dean Evason was named interim head coach and 33-26-7 (73 points) overall this season. Minnesota remained one point back of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference standings, currently occupied by Winnipeg – which also secured a win on Tuesday (as outlined below).
. . . OTHER CENTRAL DIVISION TEAMS ALSO PICK UP WINS
The Western Conference-leading Blues (40-17-10, 90 points) scored three unanswered goals to erase a 1-0 deficit and extend their win streak to eight games – the longest active run in the NHL. St. Louis matched its season high for most consecutive victories, a mark set from Dec. 12-29, 2019.
Kyle Connor tallied twice and added an assist to help the Jets (34-28-6, 74 points) move past the Predators (32-26-8, 72 points) for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference standings. Connor has scored a team-leading 35 goals in 2019-20 (35-35—70 in 68 GP) and established a career high for most in a season, eclipsing his previous mark of 34 set in 2018-19 (34-32—66 in 82 GP).
Nineteen-year-old teammates Adam Boqvist (0-2—2) and Kirby Dach (0-1—1) both found the score sheet to help the Blackhawks extend their win streak to three games. Boqvist and Dach each collected an assist on Chicago’s first tally Tuesday, marking the first time in NHL history that multiple players born in the 2000s factored on a goal.
CROSBY REACHES 800 CAREER ASSISTS AS PENGUINS SNAP SLIDE
Sidney Crosby (1-2—3) – one of four Pittsburgh players with at least three points Tuesday – reached 800 career regular-season assists (460-800—1,260 in 980 GP) as the Penguins (38-21-6, 82 points) snapped a six-game slide (0-6-0) and strengthened their grip on third place in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Crosby became the sixth player in League history to reach 800 career regular-season assists in fewer than 1,000 games. Three of the five players who reached the milestone in fewer games than Crosby skated with Pittsburgh at some point during their NHL career.
Crosby joined Mario Lemieux (690-1,033—1,723 in 915 GP) as the only players to record at least 800 assists with the Penguins and also became the second active skater in the NHL to reach the milestone, joining Sharks forward Joe Thornton (418-1,088—1,506 in 1,632 GP).
Bryan Rust (3-0—3) scored the third hat trick of his NHL career, accounting for three of Pittsburgh’s seven goals. It marked the seventh time the Penguins scored as many goals in a game this season, edging the Lightning (6x) for the highest such total in the NHL.
PREVIEW OF TODAY’S ACTION – AVALANCHE CAN ACHIEVE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND WIN STREAK
The Avalanche (40-18-7, 87 points), who are 7-0-0 in their last seven games, return home to host the Ducks (26-32-8, 60 points) at Pepsi Center. Colorado has earned wins in each of its last six contests by a one-goal margin and can become the first team in NHL history to extend the run to seven should they edge Anaheim by exactly one tally.
The above graphic displays each instance in League history of a team earning six straight wins within a regular season all by a one-goal margin. Two teams also accomplished the feat in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but did not extend the run to seven games: Montreal from April 6-21, 1989 (6-0-0) and Anaheim from April 10-26, 2003 (6-0-0).
The Avalanche occupy second place in the Central Division standings, three points back of the first-place Blues (40-17-10, 90 points).