NHL Review March 5 2018 – Penguins Inch Closer

MONDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
PITTSBURGH 4, Calgary 3 (OT)
BUFFALO 5, Toronto 3
Ottawa 3, DALLAS 2 (OT)
EDMONTON 4, Arizona 3 (OT)
VANCOUVER 4, NY Islanders 3 (OT)

PENGUINS CLIMB METROPOLITAN DIVISION WITH ANOTHER HOME WIN

The Flames overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2, but Justin Schultz scored in overtime following a highlight-reel passing sequence to power the Penguins (38-25-4, 80 points) to a 13-1-0 record in their last 14 home games. Pittsburgh, who leads the NHL with 25 home wins overall this season (25-8-1, 51 points), leapfrogged Philadelphia (34-21-11, 79 points) for second place in the tightly-contested Metropolitan Division standings where seeds 1-3 are separated by just two points.

Evgeni Malkin collected 1-2—3 and ranks second in the League in both goals and points this season (37-45—82 in 63 GP). He eclipsed the 80-point mark for the fifth time in his NHL career (all w/ PIT), trailing only Mario Lemieux (11), Jaromir Jagr (8) and Sidney Crosby (8) for the most seasons with at least 80 points in franchise history.

Tristan Jarry (35 saves) improved to 12-5-2 this season (2.69 GAA, .913 SV%, 2 SO). He moved ahead of Vegas’ Malcolm Subban (11-3-1; 2.59 GAA, .911 SV%) for the most wins among rookie goaltenders in 2017-18.

INDIVIDUAL STREAKS TO WATCH

Players with lengthy personal streaks heading into Tuesday’s action include.

Devils forward and former Windsor Spitfire Taylor Hall is riding a franchise-record point streak of 18 games (13-11—24) – the longest by any player in the NHL this season. In addition, Hall has collected a point in 25 consecutive appearances dating to Jan. 2 (18-18—36).

Jets forward Patrik Laine has recorded a point in eight consecutive games (10-6—16) including multiple points in four straight contests. He shares fourth place in the NHL with 35 goals this season.

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov looks to extend his point streak to seven contests (5-5—10 in 6 GP). Barkov has set a new career high with 64 points this season (25-39—64 in 62 GP), leads the League with five shorthanded goals and tops all NHL forwards in TOI/GP (22:22).

Stars forward Tyler Seguin has scored seven times on his active six-game point streak (7-4—11), including two goals on Monday. He ranks third in the NHL with 36 goals this season.

Among goaltenders, Nashville’s Pekka Rinne has won six consecutive games (6-0-0, 2.17 GAA, .935 SV%, 1 SO) and Florida’s Roberto Luongo (5-0-0, 2.37 GAA, .934 SV%) and Anaheim’s John Gibson (5-0-0, 1.90 GAA, .947 SV%) have each won five straight decisions.

OVECHKIN CHASES 600

Alex Ovechkin sits two goals shy of becoming the 20th player in NHL history to reach 600 career goals when the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals (37-21-7, 81 points) visit the Ducks (33-21-12, 78 points) – who sit third in the Pacific Division – at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Ovechkin, who leads the League with 40 goals, is the sixth player in NHL history to record at least nine 40-goal campaigns. He has scored 598 career goals in just 986 games, putting him on track to become just the fourth player to reach 600 goals in less than 1,000 games. The others: Wayne Gretzky (718 games), Mario Lemieux (719 games) and Brett Hull (900 games).

NHL Schedule for Tuesday, Mar 6 2018

Matchup	Time
Detroit@ Boston	7:00 PM ET
Montréal@ New Jersey	7:00 PM ET
Winnipeg@ NY Rangers	7:00 PM ET
Vegas@ Columbus	7:00 PM ET
Florida@ Tampa Bay	7:30 PM ET
Dallas@ Nashville	8:00 PM ET
Carolina@ Minnesota	8:00 PM ET
Colorado@ Chicago	8:30 PM ET
Washington@ Anaheim	10:00 PM ET