NHL MORNING SKATE – Nightly Info & Stats

Steven Stamkos participated in the second goal of Nicholas Paul and hit the 1,000 point mark, a feat only eight other active players have achieved, Patrice Bergeron having celebrated this mark only 10 days ago. The Lightning captain was immediately embraced by all of his teammates as he became the first player to hit four figures with the franchise.

• Stamkos reached the 1,000-point mark against the Flyers, one of four teams against whom he has scored more than 50 career points (75 against FLA, 58 against TOR and 56 against WPG). Only four active players have more points against Philadelphia than Stamkos (27-25-52 in 39 GP): Sidney Crosby (52-69-121 in 81 GP), Evgeni Malkin (29-53-82 in 68 GP), Alex Ovechkin (44-31-75 in 68 GP) and Nicklas Backstrom (21-43-64 in 59 GP).

Predators score early and late

After New Jersey scored three times 2:38 into the second period to close a two-goal deficit, Nashville bounced back in spectacular fashion with the goal of Mikael Granlund 10 seconds from the end of the regulation period and at the goal of Ryan Johansen 33 seconds into extra time. The Predators (11-9-2, 24 points) handed the Devils (19-4-1, 39 points) their second loss since the start of November and their first loss while leading after two periods – New Jersey was 16-0-0 in that scenario before Thursday.

• Johansen (2-1-3) scored 11 seconds into the game, leveling David Legwand (April 5, 2007) for the fastest opening goal in Predators history, before capping his three-point performance with Nashville’s fastest goal in overtime since April 7, 2016 (Roman Josi : 0:20 against ARI). Johansen became the ninth player in NHL history to score in the first minute of the first period and the first minute of overtime in the same game – the last player to do so was Troy Terry on October 12 (against SEA).
• The Predators (0:11) and Canadiens (0:13) each scored an opener in the first 13 seconds of regulation. It’s the ninth time in NHL history that a game opener has been scored in the first 15 seconds of regulation in multiple games on the same day. The most recent event dates back to November 5, 2016: Chicago (0:11) and NY Islanders (0:13).

Panthers and Hurricanes in playoffs

• Jordan Martinook (3-0-3) scored the second hat trick of his NHL career (also on Nov. 23, 2018), notably scoring one of Carolina’s three second-period goals in the space of 1:04. It’s the fifth time in franchise history that the Hurricanes/Whalers have scored three goals in 64 seconds or less.

• After Matthew Tkachuk (1-2-3) opened the scoring and set a franchise mark for the fewest 30-point games by a Panthers skater since beginning his tenure with the team (11-21-32 in 22 GP), Florida proceeded with two more goals in 59 seconds – the fastest three goals in club history as well as the fastest trio of goals by a team this season.

• Jason Robertson (3-0-3) recorded his third career hat trick – the most of any Stars player since his 2019/20 debut – and took his goal tally to 53 since January 1, surpassing Auston Matthews (52) for most so far in the 2022 calendar year. Robertson (22-17-39 in 24 GP) also became the first player this season to reach 20 goals – alone Dino Ciccarelli (15 GP in 1986/87 and 23 GP in 1981/82) needed fewer games to reach this mark in Stars/North Stars history.

• Cole Caufield scored the 40th goal of his career – which won the game for Montreal – while playing in his 100th game. Of the players who debuted with the Canadiens over the past 80 years, only three needed fewer games to reach the mark: Maurice Richard (67 GP), John Beliveau (90 GP) and Bernie Geoffrion (90 GP).

• Kirill Kaprizov (1-2-3) brought his career points to 10 (6-11-17 in 10 GP) and assists to nine, a franchise record. In doing so, Kaprizov reached and surpassed the 100 assists (158 GP) mark – of the players who made their NHL debut with the franchise, he needed the fewest games to reach that milestone. (previously Mikko Koivu : 230 GP).

• Matty Beniers scored seven seconds into overtime to give the Kraken their second strong comeback of the season and extend their franchise-record winning streak to seven games. Beniers, who became the first rookie to reach 10 goals this season, recorded the fastest goal by a rookie since the start of a regular season overtime in NHL history (0:07) , beating the previous mark held by walter jackson (0:08 on March 7, 1933 with NYA).

• NOTathan mackinnon (2-3-5) was involved in five of Colorado’s six goals at the KeyBank Center to record the fifth five-point game of his career. He became the third player in team history with five five-point games for the Avalanche (since 1995/96), joining Peter Forsberg (9) and Joe Sakic (6).