NHL Morning Skate – Dec. 1, 2021

* No lead was safe Tuesday after the Panthers and Blues each rallied from three-goal deficits to defeat the Capitals and Lightning, respectively. 

* Filip Forsberg (NSH) and Roope Hintz (DAL) scored the NHL’s 24th and 25th hat tricks of the 2021-22 season, with the Predators’ forward netting the fourth four-goal performance.

* Tuesday was the second night in NHL history to feature three teams each score a pair of goals in a span of 11 seconds or less (TBL, NSH & WSH). The other: March 9, 1975 (NYR, STL & MTL).

PANTHERS SCORE FOUR IN THIRD PERIOD, RALLY PAST CAPITALS. . .

After the Capitals’ three-goal rally against the Panthers fell short earlier this month on Nov. 4, Florida turned the tables and netted four third-period goals – including Sam Reinhart’s go-ahead marker with 14.4 seconds remaining in regulation – to join Tampa Bay (Oct. 14 at DET) as the second team to erase a three-goal, third-period deficit to win this season.

* Reinhart (59:45) became the fourth player to score a go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation this season, joining Ryan Lindgren (59:59 on Nov. 21 w/ NYR), Marcus Foligno (59:52 on Oct. 15 w/ MIN) and Morgan Rielly (59:48 on Nov. 13 w/ TOR).

. . . LIGHTNING STRIKE TWICE IN FIVE SECONDS, BUT BLUES BATTLE BACK TO WIN
Tampa Bay teammates Corey Perry and Erik Cernak tallied five seconds apart to put the Lightning up 3-0, but St. Louis scored three unanswered goals before Ryan O’Reilly (1-0—1) recorded the decisive marker in the shootout to complete the comeback.

* Logan Brown, who made his team debut, scored a second-period goal to pull the Blues within one. His father Jeff, who had 80 goals across parts of five seasons with the franchise from 1989-90 to 1993-94 (80-214—294 in 329 GP), was in attendance at Enterprise Center Tuesday.

FORSBERG’S FOUR GOALS FUELS PREDATORS OFFENSE. . . 
Filip Forsberg scored four of Nashville’s six goals and matched a Predators franchise record for most in a game – a feat first set by Eric Nystrom (Jan. 24, 2014 at CGY) and later equaled by Rocco Grimaldi (March 25, 2021 vs. DET).

* Mikael Granlund (0-4—4), who accounts for half of the NHL’s four-assist games this season (also Nov. 11), collected a primary helper on each of Forsberg’s goals Tuesday. It marked the 12th time in NHL history that one player had the primary assist on each of a teammate’s four or more goals in a game. It’s happened three other times in the last 40 years: Brad Marchand (0-4—4 w/ Patrice Bergeron on Nov. 4), Brent Sutter (0-4—4 w/ Mike Bossy on Nov. 1, 1984) and Bossy (0-5—5 w/ Bryan Trottier on Feb. 13, 1982).

. . . HINTZ NETS HAT TRICK, WHILE HOLTBY HELPS HOLD HURRICANES OFF

Roope Hintz scored his first career hat trick – including a marker in the opening 1:13 of the game – and Braden Holtby made a series of highlight-reel saves in his 500th career outing as the Stars extended the NHL’s longest active win streak to five contests.

 * Tuesday marked the third straight game Dallas opened the scoring within the first 75 seconds and the second straight contest Hintz netted the marker (also 0:54 on Nov. 27 vs. ARI). Only one player in NHL history extended their stretch to three consecutive games: Montreal’s Johnny Gagnon (3 GP from Jan. 24 – Feb. 1, 1931).

* Holtby (293-137-50 in 500 GP), who made 39 saves, surpassed Jacques Plante (292-119-88 in 500 GP) for the most wins by a goaltender in NHL history through his first 500 career games.

FAST GOALS FEATURED IN TUESDAY’S EDITION OF #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
Tuesday featured several instances of teammates tallying two goals in quick succession, including Tampa Bay’s Corey Perry and Erik Cernak (0:05), Nashville’s Yakov Trenin and Filip Forsberg (0:09) as well as Washington’s Connor McMichael and Beck Malenstyn (0:11). Click here to read more in #NHLStats: Live Updates.

McDAVID, CROSBY TO FACE OFF FOR FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS

Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby will go head-to-head for the eighth time and first in over two years when the Penguins visit the Oilers in a game that will be available nationally in both the U.S. and Canada (10 pm ET on TNT, TVAS, SN, SN360, SN1). McDavid ranks third in the NHL this season with 14-22—36 (20 GP) while Crosby has recorded 1-4—5 across his last three games after only registering two points in his first seven contests of the campaign. 

* McDavid has reached a trio of milestones so far in 2021-22 within close proximity to Crosby’s previous achievements: on Nov 24, McDavid became the fourth-fastest in NHL history to 400 assists (426 GP; Crosby: 448 GP, sixth-fastest); on Nov. 14, he became the sixth-fastest in NHL history to 600 points (421 GP; Crosby: 430 GP, eighth-fastest); on Oct. 21, he scored his 200th career goal (411 GP; Crosby: 396 GP).