* Artemi Panarin helped the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers move one point ahead of the second-place Bruins, who fell Tuesday thanks to Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov scoring his franchise-record seventh career overtime goal.
* Kirill Marchenko accounted for three of the Blue Jackets’ season-high nine goals and recorded the second-fastest hat trick in franchise history.
* Wednesday’s three-game slate is highlighted by an NHL on TNT and TVA Sports doubleheader.
* REMINDER: For all players on an NHL active roster, injured reserve, or with non-roster and injured non-roster status as of midnight (local time) on Dec. 20, a roster freeze shall apply through midnight (local time) on Dec. 28, with respect to waivers, trades and loans, subject to the exceptions provided for in CBA Article 16.5 (d).
RANGERS PAD LEAD ATOP EASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Artemi Panarin scored one of his team’s five goals – three of which came in the final frame – to help the Rangers defeat the Maple Leafs and improve to 22-7-1 (45 points), taking a one-point lead over the Bruins (19-5-6, 44 points) for first place in the Eastern Conference standings. New York’s 22 wins are its most through 30 games in a season in franchise history, eclipsing the previous best of 21 set in 1993-94 en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
* Panarin, whose goal came after Braden Schneider put the Rangers up 3-2 at 8:08 of the third period, boosted his 2023-24 totals to 17-26—43 – the most points by a New York player through 30 games in a campaign since Jaromir Jagr (14-30—44) in 2006-07. The Rangers are tied with the Lightning for the second most game-tying and go-ahead goals in the third period this season with 14, which trail only the Flames (19).
MARCHENKO SCORES NATURAL HAT TRICK IN JUST OVER EIGHT MINUTES
Kirill Marchenko scored three consecutive goals in a span of 8:07 and became the second Blue Jackets player with a natural hat trick this season, joining Boone Jenner (Oct. 14). Marchenko had his second and third tallies in an 18-second span, marking the fastest two goals by one player in franchise history – he eclipsed the previous mark set by Cam Atkinson (0:31 on Oct. 27, 2018).
* With every hat trick this season, AstraZeneca will donate $5,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation up to $500,000. Click here for more information.
KUCHEROV, HUGHES ADD TO LEAGUE-LEADING POINT TOTALS
Nikita Kucherov and Quinn Hughes had two points apiece in high-scoring wins Tuesday:
* Kucherov (22-32—54 in 32 GP) tallied twice and boosted his League-leading point total this season to 54, while Steven Stamkos (0-3—3) recorded the 99th three-point game of his NHL career. The Lightning (15-13-5, 35 points) moved into the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
* Hughes (9-32—41 in 33 GP) assisted on two of five Vancouver goals to become the first defenseman to hit the 40-point mark this season and the fastest in franchise history to do so in any campaign. The Canucks have three 40-point scorers this season in Hughes, J.T. Miller (15-30—45 in 33 GP) and Elias Pettersson (13-28—41 in 33 GP) – the most among all teams.
FLYERS TAKE FINAL HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH DEVILS BEFORE HEADING OUTDOORS
Owen Tippett scored his second career overtime goal to help the Flyers secure a win after overcoming 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the final game between Philadelphia and New Jersey before the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on Feb. 17 (8 p.m. ET on ABC, ESPN+, TVAS-D, SN360). The only Stadium Series contest to require extra time also involved Philadelphia and saw the Flyers earn a win against their intrastate-rival Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field on Feb. 23, 2019 (4-3 OT W).
HOLMSTROM’S SHORTHANDED GOAL FEATURED IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
Tuesday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes from the 11-game slate. Some highlights include:
* Simon Holmstrom scored his League-leading fifth shorthanded goal of the season as the Islanders extended their home point streak to nine games (6-0-3 dating to Nov. 22).
* Anze Kopitar (27-43—70 in 90 GP) had 1-1—2 and became the fourth player in NHL history to record at least 70 career points against the Sharks, joining Teemu Selanne (99), Joe Sakic (75) and Mike Modano (73).
* Connor Bedard (12-16—28 in 31 GP) had two assists to boost his rookie-leading point total this season to 28 and help the Blackhawks edge the Avalanche and Nathan MacKinnon (8-20—28 in 16 GP), who extended his point streak to a career-high 16 games.
* Kirill Kaprizov (2-0—2) scored the seventh overtime goal of his NHL career and passed Matt Dumba (6) for sole possession of the most in franchise history.
* Michael Kesselring scored the last of Arizona’s four unanswered goals as the Coyotes earned their first three-goal comeback win since April 29, 2022.
* Sebastian Aho recorded the sixth three-assist game of his NHL career to tie Jordan Staal and Ray Ferraro for ninth place on the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise’s all-time list.
QUICK CLICKS
* Auston Matthews reaches 25-goal mark; John Tavares honored for hitting 1,000 points
* Noah Dobson developing into Islanders star thanks to help of veteran mentors
* BetMGM and NHL announce multi-year North American partnership extension
* Updates to 2023-24 NHL regular-season schedule
* Ice truck for 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic arrived in Seattle on Sunday night
WEDNESDAY HIGHLIGHTED BY NHL ON TNT, TVA SPORTS DOUBLEHEADER
Wednesday features an NHL on TNT and TVA Sports doubleheader, which opens with Mathew Barzal and the Islanders visiting Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals and closes with Quinton Byfield and the Kings hosting Matty Beniers and the Kraken. The three-game slate also includes Moritz Seider and the Red Wings jousting Josh Morrissey and the Jets on Sportsnet.
