* Mitchell Marner and William Nylander combined for seven points in the Maple Leafs’ high-scoring win Tuesday after being two of the top vote-getters so far in the 2024 NHL All-Star Fan Vote presented by MassMutual.
* The NHL-leading Jets continued their winning ways by capturing their seventh straight victory and joined rare company in NHL history in the process by allowing three or fewer goals in 30 consecutive games (single season).
* Matthew Tkachuk tallied a natural hat trick in his hometown and helped the Panthers become one of several teams to extend a lengthy winning streak Tuesday. 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.
* Nathan MacKinnon can extend his historic home point streak to 23 games as the Avalanche close out an NHL on TNT doubleheader Wednesday.
MARNER, NYLANDER MAKE THEIR ALL-STAR CASE WITH MULTI-POINT NIGHT
In the Maple Leafs’ first game back at Scotiabank Arena since sweeping their three-game California road trip, Mitchell Marner (2-2—4) and William Nylander (0-3—3) combined for seven points during Toronto’s seven-goal outburst, while Martin Jones stopped 22 or 23 shots to help Toronto pick up consecutive wins against San Jose.
* Marner’s four-point night helped boost his career totals to 185-413—598, surpassing Frank Mahovlich (597) on the Maple Leafs’ all-time points list as well as another club leaderboard.
* Nylander, who signed an eight-year contract extension Monday, has now found the score sheet in 34 of 38 contests in 2023-24. His four games without a point are the fewest among all players this season (min. 20 GP) and two fewer than the next closest: Connor McDavid and Artemi Panarin (both w/ 6).
* Marner and Nylander are two of the top vote-getters to date in the 2024 NHL All-Star Fan Vote presented by MassMutual, with more than 20 million votes cast in the first five days of voting. Click here to read more about the balloting, which closes at 11:59:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 11.
NHL-LEADING JETS SCORE EARLY AND OFTEN, SOAR TO ANOTHER VICTORY
Cole Perfetti (2-1—3) potted his third career three-point game, Mark Scheifele (0-1—1) collected his 400th career assist and Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves as the NHL-leading Jets (27-9-4, 58 points) blanked the Blue Jackets and matched a franchise record with a seventh straight victory.
* Winnipeg, which registered a shutout victory by a margin of at least five goals for the 10th time in team history, has stifled its opponents since Nov. 4, 2023, becoming the sixth team in NHL history to allow three or fewer goals in 30 consecutive games (single season).
* Hellebuyck posted his 34th career shutout and overtook sole possession of seventh place in NHL history among U.S.-born goaltenders, passing Ben Bishop (33). Tom Barrasso (38) sits sixth. His 13-game point streak is also the sixth longest in NHL history by a U.S.-born goaltender behind Frank Brimsek (23 GP in 1940-41), Mike Ritcher (16 GP in 1996-97), Jimmy Howard (15 GP in 2009-10), Barrasso (15 GP in 1992-93) and Jon Casey (14 GP in 1993-94).
* Victories by both Winnipeg and Vancouver (27-11-3, 57 points), along with an overtime loss from Boston (24-8-8, 56 points), have the two Canadian clubs sitting atop the NHL standings in first and second place. The 2023-24 campaign can be the third in the League’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to have two Canadian-based teams finish as the top two teams in the standings, following 1987-88 and 1988-89.
TRIO OF TEAMS ALSO EXTEND LENGTHY WINNING STREAKS
Edmonton, Florida and Seattle also earned victories to extend lengthy winning steaks Tuesday:
* Connor McDavid scored his 65th career game-winning goal to help the Oilers extend their winning streak to eight games – the third campaign in franchise history that has seen multiple runs of at least eight contests (also 1983-84: 3x & 1984-85: 2x). Edmonton (21-15-1, 43 points) now sits four points back of Los Angeles (20-10-7, 47 points) for third in the Pacific Division.
* Matthew Tkachuk (3-1—4) tallied three unanswered goals in front of his hometown and father, Keith, while Saturday’s hat-trick hero Sam Reinhart extended his road goal streak to a franchise record-tying six games as the Panthers picked up an eighth straight win. Tkachuk (6-6—12 in 4 GP) and Reinhart (6-1—7 in 4 GP) became the third and fourth players in club history with six tallies during a road trip of at least four contests, following Richard Zednik from Feb. 2-10, 2008 (6-3—9 in 5 GP) and Pavel Bure from March 16-23, 2000 (6-3—9 in 5 GP).
* Joey Daccord made 36 saves and Jaden Schwartz had 1-1—2 in his return to the Kraken lineup as Seattle stretched its franchise-record point streak to 11 games (9-0-2), which includes wins in each of its last seven contests. Daccord improved to 6-0-0 in his last six appearances and is one back of matching the franchise record for longest winning streak by a goaltender, a mark set by Martin Jones from Jan. 1-14, 2023 (7-0-0 in 7 GP).
* Tuesday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes from the 10-game slate. Click here to read more.
QUICK CLICKS
* Jamie Drysdale expected to make Flyers debut against Canadiens after trade from Ducks
* Connor Hellebuyck’s dad entertains Jets fans with social media posts during Mentors Trip
* State Your Case: Emerging defensemen Brock Faber, Thomas Harley
* Charlie McAvoy was video game teammates with Matthews, Keller, Fitzgerald in ‘NHL16’
* William Nylander of Maple Leafs leads fan voting for 2024 NHL All-Star Game
WEDNESDAY FEATURES NHL ON TNT TWO-PACK, CANADIENS-FLYERS ON SPORTSNET
Wednesday’s three-game slate features Dallas hosting Minnesota and Vegas visiting Colorado during an NHL on TNT doubleheader as well as Philadelphia pitted against Montreal on Sportsnet. The Avalanche-Golden Knights contest is also available on Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
* Jason Robertson (118-156—274 in 249 GP), who recorded a goal on Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the first half of their home-and-home set Monday, will be the fourth player in franchise history with 274 points through his first 250 career NHL games following Minnesota North Stars forwards Bobby Smith (106-196—302 in 250 GP), Neal Broten (104-179—283 in 250 GP) and Dino Ciccarelli (143-132—275 in 250 GP). Fleury can take another crack at passing Patrick Roy (551) for sole possession of second place on the League’s all-time wins list should he appear in a seventh straight game for Minnesota.
* Nathan MacKinnon (16-29—45 in 22 GP) can become the fourth different player in NHL history with a season-opening home point streak of at least 23 games and match the franchise record for longest at any point in a campaign, a mark set by Joe Sakic from Dec. 21, 2000 to April 4, 2001 (23-20—43 in 23 GP). Jack Eichel (198-290—488 in 516 GP) tallied twice Saturday and needs two goals to become the fifth member of the 2015 NHL Draft class with 200 – that cohort includes Mikko Rantanen (241-323—564 in 531 GP).
* Jamie Drysdale (No. 6 in 2020), who was acquired by Philadelphia from Anaheim on Monday, is set to become the 14th defenseman selected among the top-six picks in an NHL Draft to appear in a game with the Flyers. Drysdale won a gold medal with Canada at the 2020 World Junior Championship and secured silver in 2021 after falling to Cole Caufield and the United States in the finale.
