* Matthew Tkachuk factored on five of seven Panthers goals in a back-and-forth affair with the Flyers and tied his father, Keith, on an all-time NHL list among American players.
* Players that were named to 4 Nations Face-Off rosters this week (or already part of them) had a hand in 31 of the 63 goals scored during Thursday’s nine-game slate, which also produced the League’s first 40-point scorers and 20-point rookie.
* Thursday featured several announcements for the upcoming Discover NHL Winter Classic, while the Blackhawks hired the first Swedish-born head coach in League history ahead of their outdoor game against the Blues at Wrigley Field.
* Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner help open a TVA Sports doubleheader during Friday’s schedule, which is also set to feature Sidney Crosby joining elite company when he reaches the 1,300-game milestone on ESPN+.
Tkachuk tallies five points, ties father on U.S. list as Panthers prevail
Matthew Tkachuk helped his Panthers skate to an early 3-0 lead, but the Flyers – thanks in part to a three-point period by rookie scoring leader Matvei Michkov – levelled the game at 4-4 before they took their own lead in the third period. Florida, however, fought back as Tkachuk assisted on the game-winning goal and culminated his five-point night with an empty-net tally to help the Panthers (16-9-2, 34 points) secure the win and keep pace with the idle Maple Leafs (16-7-2, 34 points) atop the Atlantic Division standings.
* Tkachuk’s five-point night immediately followed a four-point performance his last time on the ice. He became the first player in Panthers history with multiple back-to-back four-point outings (also Jan. 6-9). The forward also became the first player in franchise history with nine points in a two-game span.
LIGHTNING LIGHT LAMP EIGHT TIMES, INCLUDING FIVE IN THE FIRST FRAME
Brayden Point (0-4—4) factored on four of his team’s eight goals against the Sharks – five of which came in the first period alone – to help the Lightning (13-9-2, 28 points) leapfrog the idle Rangers (13-10-1, 27 points) and Flyers (12-11-3, 27 points) for the first Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference.
* The Lightning scored four of their five first-period goals within the opening 8:55 of the contest – the second-fastest four tallies to start a game in franchise history behind a span of 6:42 on Nov. 14, 2019. Brandon Hagel scored two of those goals in a span of 23 seconds, marking the third-fastest two goals by a Lightning player.
* Point, skating in his 600th career game, recorded his second career four-assist outing (also Oct. 30, 2018). He became the fifth player in Lightning history with multiple four-assist contests, following Nikita Kucherov (5 GP),Hedman (4 GP), Martin St. Louis (3 GP) and Vincent Lecavalier (2 GP).
Other players headed to 4 Nations Face-Off shine in wins Thursday
Several others skaters and goaltenders named to 4 Nations Face-Off rosters helped their teams tally triumphs:
* Connor McDavid (0-4—4) was honored in a pre-game ceremony for recently reaching the 1,000-point milestone and recorded his 40th career four-point game to tie Sidney Crosby for the most among active players. McDavid and Crosby are set to play together for the first time with Canada in February.
* Patrik Laine had an eventful three days after scoring a goal in his team debut and joining Finland’s roster before lighting the lamp again Thursday. He became the first player to score at least one goal in each of his first two games with the Canadiens since Brian Gionta and Travis Moen (2 GP from Oct. 1-3, 2009), while Laine’s tournament teammate Joel Armia also tallied and Sam Montembeault (29 saves) secured his third shutout of the season in his first game since being named one of Canada’s goaltenders.
* Josh Morrissey assisted on the overtime winner while Kyle Connor corralled a goal and Connor Hellebuyck had 28 saves as the Jets (19-8-0, 38 points) tied the idle Wild (17-4-4, 38 points) for the most points in the NHL. Morrissey tied Vyacheslav Kozlov for the fifth-most multi-assist games in franchise history and recorded his 15th career overtime assist to pass Blake Wheeler (14)for the most in Jets/Thrashers history.
* Colton Parayko sealed the Blues’ win with his fourth career overtime goal as St. Louis snapped Calgary‘s six-game home winning streak. Parayko established a franchise record for most overtime goals by a defenseman and passed Erik Johnson, Justin Faulk and Alex Pietrangelo (all w/ 3), with Parayko set to patrol the blueline alongside Pietrangelo for Canada.
* Seth Jarvis (1-0—1) and Sebastian Aho (0-2—2) helped the Hurricanes defeat the Avalanche in a game featuring eight tournament-bound players (also Artturi Lehkonen, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen, Jaccob Slavin & Devon Toews). Jarvis was the fourth-youngest player named to a roster behind Leo Carlsson, Brock Faber and Lucas Raymond.
* Thursday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes from the nine-game slate, including Josh Norris notching a go-ahead goal with 41.6 seconds remaining in regulation as well as Martin Necas (14-27—41 in 26 GP) and MacKinnon (9-31—40 in 27 GP) becoming the NHL’s first 40-point scorers this season. Necas became the third Czech-born player in League history to hit 40 in 26 games or fewer, joining Jaromir Jagr (18 GP in 1995-96 & 21 GP in 1999-00) and David Pastrnak (26 GP in 2019-20).
CHANCE THE RAPPER, THE SMASHING PUMPKINS TO PERFORM AT WINTER CLASSIC
The NHL announced that Chicago’s own Chance the Rapper and The Smashing Pumpkins will lead the entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic, which features the Blackhawks battling the Blues outdoors at Wrigley Field on Dec. 31 (5 p.m. ET on TNT, truTV, Max, SN, TVAS). Click here to read more.
* The NHL also released an illustrated preview of its takeover of Wrigley Field before the open-air New Year’s Eve showdown at the historic home of Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs. Click here to read more.
* Anders Sorensen was named head coach of the Blackhawks on Thursday and is set to serve his first 11 career games before the Winter Classic. Sorensen, who piloted the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs in each of the past four seasons, will become the first Swedish-born bench boss in NHL history when Chicago clashes with Winnipeg tomorrow (4 p.m. ET on CHSN, TSN3).
QUICK CLICKS
* iHeartMedia and NHL team up to develop two new podcasts over next year
* Top 10 NHL EDGE stats for 4 Nations Face-Off
* NHL.com projects lines, defense pairs, goaltenders for Canada, Finland, Sweden and United States
* Winter Classic will have ‘party atmosphere’ in return to Wrigley Field
* NHL to host outdoor fan festival before Blues-Blackhawks at Winter Classic
Friday features TVAs two-pack, Penguins pitted against Rangers on ESPN+
Friday’s six-game slate is highlighted by a TVA Sports doubleheader involving Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs hosting Dylan Strome and the Capitals as well as Mason Marchment and the Stars visiting Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights, with the contests bookending Sidney Crosby and the Penguins playing Chris Kreider and the Rangers on ESPN+.
* Matthews is coming off his first multi-goal game of the season and has three tallies in three contests since returning to Toronto’s lineup, including a highlight-reel marker Wednesday where eight-game point streak owner Mitch Marner recorded one of his three assists. Matthews, who has scored multiple goals in two or more consecutive games nine times in his career and can tie Babe Dye (10x) for the most instances in franchise history, hopes to help halt Washington’s franchise record-tying road winning streak.
* Crosby (600-1022—1,622 in 1,299 GP) would have the fourth-most points in NHL history among players through their 1,300th career game and can match Jaromir Jagr (1,625 on Dec. 17, 2011) for the third-highest total, with Wayne Gretzky (2,670 on Jan. 12, 1997) and Marcel Dionne (1,743 on March 12, 1988) rounding out the top two. Of note, Mario Lemieux concluded his career with 1,723 points but never reached the 1,300-game milestone.
* Eichel (8-30—38 in 27 GP) can become the fastest player in franchise history to reach the 40-point mark in a season, besting Mark Stone (32 GP in 2020-21). Eichel earned two assists Wednesday as the Golden Knights (17-7-3, 37 points) grabbed second place in the NHL standings but Vegas was bumped into third by Winnipeg (19-8-0, 38 points) following yesterday’s slate.
* Other highlights include Kirill Kaprizov (16-23—39 in 24 GP) also looking to join the 40-point club with the League-leading Wild (17-4-4, 38 points) as well as Jack and Quinn Hughes contesting their first games since the former joined the latter on the United States’ roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off. The League’s Media site is home to a By the Numbers breakdown of the full tournament rosters as well as notes for all players set to represent Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States.
