* Kris Letang became the first defenseman in the League’s 106-year history to record five points in a single period and finished the night with six assists, tied for the most ever in one game by a blueliner.
* Another eventful night in the NHL saw the Coyotes stage a four-goal comeback win – despite Nathan MacKinnon pushing his point streak to 19 games – and Chicago’s Connor Bedard become the third-youngest player in League history to score his first career regular-season overtime goal.
* The Golden Knights are one of eight teams in action Thursday as they contest their final game of 2023 before heading to Seattle for the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.
LETANG SETS, TIES NHL RECORDS AS PENS BLITZ ISLES WITH SIX-GOAL PERIOD
In a scoreless contest after 20 minutes of game time, the Penguins erupted for six goals in the middle frame with Kris Letang (0-6—6) factoring on five of those to set an NHL record for most points in a period by a defenseman. Letang capped his historic night with another helper in the third period as the Penguins earned a 7-0 win with Tristan Jarry claiming his League-leading fourth shutout of 2023-24.
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* Pittsburgh’s six-goal second period was triggered by Jake Guentzel (2-1—3) factoring on three straight goals, including scoring twice himself in a span of 12 seconds – the fastest two goals by any player this season and the fastest by a Penguins player in nearly 23 years. It was Pittsburgh’s highest-scoring period on the road since March 21, 2000, when they also scored six in the middle frame against the Islanders (at Nassau Coliseum).
* Letang became the first player (of any position) in Penguins history to post five points in a single period while also becoming the fourth active skater to achieve the feat, following Tage Thompson (Dec. 7, 2022), Mika Zibanejad (March 17, 2021) and Sam Gagner (Feb. 2, 2012).
* The longtime Penguins blueliner also became the seventh player (of any position) in NHL history to notch six assists in a road game and first since Eric Lindros (Feb. 26, 1997 w/ PHI at OTT).
COYOTES STAGE NHL’S SECOND FOUR-GOAL COMEBACK WIN OF SEASON
A 4-0 deficit against the Avalanche was no match for the Coyotes, who tallied five unanswered goals (with defenseman Sean Durzi contributing 1-3—4) to stage the NHL’s second four-goal comeback win of the season – with both coming in the past three weeks (also SJS on Dec. 7 at DET). It was the fifth time the Coyotes/Jets franchise climbed from a four-goal hole to win (check Live Updates for all the details).
* Durzi became the third Coyotes defenseman in the past eight seasons to record four or more points in a game, following Juuso Valimaki and Shayne Gostisbehere. He also became the second Coyotes blueliner to factor on four or more consecutive goals in a single contest, following Oliver Ekman-Larsson on Jan. 12, 2016 (also 4).
KRAKEN KEEP STREAK ALIVE WITH ONE TO PLAY BEFORE WINTER CLASSIC
The Kraken defeated the Flames and extended their point streak to seven games (5-0-2) with one more contest before hosting the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic. The only team to enter an outdoor game with an active point streak of at least seven contests was last year’s hosts (Boston entered the 2023 Winter Classic on a 10-game point streak and extended the run with a win at Fenway Park).
* Will Borgen assisted on the winning goal after being featured during a baking segment in Episode 3 of “Road to the Discover NHL Winter Classic presented by Enterprise”, which premiered Wednesday on TNT and Max and will air in Canada tonight (6 p.m. ET on Sportsnet One) and Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet).
BEDARD ADDS ANOTHER FEATHER TO HIS CAP WITH FIRST NHL OVERTIME GOAL
Connor Bedard continued his impressive debut campaign by scoring both of Chicago’s goals Wednesday and served as the overtime hero for the first time in his career as the rookie became the youngest player in Blackhawks history to score in the extra frame.
* Bedard began the night by scoring the opening goal to extend his point streak to a career-high five games and became the fourth 18-year-old in Blackhawks history with a run of at least that length, joining Eddie Olczyk (6 GP & 5 GP in 1984-85), Bobby Hull (8 GP in 1957-58) and Kirby Dach (5 GP in 2019-20).
* With his third multi-goal game, Bedard boosted his 2023-24 totals to 15-17—32 (34 GP) which ties him with Seattle’s Matty Beniers (13-19—32 in 46 GP) for the most points as a rookie in the 2023 calendar year. Bedard now trails Kirill Marchenko (16) for the most goals as a rookie since Jan. 1, 2023.
MacKINNON, NYLANDER PICK UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF WITH POINT STREAKS
The NHL’s two longest active point streaks survived the three-day break in the schedule as Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (19 GP) and Toronto’s William Nylander (12 GP) each extended Wednesday.
* MacKinnon, who was responsible for the fastest max speed by any player before Christmas (24.05 mph on Dec. 23), became the fourth player in franchise history to record a point streak of 19 or more games and is now one shy of tying former teammate Paul Stastny (20 GP in 2006-07) for the longest ever by an Avalanche player (since 1995-96).
* MacKinnon has recorded 11 multi-point showings during his run (part of a League-leading total of 18 in 2023-24), contributing to his 36-point total since his streak began Nov. 20 (also the most in the NHL during that span). He holds an eight-point lead in terms of regular-season points in the 2023 calendar year and trails Nikita Kucherov by only two in the 2023-24 Art Ross Trophy race.
* On a night when the Maple Leafs welcomed the Next Generation of fans to Scotiabank Arena, as well as celebrities like Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber and Will Arnett, the team’s leading scorer, William Nylander, did something no generation of Leafs Nation had seen: recorded a point streak of at least a dozen games for the second time in a season. Nylander now has three career point streaks of 12 or more games (also 17 GP in 2023-24 & 12 GP in 2016-17) – the most in franchise history, ahead of Mitchell Marner (2x) and Lorne Carr (2x).
AHO HITS 500-POINT MILESTONE IN FOUR-POINT GAME
With the Hurricanes’ first goal of the game, Sebastian Aho (1-3—4) hit the 500-point milestone and joined a short list of players to do so with the franchise before adding another three to his career total as Carolina (18-13-4, 40 points) defeated the Predators to move into a Wild Card position.
* Aho (232-271—503 in 552 GP) became the fourth-fastest Finnish national to collect 500 NHL points, trailing only Jari Kurri (356 GP), Teemu Selanne (384 GP) and Mikko Rantanen (483 GP). He also climbed the list for career four-point games among Finnish nationals (find out more in Live Updates).
Photo courtesy of @Canes
MORE MILESTONES AND ACHIEVEMENTS FEATURED IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
The first night back from the holiday break was an eventful one that saw several players and a coach achieve milestones – summed up perfectly by the Penguins’ social media team and in the latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates.
* Brady Tkachuk scored to reach the 300-point mark as the Senators defeated the Maple Leafs. Tkachuk became the 12th player to record as many points with the Senators and the first player from the 2018 NHL Draft class to reach the mark.
* Mika Zibanejad tallied 0-2—2 while playing in his 800th career game, helping the Rangers (24-8-1, 49 points) overtake the idle Canucks (23-9-3, 49 points) for first place in the League standings. The clubs will meet in less than two weeks, on Monday, Jan. 8 at Madison Square Garden (a national Sportsnet telecast in Canada).
* The Panthers skated to victory in Paul Maurice’s 1,800th game as an NHL head coach, overcoming Nikita Kucherov’s 300th career goal with the help of 2-0—2 from Sam Reinhart (who hit the 20-goal mark) and 0-3—3 from Aleksander Barkov (who moved into sole possession of the most multi-assist games in franchise history).
QUICK CLICKS
* Trevor Zegras dedicates ‘Michigan’ goal to young fan battling cancer
* Kraken core look to ‘build tradition’ in Winter Classic
* Bruce Cassidy excited, in search of new headwear for Winter Classic
* 2023 Year in Review by #NHLStats (through Dec. 14)
* #NHLStats Pack: 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic
CANUCKS LOOK TO RECLAIM NO. 1 SEED IN NHL STANDINGS
The top team in the Western Conference will look to become the first club this season to reach 50 points in 2023-24 as the Canucks (23-9-3, 49 points) resume their schedule in what will be their final contest of the calendar year. The Golden Knights, meanwhile, will aim to close out 2023 on a winning note before heading to Seattle for the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.
