* Colorado edged Tampa Bay Thursday to stretch several lengthy streaks and leapfrog Florida for first place in the League standings.
* Joe Snively of the Capitals, who was born in Virginia and grew up cheering for Washington, scored the first and second goals of his NHL career.
* Friday’s four-game slate is set to feature a clash between the Kraken and Ducks on HULU and ESPN+.
COLORADO EXTENDS POINT STREAKS, CLIMBS TO TOP OF NHL STANDINGS
Gabriel Landeskog scored to reach the 20-goal mark for the ninth time in his NHL career as the Avalanche extended their franchise-record point streak to 18 games (16-0-2), one of seven runs of at least that length since 2005-06. Colorado improved to 20-0-2 in its past 22 home games, the 16th time in League history that a team has posted a home point streak of at least that length – the Avalanche own one of 12 such runs in the past 49 seasons.
* The Avalanche (33-8-4, 70 points) overtook the idle Panthers (32-10-5, 69 points) for first place in the NHL standings and added a 10-point cushion to their lead over the Predators (28-15-4, 60 points) for the top spot in both the Western Conference and Central Division.
* Devon Toews (1-1—2) scored his ninth goal of 2021-22, matching his career high set in 53 games during the 2020-21 campaign. Colorado defensemen have tallied 44 goals this season, 10 shy of establishing the franchise record for most in a single campaign – the current mark is 53, set by the Nordiques in 1992-93.
SNIVELY SCORES FIRST AND SECOND NHL GOALS
Joe Snively (2-1—3) scored his first and second NHL goals to help the Capitals (26-14-9, 61 points) pad their lead above the Bruins (26-16-3, 55 points) for the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. Snively (Herndon, Va.) became the third Virginia-born player to score an NHL goal, joining Eric Weinrich (Roanoke, Va.) and Scott Lachance (Charlottesville, Va.).
* Snively signed as a free agent with the team he grew up cheering for on March 18, 2019. During his youth, he trained at MedStar Capitals Iceplex and was a participant in Washington’s Little Caps program. Snively idolized his now-teammate Alex Ovechkin and had his gloves signed by him as a child after running into him at the dentist office.
Photos via @Capitals and @CapitalsPR
ANDERSEN BLANKS BOSTON TO CORRAL 25TH WIN WITH CAROLINA
Frederik Andersen stopped all 34 shots he faced and Sebastian Aho (21-27—48 in 42 GP) tallied twice to eclipse 20 goals on the season as Carolina claimed a 6-0 win against Boston. The Hurricanes (32-10-3, 67 points) top the Metropolitan Division standings and maintained their one-point lead over the Penguins (29-11-8, 66 points), who also earned a shutout victory Thursday.
* Andersen improved to 25-6-1 in 32 career appearances with the Hurricanes (2.01 GAA, .930 SV%, 2 SO). He became the second goaltender in NHL history to record his first 25 wins with a franchise in 32 appearances or fewer (at any point in his career), following Ross Brooks with Boston from 1972-73 to 1973-74 (25-2-3 in 32 GP).
DEVILS’ SECOND STRAIGHT SEVEN-GOAL OUTING FEATURED IN LIVE UPDATES
Thursday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates features more notes from the seven games, including the Devils following up their 7-1 win versus the Canadiens on Tuesday with a 7-4 triumph against the Blues. Click here to read more.
GRANATO NAMED CANUCKS ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER
The Canucks bolstered their front office staff by naming Cammi Granato assistant general manager Thursday. Granato’s extensive resume includes being a two-time Olympian and captaining Team USA to a gold medal in 1998, playing in every IIHF Women’s World Championship from 1990 to 2005, as well as an induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010.
* Granato joined Emilie Castonguay as the second woman hired as an assistant general manager by the Canucks in the past three weeks. She is the third woman in NHL history to be named to the role after Angela Gorgone held the position with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim during the 1996-97 season.
* Granato continues to break barriers after she became the first woman pro scout in the NHL on Sept. 25, 2019 when she was hired by the Kraken.
QUICK CLICKS
* Everett Fitzhugh, JT Brown to make history as first all-Black NHL television broadcast team
* Martin St. Louis driven to prove doubters wrong as coach of Canadiens
* Jay Woodcroft replaces Dave Tippett as head coach of the Oilers
* Marcus Foligno of the Wild suspended two games for kneeing
* Coyotes to play at Arizona State University’s arena for next three seasons
BLACK HOCKEY HISTORY HIGHLIGHT: JAROME IGINLA
When he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 20/21, Jarome Iginla said in his speech: “I probably wasn’t your typical hockey kid. My Dad immigrated to Canada from Nigeria, my Mom came from Oregon. But once I started hockey at St. Albert Minor Hockey at age seven, I was hooked and I wanted to be a hockey player and dreamt of playing in the NHL.”
* Iginla’s love for the game sprouted a Hall of Fame career that saw him become one of 20 players in NHL history to reach the 600-goal milestone across a 20-season career with stops in Calgary, Pittsburgh, Boston, Colorado and Los Angeles (625-675—1,300 in 1,554 GP).
* Iginla, who topped 50 goals in a season twice and recorded 12 seasons with 30+ goals, captured the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy on two occasions (2001-02 & 2003-04) and the Art Ross Trophy once (2001-02). He holds Flames franchise records for games played, goals, points and game-winning goals. The franchise retired his No. 12 on March 2, 2019.
ICYMI: NHL BOUND – EPISODE 1 NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE.COM/NHL
‘NHL Bound’ follows Duante’ Abercrombie and Nathaniel Brooks, two Black hockey coaches chasing their dream to work in the NHL. The weekly series chronicles their participation in the Coyotes’ first-ever coaching internship program, dedicated to creating a deeper pool of diverse talent. CLICK HERE to watch the first episode.
KRAKEN, DUCKS READY TO CLASH ON ESPN+
In a contest broadcast nationally in the United States on ESPN+, the Kraken (15-28-4, 34 points) travel to Honda Center to take on the Ducks (23-16-9, 55 points), who have collected at least one point in each of their past six games (4-0-2 since Jan. 21).
* The Kraken received a 19-save shutout from Philipp Grubauer in their last road game on Feb. 2 against the Islanders. With another such performance in Anaheim, Seattle can become the third expansion team in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to register consecutive road shutouts in its inaugural season. The North Stars (2 GP from Dec. 15-16, 1967) and Flyers (2 GP from Dec. 8-16, 1967) are the only clubs to do so.
* Trevor Zegras (12-20—32 in 42 GP) sits second in Ducks scoring this season and has collected 15-30—45 (66 GP) in his career to date. Zegras, set to celebrate his 21st birthday next month, is one of four players in franchise history to register 45-plus career points at age 20 or younger.
* MUST SEE: Zegras created another social media moment when he surprised his Anaheim teammates Troy Terry and John Gibson by acting as their personal chauffeur at the NHL’s All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas.
