* Matinee madness! The Wild and Canucks combined for three hat tricks and 17 goals in the NHL’s highest-scoring game of the season so far.
* Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, J.T. Miller and Sean Monahan each potted hat tricks to raise AstraZeneca’s donation to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation by $20,000. After also seeing four three-goal performances on Nov. 4, the 2023-24 campaign became the first season to feature multiple days with at least four hat tricks since 2008-09 (4 on Dec. 11, 2008 & March 7, 2009).
* An eight-game Tuesday features a doubleheader on Sportsnet ONE and TVA Sports that closes with Ryan O’Reilly and the Predators clashing with the Golden Knights.
WILD MATINEE FEATURES THREE HAT TRICKS, MINNESOTA SCORING SIX GOALS IN 5:45
Kirill Kaprizov (3-3—6), Joel Eriksson Ek (3-3—6) and J.T. Miller (3-1—4) each had a hat trick as the Wild rallied past the Canucks in an epic game that featured 17 goals, marking the League’s highest-scoring contest this season. Monday’s thriller was also the first NHL game to feature a trio of hat tricks since Nov. 8, 1992, when Los Angeles had three (Mike Donnelly, Jari Kurri & Luc Robitaille).
* Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek became the first set of NHL teammates to each record six points in a game since Wayne Gretzky (2-4—6) and Tomas Sandstrom (0-6—6) with the Kings on Oct. 9, 1993. Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek matched the franchise record for most points in a game, achieved twice by Marian Gaborik (Oct. 26, 2002 & Dec. 20, 2007).
* The Wild established franchise records for most goals in a game (10) and period (7). They scored six of their tallies in a span of 5:45, marking the fourth fastest six goals by one team in League history.
BRAZEAU, MORELLI MAKE THEIR MARKS DURING NHL DEBUTS
Twenty-six-year-old Justin Brazeau (1-0—1) and 28-year-old Mason Morelli (1-1—2) both made an immediate impact in their NHL debuts to help the Bruins and Golden Knights skate to victory Monday.
* Brazeau (26 years, 17 days) became the seventh-oldest Bruins player to score in their League debut after Bernie Morris (34 years, 142 days on Jan. 10, 1925), Smokey Harris (34 years, 51 days on Dec. 1, 1924), Percy Galbraith (27 years, 346 days on Nov. 16, 1926), George Owen (27 years, 331 days on Jan. 8, 1929), Dmitri Kvartalnov (26 years, 197 days on Oct. 8, 1992) and Gino Rozzini (26 years, 19 days on Nov. 12, 1944). Of note, Morris and Harris played against NHL teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs before debuting with Boston.
* Morelli became the third player to score in his NHL debut while skating with the Golden Knights after Cody Glass (Oct. 2, 2019) and Vadim Shipachyov (Oct. 15, 2017), as well as the first Vegas skater to record multiple points in their first career game.
ATLANTIC DIVISION PLAYOFF RACE REMAINS TIGHT
The Maple Leafs (30-16-8, 68 points) and Red Wings (29-20-6, 64 points) both earned crucial wins Monday, with the former opening a three-point lead over third place in the Atlantic Division standings after a Lightning (30-22-5, 65 points) loss while the latter gained ground on Tampa Bay for the first Wild Card position.
* Auston Matthews followed up his two straight hat tricks with 1-1—2 to help the Maple Leafs extend their winning streak to four games. Matthews (49-24—73 in 53 GP) is now one goal shy of 50 on the season and can reach the milestone against his hometown team when Toronto visits Arizona on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET on SNO, SCRIPPS).
* Moritz Seider scored one of his team’s four goals, with Patrick Kane picking up his 800th career assist on the play, as the Red Wings earned their sixth overtime win of the season – the only teams with more are the Stars (7) and Rangers (7). Seider’s goal stood as the 19th of his career, moving him past Nicklas Lidstrom (18) for the fifth most by a Red Wings defenseman before age 23 behind Reed Larson (37), Steve Chiasson (29), Willie Huber (27) and Red Kelly (26).
MORE #NHLSTATS FROM AROUND THE RINKS FEATURED IN LIVE UPDATES
The Monday edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured a number of notes from across the 10-game slate, including Evan Bouchard (0-3—3) posting a three-point performance in an Oilers victory as well as Sebastian Aho (1-1—2) scoring his 20th goal of the season in the Hurricanes’ 6-3 win over the Blackhawks.
* Bouchard became the third Oilers defenseman with six or more three-point games in a season, joining Paul Coffey (6x, most: 21 GP in 1983-84) and Risto Siltanen (6 GP in 1981-82).
QUICK CLICKS
* NHL EDGE stats: Luke Hughes sets top skating speed by defenseman this season
* Brad Marchand rocks gold jacket to 1,000th game ceremony
* NHL Buzz: Martin Fehervary week to week for Capitals with lower-body injury
* Mike Richter talks Stadium Series, Rangers, NHL career highlights in Q&A with NHL.com
* Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Matthew Tkachuk named NHL’s “Three Stars” of the week
TUESDAY HIGHLIGHTED BY DOUBLEHEADER ON SPORTSNET ONE, TVA SPORTS
Tuesday is headlined by a doubleheader on Sportsnet One and TVA Sports that will conclude with a battle between the Predators and Golden Knights. The eight-game slate will also feature a showdown between Matthew and Brady Tkachuk as the Panthers host the Senators at Amerant Bank Arena.
* Ryan O’Reilly, who reached the 20-goal mark for the eighth time in his NHL career Saturday, won a Stanley Cup alongside Ivan Barbashev and Alex Pietrangelo with St. Louis in 2019. O’Reilly captured the Conn Smythe Trophy after recording 5-4—9 in seven games during the Final against Bruce Cassidy and the Bruins.
* Matthew Tkachuk has assisted on 16 goals by Sam Reinhart (39-27—66 in 55 GP), who can become the fourth different player in franchise history to score 40 in a season and second fastest to do so behind Pavel Bure (48 GP in 1999-00). Tkachuk has 6-15—21 in 19 head-to-head NHL games with his younger brother, Brady (6-5—11 in 19 GP).
