* Patrik Laine continued his strong start with the Canadiens as he became the seventh player on record to score each of his first seven goals with a franchise on the power play.
* Utah Hockey Club earned their fourth straight win – trailing Ottawa (5 GP) for the longest active run – and tied the fifth-longest point streak by a franchise in their inaugural season.
* The #NHLStats Pack: Discover Winter Classic and 2024 Year in Review are now available on the League’s Media site. Numbers in both
documents are through games played Dec. 19.
* The final Saturday before the three-day holiday break features seven contests carried by Sportsnet programming including four Hockey Night in Canada games.
MAPLE LEAFS, CANADIENS EARN WINS AHEAD OF HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA
The Maple Leafs (21-10-2, 44 points) and Canadiens (13-16-3, 29 points) both collected wins in their first half of back-to-backs, which will conclude Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada, highlighted by Matt Murray, who earned a win in his return to the lineup, and Patrik Laine, who continued his hot start with Montreal.
* Murray made 24 saves to backstop Toronto past Buffalo more than 600 days since his last NHL appearance on April 2, 2023. Murray, a two-time Stanley Cup winner who went 4-1-2 in eight games played with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies this season (1.85 GAA, .931 SV%, 1 SO), earned his first victory since March 23, 2023.
* After scoring a hat trick of power-play goals Tuesday, Laine (1-0—1) cashed in again on the man advantage to help the Canadiens skate to their second straight win. Laine (7-1—8 in 8 GP), who has scored all seven of his goals on the man advantage, trails only four others for the League lead in power-play markers. Laine became the seventh player to score each of his first seven goals with a franchise on the power play (since 1933-34). The others: Risto Siltanen (10 w/ QUE), Marek Zidlicky (10 w/ MIN), Dwight Bialowas (8 w/ MNS), Victor Olofsson (8 w/ BUF), Larry Sacharuk (7 w/ STL) and Esa Tikkanen (7 w/ VAN).
GUENTHER, UTAH EXTEND POINT STREAKS
Dylan Guenther scored twice to extend his point streak to seven games, which was already the longest on his team, to help Utah Hockey Club extend their win streak to four contests and point streak to seven (6-0-1). Only three teams have a longer point streak this season: Washington (9 GP), Carolina (8 GP) and Winnipeg (8 GP). Utah (16-11-5, 37 points) is now one point back of a playoff position.
* Guenther recorded his fifth multi-goal game this season, which is tied for the second most among all players (also Mikko Rantanen, Travis Konecny & Artemi Panarin). Kirill Kaprizov leads the League with six.
MACKINNON POSTS THREE-POINT GAME IN AVALANCHE WIN
Nathan MacKinnon (1-2—3) boosted his League-leading totals to 14-41—55 (35 GP) and Cale Makar (1-1—2) reached the 90-point mark in a calendar year for the second time in his career to propel Colorado (20-15-0, 40 points) past Dallas (19-13-0, 38 points) and into third place in the Central Division. It marks the first time the Avalanche have sat within the top three of the division in 2024-25.
* MacKinnon recorded his 135th, 136th and 137th point since Jan. 1, which bested his 2023 total (135) and established a new franchise record for most in a calendar year. The only active player to record as many points as MacKinnon in a calendar year is Connor McDavid (157 in 2021 & 143 in 2022).
* Makar improved to 23-68—91 (80 GP) since Jan. 1 and became the fourth defenseman in NHL history to reach the 90-point mark in a calendar year multiple times (also 94 points in 2022). He joined Paul Coffey (8x), Bobby Orr (5x) and Ray Bourque (4x).
Lindgren’s two-pad stack featured in #NHLStats: Live Updates
Friday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates had more notes from the seven-game slate, including Charlie Lindgren making a highlight-reel save on Tyson Jost to help Washington (22-8-2, 46 points) clip Carolina and leapfrog idle New Jersey (21-11-3, 45 points) for first place in the Eastern Conference.
NHL PODCASTS WEEKLY ROUNDUP
* NHL Draft Class (Dec. 20): Chris Peters, FloHockey draft expert; World Juniors preview
* NHL Fantasy on Ice (Dec. 19): Naughty/nice; Week 11 mailbag; “On the Money” with Bet365
* NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers (Dec. 19): Nate Thompson’s mental health journey
* NHL @TheRink (Dec. 18): Darren Pang joins; Atlantic Division, Winter Classic preview
* La Tasse de Café LNH (Dec. 18): Aperçu du Championnat mondial junior 2025
* NHL Fantasy on Ice (Dec. 16): Week 11 pickups; Blues appeal after Cam Fowler trade
QUICK CLICKS
* Blackhawks sport Winter Classic equipment during practice
* ‘I would love to stay’ with Maple Leafs, John Tavares says
* Oilers celebrate Leon Draisaitl’s ‘incredible accomplishment’ of hitting 900 points
* NHL EDGE stats: Jake Guentzel keeps Lightning offense among elite
WINTER SOLSTICE SCHEDULE STACKED WITH SEVEN SPORTSNET GAMES
The first day of winter features an 11-game slate highlighted by four Hockey Night in Canada contests and three matinees carried by Sportsnet programming.
* John Tavares takes on his former team when the Atlantic Division-leading Maple Leafs (21-10-2, 44 points) host Anders Lee and the Islanders at Scotiabank Arena. Toronto will complete the eighth of its League-high 16 back-to-back sets this season, while New York can earn its fifth straight win against the Maple Leafs dating to March 21, 2023 (TOR: 0-2-2).
* Patrik Laine and the Canadiens complete their back-to-back, home-and-home set with Lucas Raymond and the Red Wings at Bell Centre. Laine (7-1—8 in 8 GP) can continue his nearly goal-per-game pace and become the fourth player in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) to tally eight or more times through his first nine contests with Montreal (also Pierre Turgeon, Bobby Smith & Jean Beliveau).
* Kyle Connor and the League-leading Jets (23-10-1, 47 points) welcome Kirill Kaprizov and the sixth-place Wild (20-9-4, 44 points) to Canada Life Centre. Connor (19-23—42 in 34 GP) and Kaprizov(22-27—49 in 32 GP) are two of the 14 NHL’s 40-point scorers this season, with five playing for Central Division teams (also Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen & Cale Makar).
* Brady Tkachuk can help Ottawa secure six straight wins for the first time since March 2-11, 2017 (6 GP) when the Senators vie for victory versus Quinn Hughes and the Canucks at Rogers Arena. Linus Ullmark is 7-0-0 in his last seven appearances and can become the fifth goaltender in franchise history with an eight-game winning streak.
* Anze Kopitar and the Kings face Filip Forsberg and the Predators at Bridgestone Arena to start the slate, followed by Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks battling Jonathan Huberdeau and the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome as well as Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks squaring off with Connor McDavid and the Oilers at Rogers Place. Leon Draisaitl (6-12—18 in 7 GP) can become the third player in franchise history with an eight-game multi-point streak, following Wayne Gretzky (12x; longest: 16 GP from Dec. 20, 1985 to Jan. 25, 1986) and McDavid (8 GP from March 2-17, 2019).
