* A pair of Kings joined elite lists Monday, with Anze Kopitar recording his 1,100th career point and Kevin Fiala posting four points on the power play as Los Angeles bested Edmonton at Crypto.com Arena.
* A trio of goaltenders put up big performances to help backstop their respective clubs to victories on the road, including Juuse Saros who became the first netminder in over 27 years with 102 combined saves in consecutive starts.
* A number of U.S.-born players will look to reach season benchmarks Tuesday, including Jack Hughes and Matthew Tkachuk who will both aim to hit the 50-point mark when their respective clubs take to the ice on a 10-game slate.
KOPITAR JOINS KINGS ROYALTY, FIALA HAS FOUR-POINT NIGHT
Anze Kopitar (0-1—1) notched his 1,100th career point and Kevin Fiala (2-2—4) found his name all over the score sheet as the Kings (24-14-6, 54 points) moved within two points of the idle Golden Knights (27-13-2, 56 points) for the top spot in the Pacific Division.
* Kopitar (376-724—1,1000 in 1,254 GP) joined Marcel Dionne (550-757—1,307 in 921 GP) and Luc Robitaille (557-597—1,154 in 1,077 GP) as just the third player to hit the 1,100-point milestone with the Kings franchise. He also became the fifth active skater to reach the mark, following Alex Ovechkin (809-649—1,458 in 1,317 GP), Sidney Crosby (537-919—1,456 in 1,147 GP), Patrick Kane (437-770—1,207 in 1,144 GP) and Evgeni Malkin (456-725—1,181 in 1,020 GP).
* Fiala recorded all four of his points on the man advantage and became the first Kings skater to put up at least four power-play points in a game since Adam Deadmarsh (0-4—4) on Feb. 8, 2002. Only one active player has posted more than four power-play points in a contest: Tyson Barrie (1-4—5) on Feb. 20, 2018.
ROAD TEAMS SKATE TO VICTORIES MONDAY
The Predators, Kraken and Flyers each picked up wins on the road Monday, with the help of big performances by their goaltenders:
* Juuse Saros made 38 saves – for a combined 102 over his past two consecutive starts (64 saves on Jan. 5) – and Roman Josi scored the game winner as the Predators (19-14-6, 44 points) blanked the Senators to gain ground on the Oilers (21-18-3, 45 points) for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Saros became the first goaltender in over 27 years to post as many combined saves in two consecutive starts.
* Vince Dunn (1-1—2) kept up his high-scoring ways in 2023 while Martin Jones (21 saves) recorded his second shutout of the season to help the Kraken (23-12-4, 50 points) keep pace with the Kings in the Pacific Division playoff race. Seattle, which won its fifth straight game to begin the calendar year and leads all teams in wins and points over that span, has seen a 26-point increase compared to its total at this time last season (10-19-4, 24 points on Jan. 9, 2022) – the only team with a better year-over-year improvement is Boston (+30 points).
* Travis Konecny factored on two of his team’s four goals while Samuel Ersson turned aside all 28 shots he faced to backstop the Flyers to a shutout win against the Sabres at KeyBank Center. Ersson (5 GP) required the fifth-fewest appearances by a rookie goaltender to record his first career shutout with the Flyers, behind only Robbie Moore (1 GP in 1978-79), Anthony Stolarz (2 GP in 2016-17), Bob Froese (3 GP in 1982-93) and Doug Favell (3 GP in 1967-68).
QUICK CLICKS
* #NHLStats: Live Updates – Monday, Jan 9
* David Pastrnak, Jack Hughes, Rasmus Dahlin named “Three Stars” for the week ending Jan. 8
* Trophy Tracker: Matty Beniers, Logan Thompson leaders for Calder as rookie of year
* Trophy Tracker: Jim Montgomery, Pete DeBoer leaders for Adams as coach of year
* Women in Hockey: Danielle Fujita
U.S.-BORN PLAYERS LOOK TO REACH SEASON BENCHMARKS ACROSS 10-GAME SLATE
A number of U.S.-born players will look to reach season benchmarks across a 10-game slate, including Jack Hughes and Matthew Tkachuk, when the Devils (25-12-3, 53 points) face the Hurricanes (25-8-7, 57 points) and the Panthers (18-19-4, 40 points) visit the Avalanche (20-15-3, 43 points) during a doubleheader on HULU and ESPN+.
* Hughes, who has multiple points in three consecutive games, is one point shy of 50 in 2022-23 (26-23—49 in 40 GP). Should he find the score sheet Tuesday, Hughes will tie John MacLean (41 GP in 1988-89) for the fewest games in Devils/Scouts/Rockies history to reach the mark.
* Tkachuk (20-29—49 in 38 GP) can require the fewest games of his career to reach the 50-point mark (current best: 44 GP in 2018-19). Tkachuk, who is on pace for his second straight 100-point season, can become the third player in Panthers history to record 50 points in 39 or fewer games – he would join Pavel Bure (34 GP in 1999-00) and Jonathan Huberdeau (37 GP in 2021-22 & 38 GP in 2019-20).
* Kyle Connor, who netted a hat trick against Vancouver on Sunday, enters Tuesday one point shy of 50 this season (20-29—49 in 40 GP). He can become just the fourth player in Jets/Thrashers history to record six consecutive campaigns with at least as many points – he would join Ilya Kovalchuk (8), Blake Wheeler (7) and Mark Scheifele (7).
* Jason Robertson (28-29—57 in 41 GP) can become the fourth player to reach the 30-goal mark this season and the third to hit 60 points. Robertson, who can become the fastest player to post 30 goals in a campaign with the club since it relocated to Dallas (currently held by Mike Modano: 48 GP in 1993-94), is also on course to match the Stars/North Stars record for most goals (55) and points (114) in a season.
