* Defensemen Erik Karlsson and Josh Morrissey both extended their respective streaks Friday and were among a number of players who found the score sheet after earning the honor of participating in the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend.
* Veteran Eric Staal and teenager Mason McTavish both produced notable performances as the Panthers and Ducks each skated to victories.
* Three of four division leaders are in action on a nine-game Saturday as the Bruins, Hurricanes and Golden Knights take to the ice.
ALL-STARS SHINE ALL OVER SCORE SHEETS FRIDAY
A number of players set to skate in the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend posted notable performances Friday:
* Erik Karlsson, who collected an assist and became the seventh NHL defenseman in the past 30 years with a point streak of at least 14 contests, boosted his 2022-23 totals to13-41—54 (40 GP). His 54 points are the most by a defenseman through 40 games in a season since Al MacInnis (18-37—55) in 1990-91.
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* Nazem Kadri netted the fourth and final Flames tally Friday and boosted his 2022-23 totals to 15-15—30 in 40 games. He became the fourth player since 1993-94 with at least 15 goals through his first 40 games with the franchise. The others: Elias Lindholm (18 in 2018-19), Michael Cammalleri (15 in 2008-09) and German Titov (17 in 1993-94).
* Josh Morrissey recorded his second three-assist outing of the season and moved within one of joining Karlsson as the second defenseman in 2022-23 to record 40 helpers. In the process, he extended his home point streak to 10 games and helped the Jets (25-13-1, 51 points) move within one point of the Central Division-leading Stars (23-11-6, 52 points).
* Seth Jones (0-1—1) found the score sheet for the second time in as many games and boosted his career totals with the Blackhawks to 7-56—63 (106 GP). Since Jones joined Chicago in 2021-22, Patrick Kane (86) is the only skater with more points over that span.
* Nikita Kucherov scored in his 600th career game to improve his career totals to 260-411—671. Among active players, only five have recorded more points at the time of the milestone contest: Sidney Crosby (825), Connor McDavid (772), Alex Ovechkin (733), Evgeni Malkin (712) and Leon Draisaitl (676).
NOTEWORTHY ACCOMPLISHMENTS HIGHLIGHTED IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
The latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured 38-year-old Eric Staal (0-1—1) and 19-year-old Mason McTavish (2-2—4) putting up noteworthy performances as the Panthers (18-18-4, 40 points) and Ducks (12-24-4, 28 points) each skated to victories.
* Staal found the score sheet for the third straight game and boosted his career totals to 447-600—1,047. The NHL veteran of 18 seasons joined Sidney Crosby (917), Patrick Kane (770), Nicklas Backstrom (747), Evgeni Malkin (724), Anze Kopitar (722), Claude Giroux (650) and Alex Ovechkin (649) as the eighth active player to reach the 600-assist milestone.
* McTavish (19 years, 341 days) factored on all three of Anaheim’s game-tying goals and notched another assist on John Klingberg’s tally in overtime to become the second-youngest player in Ducks history to record a four-point game behind Stanislav Chistov (19 years, 176 days) on Oct. 10, 2002 (1-3—4). Overall, he is the second teenager in as many seasons with a four-point game after Lucas Raymond accomplished the feat with the Red Wings on Oct. 24, 2021 (3-1—4).-07031352.png)
NHL PODCASTS: WEEKLY ROUNDUP
* NHL Fantasy (Jan. 3): Fantasy waiver wire pickups: Week 13
* NHL @ The Rink (Jan. 4):Jordan Staal joins; Canes… Cup or bust? Thompson, Kings & Copley
* The Chirp w/ Daren Millard (Jan. 4): Tocchet on Bedard, Panther’s concerns, Thompson’s impact
* NHL Fantasy (Jan. 5): Week 13 fantasy mailbag; Eichel’s return, Pacioretty, Add/Drops
QUICK CLICKS
*Matthew Tkachuk in ‘dream spot’ with Panthers, set for All-Star Game with Brady
* Connor Bedard has ‘no limit’ after dominating World Juniors, teammates say
* Matty Beniers loses bet to Jordan Eberle, wears Canada jersey to Kraken practice
* Penguins wear special helmet decals in honor of Kris Letang‘s late father
* 2023 Discover Winter Classic sets new merchandise sales records
DIVISION LEADERS READY FOR A NINE-GAME SATURDAY
Three of four division leaders are in action when the Bruins (30-4-4, 64 points), Hurricanes (25-8-6, 56 points) and Golden Knights (27-12-2, 56 points) take to the ice for a nine-game Saturday around the NHL.
* Boston holds a nine-point advantage over Toronto (23-9-7, 53 points), also in action Saturday, thanks in part to an active 12-game point streak dating to Dec. 11 (9-0-3) – outscoring opponents 41 to 26 through that span. Should the Bruins extend their streak and collect at least another point, they would become just the fourth team in NHL history to have four or fewer regulation losses prior to their 40th game of a season; the 1979-80 Flyers (27-2-10), 1943-44 Canadiens (28-4-7) and 1929-30 Bruins (34-4-1) are the only clubs to do so to date.
* Andrei Svechnikov (22 years, 287 days) leads the Hurricanes with 19 goals this season (19-14— 33 in 39 GP) and eyes finishing with the team-lead for the first time in his career after three previous 20-goal campaigns. Should he find the back of the net Saturday, Svechnikov can join Ron Francis (4x w/ HFD), Sylvain Turgeon (4x w/ HFD) and Sebastian Aho (4x w/ CAR) as the fourth player in Hurricanes/Whalers history with four 20-goal seasons before his 23rd birthday.
* Mark Stone and the Golden Knights have won each of their past four games at T-Mobile Arena, with the captain posting 4-6—10 over that span. Stone, whose four consecutive home games with multiple points already stands as the longest in franchise history, can be the third player to extend his stretch to five contests in 2022-23 (also Jason Robertson & Mikko Rantanen w/ 5 GP).
KOPITAR CLOSING IN ON 1,100TH CAREER POINT
Anze Kopitar (376-722—1,098) enters Saturday’s contest against the Golden Knights two points shy of joining Marcel Dionne (550-757—1,307) and Luc Robitaille (557-597—1,154) as the third player to reach the 1,100-point mark with the Kings.
* Kopitar, who leads all players in career goals (tied), assists and points against Vegas (11-19—30 in 27 GP), can become just the fifth active player to collect 1,100 career points.
