* Sidney Crosby scored two goals including the overtime winner while Alex Ovechkin hit the 10-point mark with a three-point effort as the pair of veterans treated fans to vintage performances on Halloween.
* The Hurricanes skated to an eight-goal outburst with help from three tallies in under a minute. The 2024-25 campaign has now seen the most eight-goal performances at this stage of a season in 18 years, with 1992-93 being the last to feature more.
* The 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal between the Panthers and Stars begins at 2 p.m. ET on NHL Network and Sportsnet. The contest will feature hometown hero Aleksander Barkov and could include seven players from Finland.
CROSBY, OVECHKIN TREAT FANS TO MULTI-POINT PERFORMANCES ON HALLOWEEN
Sidney Crosby (2-0—2) scored a pair of goals including the overtime winner to propel the Penguins to victory while Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (1-2—3) notched his first three-point performance since Feb. 20 and is off to his best start to a season since his 90-point effort in 2021-22.
* Crosby tied the game in the third period and scored a highlight-reel overtime goal – the 22nd of his career, which is the second-most all-time behind Ovechkin (26) – to help Pittsburgh find the win column. The Penguins captain climbed into eighth on two all-time NHL lists as he passed Wayne Gretzky and tied Marcel Dionne (215) for go-ahead goals and broke a tie with Joe Sakic (473) on the multi-point games list.
* Ovechkin moved another step closer to tying Gretzky’s all-time goals record as he became the first Washington skater to post three points on Halloween since Peter Bondra (0-3—3) and Richard Zednik (3-0—3) on Oct. 31, 2000. In doing so, the Capitals captain boosted his season totals to 5-5—10 (9 GP) and hit the 10-point mark in fewer than 10 games for the first time since 2021-22 (5 GP), when he went on to tally 50-40—90 (77 GP).
HURRICANES ERUPT FOR EIGHT GOALS IN FIFTH SRAIGHT WIN
Andrei Svechnikov (2-1—3) and Martin Necas (1-3—4) led the way during Carolina’s eight-goal outburst as the pair each factored on the first of three tallies in a span of 52 seconds – the fastest three by a team this season – and helped the Hurricanes skate to a fifth straight victory, the League’s longest active winning streak.
* Necas (5-10—15 in 9 GP) tied the franchise benchmark for fewest games to 10 assists in a season and became the third player in Hurricanes/Whalers history with 15 points before his 10th game of a campaign, joining John Anderson (18 in 1985-86) and Eric Staal (15 in 2005-06).
* Carolina, which scored eight goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 11, 2019, became the sixth different team this season to net as many in a contest (7th instance overall). The last campaign to feature as many eight-goal outbursts at this stage of a season (166 GP) was 2006-07 (7), while the last to feature more was 1992-93 (14).
DRAISAITL CONTINUES STRONG PLAY AGAINST PREDATORS
Leon Draisaitl (2-1—3) boosted his career numbers against Nashville and helped the Oilers extend their point streak versus the Predators to nine games (7-0-2 dating to Oct. 27, 2018) – their second-longest active run against an opponent behind the Ducks (10 GP; 8-0-2 dating to Feb. 25, 2018).
* Draisaitl, who passed Glenn Anderson (92) for sole possession of the fifth-most three-point games in Oilers history, has collected 25-16—41 in his last 16 games against Nashville dating to Oct. 27, 2018. Through that span, he has posted three five-point games, a four-goal performance, a hat trick, nine three-plus point outings and 10 multi-goal contests.
SMITH’S FIRST TWO CAREER TALLIES FEATURED IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
The Halloween edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates saw teams and players provide plenty of treats, including Sharks rookie Will Smith, who notched his first two career goals and became the youngest U.S.-born skater to score for the franchise. The 19-year-old, who’s living with Patrick Marleau this season, also put his name next to the Sharks legend with his multi-goal performance.
QUICK CLICKS
* Avalanche’s Matt Stienburg suspended 2 games
* Auston Matthews meets young fan who dressed up as his hockey card for Halloween
* Macklin Celebrini resumes team activities with Sharks; remains week to week
*Kings fans celebrate Dodgers’ World Series win in stands
* Aleksander Barkov enjoying ‘amazing’ homecoming ahead of Global Series in Finland
FINNISH TALENT AT FOREFRONT TODAY IN TAMPERE
The 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal begins today at 2 p.m. ET on NHL Network and Sportsnet with the first of two back-to-back games at Nokia Arena in Tampere between the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers, captained by hometown hero Aleksander Barkov, and the Stars, who also boast a Finnish-born star at forward in Roope Hintz (Nokia, Finland), with three straight 30-goal campaigns to his name.
* Barkov and Hintz are two of seven players from Finland available for the game, along with Stars defensemen Miro Heiskanen (Espoo, Finland) and Esa Lindell (Vantaa, Finland), as well as a trio of Panthers skaters who contributed to their 2024 Stanley Cup championship in Anton Lundell (Espoo, Finland), Eetu Luostarinen (Siilinjarvi, Finland) and Niko Mikkola (Kiiminki, Finland).
* The Panthers and Stars have each had deep playoff runs in the two previous seasons, with Dallas falling in the Western Conference Final in 2023 and 2024, and Florida reaching the Stanley Cup Final in those two seasons while capturing the franchise’s first championship in 2024. They are both off to quick starts in 2024-25, with the Panthers (7-3-1, 15 points) sitting atop the Atlantic Division and the Stars (7-2-0, 14 points) boasting one of the League’s top points percentages early in the campaign.
* The two-game set on Friday and Saturday (12 p.m. ET on NHLN, SN1) will be the 10th and 11th NHL regular-season games played in Finland, the second most of any country outside North America behind Sweden (17). Tampere will host its third and fourth such contests to tie Tokyo (4) for the fourth most of any city outside North America. Nokia Arena will have hosted all four games in Tampere.
* Plenty of resources are available ahead of the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal including: A list of all NHL Games Outside North America and all-time standings in those games via Records.NHL.com; an #NHLStats Pack that includes a more in-depth look at the history of games outside North America, features on star players from Finland and more; as well as the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland Interactive Information Guide.
* ICYMI: Hintz and Sam Reinhart donned a gold helmet at practice. In many European leagues, the top scorer on each team wears a golden dome to signify his place on the team. While Hintz (4-4—8 in 9 GP) is not the leading scorer for Dallas (Matt Duchene: 6-5—11 in 9 GP), he was given the honor to wear the special helmet by teammates as the hometown member of the Stars – Hintz grew up in a suburb of Tampere.
FIVE-GAME FRIDAY NIGHT CLOSES WITH DEVILS-FLAMES
After the Stars and Panthers complete their first of two games in Tampere, Friday night in North America includes a five-game slate with the League-leading Jets (9-1-0, 18 points) in action against the Blue Jackets (5-3-1, 11 points) and closes with Jack Hughes and the Devils (7-4-2, 16 points) continuing their Western Canadian swing against Nazem Kadri and the Flames nationally in Canada on Sportsnet One, Sportsnet West and TVA Sports.
