This is where you’ll get your fix of stats and milestones from around the NHL over the past couple of days. There’s action every night and always something interesting to talk about. Whether someone’s setting new scoring records or a player scoring their first goal, it’ll be here. There will be a focus on teams that have had a more entertaining past number of days in the stat or milestone department.
On tap today in the stat corner, the Florida Panthers stay undefeated and continue to break franchise records. Some impressive goal-scoring milestones have been reached in Toronto and Anaheim, while Jacob Markstrom and the Calgary Flames‘ play has them on the map.
Panthers Off to Franchise Best Start
The Panthers have continued to win, and their 6-0-0 start marked the first time that had happened since the Canadiens in 2015-16. They would then extend that winning streak to start the season in their next game.
Panthers are the 11th different franchise to have at least one 7-0-0 start in their history. They join the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, Canadiens, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, Quebec Nordiques, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Washington Capitals. This can be chalked up to many different factors all contributing to the success of the team. Most notably the captain Aleksander Barkov’s play after signing an 8-year extension with the Panthers and the resurgence of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
Not to get lost in the shuffle, two defencemen hit games played (GP) milestones. Aaron Ekblad played his 500th NHL game, all with the Panthers, while Brandon Montour played in his 300th career game. We should expect many more from each of these defencemen as each is signed for at least three more seasons.
Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews Setting Goal-Scoring Standard Everywhere
Ever since Auston Matthews‘ debut in the NHL where he scored four goals, he has done nothing but score goals. He is now the standard for American players in the NHL after he is the fastest U.S.-born player in history to reach 200 goals, accomplishing this feat in 338 GP.
Not only that, but Matthews is the second-fastest player in the long history of the Maple Leafs to hit 200 goals. Only Charlie Conacher reached that mark faster, doing it in 317 GP. Next to Alex Ovechkin, Matthews is the second-fastest active player to reach the 200-goal mark as well. Ovechkin did it in 296 games. Matthews will be the leader in goals every year for the Maple Leafs for the foreseeable future and has the ability to climb the franchise leaderboard all the way to the top.
Related: Maple Leafs & Flames Should Consider a Marner/Tkachuk Swap
On another note, with William Nylander’s fifth overtime (OT) goal of his career against the Chicago Blackhawks, he becomes the ninth player to score five OT goals with the Maple Leafs. He also tied his father, Michael Nylander’s, for overtime goals in their careers.
Canadiens Snap Winless Streak in San Jose
The Montreal Canadiens snapped a streak against the Sharks that has been a long time coming. The Canadiens visited Sharks in a game Thursday and recorded their first win on the road in San Jose since 1999 (“Canadiens snap near 22-year losing streak at San Jose Sharks”, San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 28, 2021). This win also snapped a 10-game losing streak vs. the Sharks home or away. The team isn’t off to the best start, but it doesn’t matter how or where wins come from, they count as two points in the standings all the same.
Jake Allen shut out the Sharks to record the 22nd shutout of his career. With Carey Price out, it was the right decision to keep Allen around to provide depth and give the Canadiens a chance with a proven goaltender in the net at all times. Brandan Gallagher also looks to climb the deep franchise leaderboard in goals after recording his 188th with the Canadiens. Three more goals will put him in 27th, tying him with Saku Koivu.
Flames at the Top of Pacific
The Flames are off to a great start to the season after many discounted them after the season they had last year. Markstrom seems like a new goaltender and is playing like the goalie that they had hoped for when they signed him. He earned the 10th shutout of his career in their win over the Penguins on Thursday. It marked the second shutout for Markstrom this season after only recording eight in his first 11 seasons in the NHL. He is playing incredibly, sporting a 3-1-1 record with a 1.59 goals-against average (GAA) and .952 save percentage (SV%). He is a major reason why the Flames are leading the Pacific Division.
Other reasons are the play of Andrew Mangiapane and Johnny Gaudreau. Mangiapane had seven goals in the Flames’ first six games of the season and had a chance to set the record for the longest goal-scoring streak to open a season in franchise history, but he failed to score in a win over the Penguins. He is also the sixth Flames player to score multiple goals in consecutive road games and the first since Jerome Iginla in 2001.
Gaudreau is on a 6-game point streak and he is 10th in franchise history for points with 504. He looks to move up the franchise list even more in the coming games, as he’s one point behind Gary Roberts for ninth in points and two assists behind Paul Reinhart for seventh in assists.
Though Mikael Backlund hasn’t had the start that some of his teammates have had, he’s still an efficient scorer. In his 13th season, all with the Flames, he recorded his 400th NHL point with an assist. He has played 751 games and is still signed on for three more seasons.
Adam Henrique Continues to Score for the Ducks
Adam Henrique scored the 200th goal of his NHL career in the game against the Sabres. He is an integral part of the Ducks’ team and is a very underrated goal-scorer. Since coming over to the team in the midst of the 2017-18 season, he has the most goals scored, slightly beating out Rickard Rakell.
Since joining the Ducks, the lowest Henrique has finished in goals on the team in a season is second, leading the team in his second full season with the Ducks in 2019-20. No player has outscored him in a season more than once, trailing Rakell, Jakob Silfverberg, and Max Comtois one time each.
Simon Benoit scored the first goal of his career in his second game in the league. He got into action in place of Josh Mahura and took advantage despite playing limited time as a sixth defenceman.
Watch for Ryan Getzlaf to pass Teemu Selanne for the franchise record in points. He currently sits one point back at 987 points.
Catch up here every few days for the latest records being set by players and teams in the NHL.
