In the latest installment of NHL Stats News, we take a look at one of the most entertaining and high-scoring games of the 21st century between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. Then we move to Patrick Kane and his rise up the ranks of the Chicago Blackhawks, a hat trick for the Edmonton Oilers that came too late, and comeback wins for the Colorado Avalanche powered by their stars. We wrap things up with impressive career milestones for a couple of Los Angeles Kings, Kyle Connor’s goal-scoring prowess, and a ton more stats and milestones from around the NHL.
Marner, Matthews & Bunting Lead Maple Leafs’ Outburst
Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, and Michael Bunting were the first three or more teammates to record four-plus points in a game for the Maple Leafs since 2005 (Jeff O’Neill, Jason Allison, Darcy Tucker, and Bryan McCabe). The Maple Leafs scored seven goals in back-to-back games vs the Detroit Red Wings for the first time in franchise history. It is the sixth time more than one Maple Leafs player has recorded a hat trick against the Red Wings in one season (Bunting, Marner).
Bunting was the first Maple Leafs’ rookie to record four points in a road game since Matthews in 2016. Marner scored the first natural hat trick for the team since Nazem Kadri in 2013. Bunting has scored the seventh-most goals by a rookie in his first 52 games of a season in franchise history with 18. Matthews holds the franchise record with 25. Bunting is the ninth rookie to record five points in a game in franchise history and the first since 1967-68.
The game between the Maple Leafs and Red Wings was the worst combined goaltending performance since the NHL started tracking it in 2007, with 17 goals against when there were only 4.8 expected goals for. The Maple Leafs scored 10 goals in a game with zero power-play goals for the first time since 1947. It was the first game to have 17 or more combined goals and none scored on the power play since 1945 between the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins.
The Maple Leafs and Red Wings combined for the most goals in a game since 2011 (Winnipeg Jets versus Philadelphia Flyers), also 17. The last game with more goals was the San Jose Sharks versus the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1996. It’s the 10th time in franchise history the Maple Leafs have scored 10 or more goals on the road and 36th time in total. It is the first time since 2007 that they scored 10 goals in a game. It was the 10th time they scored 10 goals since they did it during the 1976-77 season (“Maple Leafs report cards: Mitch Marner scores four goals, Toronto wins ridiculous 10-7 game”, The Athletic, Feb. 27, 2022).
Related: NHL Stat Corner: Blue Jackets, Canucks, Maple Leafs, Rangers, Panthers
Marner recorded his first career hat trick. He has the fifth-most career five-plus point games in franchise history with three. Darryl Sittler has the most with seven. Marner is the first Maple Leafs player to record six points in a game since Mats Sundin in 2006. He is also the fifth different Maple Leafs player to score three goals in a period in the past 25 years. He is the fourth Maple Leafs player in the past 22 years to score four goals in a game, joining John Tavares, Matthews, and Sundin.
Patrick Kane Powers His Way Up Blackhawks Scoring Lists
Kane and Brandon Hagel are the seventh pair of teammates to record a hat trick in the same game since 2006-07. The last duo to do so were Bryan Rust and Evan Rodrigues on Jan. 2, 2022. It was his eighth career hat trick. It is the fourth time since 1967-68 and the seventh time in franchise history that two Blackhawks players recorded a hat trick in the same game. The others were 2003 (Eric Daze & Steve Sullivan), 1986 (Troy Murray & Al Secord), and 1968 (Stan Mikita & Kenny Wharram).
Kane has the second-most three-plus point games by an American-born player in their first 15 seasons in NHL history (96). Only Pat Lafontaine (116) has more. Kane has the fourth-most combined power-play goals in franchise history (124). He recorded his 56th career multi-point game, fifth-most in franchise history behind Bobby Hull (120), Stan Mikita (91), Steve Larmer (78), and Denis Savard (58).
Alex DeBrincat was the third Blackhawks player to record three power-play assists in one period since 1933-34, joining Kane (2018) and Chris Chelios (1993). Hagel and Philipp Kurashev played their 100th career games.
Derek Ryan’s Hat Trick Leads Oilers to Victory
Derek Ryan was the oldest player in franchise history to record a hat trick (35 years, 59 days), passing Ethan Moreau (33 years, 118 days). He was the eighth-oldest player in NHL history at the time of his first hat trick. Nicklas Lidstrom holds the record (40 years, 231 days). He has completely turned his season around since Jay Woodcroft took over behind the bench in Edmonton. He is the 56th player to record a hat trick in 2021-22, the most at this point of the season since 1993-94, which had 59 players accomplish the feat.
The Oilers and Florida Panthers game featured the top three players in points (Connor McDavid, Jonathan Huberdeau, Leon Draisaitl) at the 800-game mark of the season for the first time since 2009 (Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby).
McDavid has the fourth-most multi-assist games in his first seven seasons in NHL history (121). Only Wayne Gretzky (253), Mario Lemieux (148), and Peter Stastny (134) have more. Draisaitl required the second-fewest games to score 15 power-play goals in a season in franchise history (52 games played). Only Craig Simpson (51 games played in 1990-91) did so faster.
Landeskog & MacKinnon Lead Avalanche to Consecutive Comeback Wins
Gabriel Landeskog recorded his fifth career hat trick, the sixth-most in franchise history. He recorded the fifth-most even-strength goals (173) and the seventh-most multi-goal games as well.
Nathan MacKinnon has recorded the fourth-most game-winning goals in franchise history (44), trailing Joe Sakic (86), Milan Hejduk (59), and Michel Goulet (47). Cale Makar has the second-longest assist streak in franchise history (seven games), trailing only John-Michael Liles.
The Colorado Avalanche recorded their second three-goal comeback of the season, tying them for most in the NHL with the Panthers. They have the third-most six-plus goal games in the team’s first 52 games since 1996-97 (11). Only the Ottawa Senators (14 in 2008-09) and Tampa Bay Lightning (12 in 2018-19) have more in that time.
Quick & Kopitar Rise in the Ranks
Jonathan Quick won his 350th career game. He is the fourth American-born goaltender to reach the mark, trailing Ryan Miller (391), John Vanbiesbrouck (374), and Tom Barrasso (369). He is also the 24th goaltender to win 350 games. Quick is the third active goaltender to have won 350 games. He has the fifth-most wins since 2007-08, trailing Marc-Andre Fleury (451), Henrik Lundqvist (392), Pekka Rinne (368), and Carey Price (360).
Anze Kopitar has recorded 50-plus points in nine consecutive seasons, third-most in franchise history behind Marcel Dionne (12) and Dave Taylor (11). Only two active players have more 50-plus point seasons (15) than Kopitar, Joe Thornton (17) and Alex Ovechkin (16).
Kyle Connor Proving to Be Elite Scorer for Jets
Connor has recorded the second-most 30-goal seasons in franchise history (four), trailing only Ilya Kovalchuk (seven). He is the fifth player to reach 30 goals this season. He required the fifth-fewest games to score 30 goals in a season in franchise history. Kovalchuk holds the fastest three seasons (38 games played (GP), 39 GP, and 43 GP) and Marian Hossa did so in 50 GP.
The Jets blew a three-goal lead and lost in regulation for the first time since the franchise relocated to Winnipeg. Adam Lowry has scored the fourth-most shorthanded goals in franchise history (six). Hossa holds the franchise record with 12.
Player & Team Stats & Milestones From Around the NHL
Team
- The Calgary Flames tied a franchise record with 11 consecutive home wins, also accomplished in 2015-16. They scored seven goals in a game after allowing seven goals for the first time since 1996. They also scored five-plus goals for the sixth time this month, the fourth-highest amount in a single month in franchise history. March, 1990 saw the team score five-plus goals eight times.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning are the 27th franchise to play in an outdoor game.
- The Montreal Canadiens recorded their first five-game win streak since 2017. There are only two teams who haven’t won five in a row in that time, the New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senators. They have their fourth-longest win streak in the past seven years (five games) in only the eighth game Martin St. Louis has coached.
- The Carolina Hurricanes recorded their eighth-largest shot differential in a game vs the Columbus Blue Jackets (31). The franchise record is 45, done against the New York Islanders in 2009.
Player
- Sidney Crosby has the 23nd most assists in NHL history (873), tied with Phil Esposito. He also has the 25th most career points in NHL history (1374), tied with Mike Modano. He has the eighth-most assists in NHL history before turning the age of 35.
- Frederik Andersen required the fourth-fewest games to win 28 games in NHL history (36 GP). Only Tiny Thompson (33 GP in 1929-30), Eddie Johnston (34 GP in 1970-71), and Braden Holtby (35 GP in 2015-16) did so in fewer games.
- Steven Stamkos played the second-most NHL games before playing in an outdoor game (890 GP). The only player with more is Thornton with 1263 GP. Stamkos has the second-most multi-assist games in franchise history (82), tied with Vincent Lecavalier. Only St. Louis (121) has more.
- Evgeni Malkin has scored the second-most game-winning goals in franchise history (75), trailing only Jaromir Jagr (78).
- Kirill Kaprizov has the fifth-most points through 103 career games played among active players (113).
- Brad Marchand has recorded the third-most combined multi-goal games on the road in franchise history (33), trailing only Phil Esposito (48) and Cam Neely (35).
- Aleksander Barkov has the fourth-most 25-plus goal seasons by a Finnish-born player in NHL history (five). Teemu Selanne (16) has the most.
- Lucas Raymond is the fastest Detroit Red Wings rookie to reach 40 points (53 GP) since Nicklas Lidstrom (45 GP in 1991-92). He required the fifth-fewest games to reach 40 points in a season by a European-born teenager (53 GP). Patrik Laine did so the fastest (44 GP).
- Moritz Seider has the longest point streak in franchise history among rookie defencemen (six games), tied with Reed Larson. The last rookie defenceman to have a longer point streak in the NHL was Neal Pionk (7 GP in 2017-18).
- Claude Giroux scored the fastest goal to start a game for the Philadelphia Flyers in 32 years (0:11). It was the fourth-fastest goal to start a regular season or playoff game in franchise history. The fastest was Terry Murray (0:07) in 1981. He has the eighth-most combined goals (regular season and playoffs) in franchise history (315).
- Tristan Jarry recorded his 11th career shutout, tied for third-most in franchise history with Matt Murray and Les Binkley.
- Brayden Point has the fifth-most consecutive 20-goal seasons in franchise history.
- Colton Parayko has scored the fourth-most game-winning goals by a defenceman in franchise history (11). Alex Pietrangelo has the most (25).
- Jack Hughes has recorded the fifth-most points by a New Jersey Devils player before the age of 21 (88). Kirk Muller has the most with 166.
- Roman Josi became the sixth defenceman who was ranked in the top-three in points among defencemen to play in an outdoor game.
- Matthew Tkachuk played his 400th career game. Tkachuk is the 16th player in franchise history with 20 multi-goal games.
- Shayne Gostisbehere recorded his 250th career point.
- Yegor Sharongovich played his 100th career game.
It was a jam-packed couple of days in the NHL with lots of action. Between wins, shutouts, game-winning goals, points, and goal-marks, the NHL had it all and it’s all here every time on NHL Stats News.