Nhl Morning Skate – Feb. 9, 2021 Three Hard
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NHL MORNING SKATE – FEB. 9, 2021 THREE HARD LAPS * Auston Matthews, with goals in each of his last eight appearances, achieved a rare feat by scoring his fifth game-winning goal in just his 12th contest of 2020-21. * The Coyotes have scored two game-tying goals in the final five seconds of regulation this season - tied for the most by one team in a single season in NHL history. * Patrick Marleau’s ascension of the all-time games played list is set to see the 23-season NHL veteran pass Jaromir Jagr for third place in League history. MATTHEWS SCORES AGAIN, INCLUDING FIFTH GAME WINNER IN 12 CONTESTS Auston Matthews scored the first of two Maple Leafs goals in a span of 11 seconds to extend his goal streak to seven games, including one in each of his last eight appearances. Only two players in the last 25 years have had a longer run of consecutive games played with a goal. * Matthews, skating in his 12th contest of 2020-21 and 294th of his career, netted his fifth game- winning goal of the season and 300th point of his NHL career. Only three players in NHL history have required fewer games to register their fifth game-winning goal of a season – Nels Stewart (9 GP in 1928-29 w/ MMR), Brian Propp (10 GP in 1982-83 w/ PHI) and Charlie Conacher (10 GP in 1934-35 w/ TOR). * Monday’s victory helped the Maple Leafs collect their 10th win of the season. The 2020-21 campaign marks the fourth time in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) that Toronto was the League’s first team to reach the 10-win mark (tied or outright). The others: 1999-00 (10-3-1), 1993-94 (10-0-0) and 1967-68 (10-7-2). KELLER, COYOTES STAGE ANOTHER LATE RALLY AND COLLECT TWO POINTS Clayton Keller (1-1—2) tied the game with 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation and Christian Dvorak (1-1—2) scored the decisive marker in the shootout as the Coyotes rallied late to stun the Blues. * Keller, who scored the latest game-tying goal in Coyotes/Jets history (59:59), joined Phil Kessel (59:56 on Jan. 14) as the second Arizona skater to score a game-tying goal within the final five seconds of regulation this season – tied for the most by one team in a single season in NHL history. * In the process, Dvorak and Conor Garland (1-0—1) boosted their team-leading totals to 7-6— 13 and 4-9—13, respectively. The Coyotes duo trail only Vegas’ Mark Stone (3-11—14), Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (2-12—14) and Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar (2-12—14) for the most points among players in the Honda West Division. DRAISAITL, MCDAVID, MARNER EXTENDS STREAKS Leon Draisaitl (1-1—2), Connor McDavid (0-1—1) and Mitch Marner (0-1—1) all extended their respective point streaks in their team’s win Monday. * Edmonton’s duo of McDavid and Draisaitl both extended their point streaks to 10 contests, posting 6-16—22 and 8-12—20 over that span respectively. Draisaitl’s streak marks the fifth run of double digits in his career. Since he entered the League in 2014-15, only two players have recorded as many streaks of 10-plus games: Boston’s David Pastrnak (5x) and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (5x). * Marner assisted on the game-winning goal to extend both his point and assists streak to eight games (3-12—15). The latter is just two shy of his career high and four back of the longest such run in Maple Leafs history. VARLAMOV, ISLANDERS BLANK RANGERS AGAIN Semyon Varlamov, who blanked the Islanders’ crosstown rival on Jan. 14, turned aside all 30 shots he faced and became the first goaltender in franchise history with multiple shutouts against the Rangers in a single season. * Varlamov improved to 5-2-1 through eight appearances in 2020-21 with a 1.88 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and a League-leading three shutouts. He became the second Islanders goaltender with three shutouts before his 10th appearance in a season, joining Tommy Salo in 1998-99. * Each of the first three ‘Battle of New York’ games this season have featured the winning team earn a shutout victory (also NYI 4, NYR 0 on Jan. 14; NYR 5, NYI 0 on Jan. 16). It marked the first season series between two teams to feature shutouts in each of the first three games since 2015-16, when Anaheim and San Jose combined for the feat (Oct. 10, 2015, Nov. 7, 2015 & Dec. 4, 2015). * Barry Trotz earned his 850th career win as an NHL head coach and surpassed Ken Hitchcock (849) for sole possession of third place on the League’s all-time list. DISCOVER CENTRAL DIVISION TEAMS EARN WINS The Lightning (8-1-1, 17 points) and Blue Jackets (6-5-3, 15 points), who own the highest and second-highest point totals in the Discover Central Division standings, each earned wins Monday: * Anthony Cirelli (2-0—2), Blake Coleman (1-0—1) and Steven Stamkos (1-0—1) accounted for all four Lightning goals and fellow Stanley Cup-winner Curtis McElhinney made 23 saves as Tampa Bay extended its win streak to five games and earned its eighth victory of 2020-21 overall. Only one defending Stanley Cup champion in the NHL’s modern era had more wins through its first 10 games in a season. * Jack Roslovic (Columbus, Ohio) scored the game-winning goal on Hurricanes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (Parma, Ohio) and now has 2-5—7 in seven games since joining his hometown Blue Jackets. QUICK CLICKS * Additional Sabres, Devils and Wild games postponed * David Pastrnak, Frontline Healthcare Hero Amy Ginter ‘First Stars’ of the Week * Pierre-Luc Dubois practices with Jets for first time since trade, will debut Tuesday * Color of Hockey: Planning to put on big shows for Kraken, Kings MARLEAU SET TO PASS JAGR DURING TUESDAY’S SLATE Patrick Marleau is set to skate the 1,734th regular-season game of his NHL career and pass Jaromir Jagr (1,733) for sole possession of third place on the League’s all-time list when the Sharks visit the Kings in one of eight contests slated for Tuesday (10 p.m. ET on NBCSCA, FS- W). * Marleau, who carries an official “Ironman” streak of 864 consecutive regular-season games into Tuesday, currently needs 24 to move ahead of Mark Messier (1,756 GP) for sole possession of second place and 35 to pass Gordie Howe (1,767 GP) for the most in NHL history. San Jose has 46 contests remaining in 2020-21. * Marleau had 8-7—15 in 21 career head-to-head games against Jagr (7-14—21) and his teams owned a 16-3-2 (34 points) record in those contests (Jagr: 4-15-2, 10 points). The pair also appeared in the 2004 NHL All-Star Game at Xcel Energy Center. .