Nhl Morning Skate – March 10, 2021
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NHL MORNING SKATE – MARCH 10, 2021 THREE HARD LAPS * The Lightning edged the Red Wings in overtime to extend the longest regular-season point streak versus one opponent in franchise history and claim first place in the NHL standings. * Stars forward Jason Robertson became the first rookie to record four points in a game this season. * Wednesday’s five-game slate is highlighted by a nationally-televised game at Xcel Energy Center. LIGHTNING MOVE INTO FIRST PLACE IN NHL STANDINGS Blake Coleman (1-1—2) scored the winner at 2:17 of overtime as the Discover Central Division-leading Lightning defeated the Red Wings to improve to 18-4-2 (38 points), which includes an 8-0-1 mark in their last nine games. Tampa Bay moved ahead of Toronto (18-7-2, 38 points), which lost to Winnipeg on Tuesday and has contested three more games than the Lightning, for first place in the NHL standings. * Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves to improve to 16-3-1 through 20 appearances this season (1.79 GAA, .936 SV%, 3 SO). His 16 wins are the most in the NHL, four more than the next- closest goaltenders. ROOKIE ROBERTSON RECORDS FIRST CAREER FOUR-POINT GAME IN STARS’ WIN Jason Robertson (0-4—4) established a single-game career high with four points as Dallas improved to 3-0-2 in its last five home games against Chicago dating to Nov. 23, 2019 (CHI: 2- 2-1). * Robertson has 13 points this season (4-9—13 in 16 GP), which trails only three rookies for the most in the NHL. He became the fourth Stars rookie to record four points in a regular-season game since the club relocated to Texas, joining Jere Lehtinen (Feb. 16, 1996), Valeri Nichushkin (Dec. 7, 2013) and John Klingberg (Jan. 31, 2015). ISLANDERS, HURRICANES RALLY TO EXTEND WIN STREAKS The Islanders and Hurricanes earned come-from-behind victories to extend their win streaks to six games, which are tied for the longest active runs in the NHL: * Brock Nelson pulled New York even in regulation and Anthony Beauvillier scored the shootout-deciding goal as the MassMutual East Division-leading Islanders (16-6-4, 36 points) rallied past the Bruins. New York improved to 11-0-2 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum this season and remain the only team without a regulation loss on home ice. * Carolina scored three unanswered goals – bookended by tallies from team captain Jordan Staal, which included the overtime winner – to overcome a 2-0 deficit and defeat Nashville. The Hurricanes improved to 18-6-1 (37 points) this season and remained one point back of the Lightning in the Discover Central Division. KANE, TROTZ REACH GAMES MILESTONES Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane and Islanders head coach Barry Trotz both reached noteworthy games milestones on Tuesday: * Kane became the seventh player in franchise history to skate 1,000 regular-season games with the Blackhawks. At 32 years and 110 days old, Kane was the youngest player among that cohort at the time of his 1,000th game with Chicago – he eclipsed longtime teammate Brent Seabrook (32 years, 343 days), who reached the milestone on March 29, 2018. * Trotz was behind the bench for his 1,700th career regular-season game as an NHL head coach. He became just the third in League history to reach the milestone, joining Scotty Bowman (2,141 GC) and Joel Quenneville (1,730 GC). WINNIPEG REBOUNDS FROM 7-1 LOSS WITH WIN; MATTHEWS REACHES 20 GOALS Neal Pionk (0-3—3) factored on three of four goals as the Jets (16-8-1, 33 points) rebounded from a 7-1 loss to the Canadiens on Saturday with a 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs, moving past the idle Oilers (16-11-0, 32 points) for second place in the Scotia North Division. * Skating across from Pionk on Tuesday was Toronto forward Auston Matthews, who tallied twice and became the first player to reach the 20-goal mark this season (20-13—33 in 24 GP). QUICK CLICKS * Patrick Kane 'very fortunate' for 1,000th NHL game with Blackhawks * Darryl Sutter runs first practice as new Flames coach * Mike Tirico talks play-by-play, Lake Tahoe on 'The Chirp with Daren Millard' * Owen Tippett scores winner as Panthers earn first regulation win in Columbus since 2007 * Jakub Vrana caps multi-goal game with overtime winner for Washington ROOKIE KAHKONEN CAN EXTEND WIN STREAK IN ANOTHER CLASH VERSUS VEGAS Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, who has earned wins in each of his last seven appearances including a shutout over the Golden Knights on Monday, can extend his streak when Minnesota plays host to Vegas in a nationally-televised game on NBCSN. * Kahkonen has posted a combined 1.42 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and one shutout through his seven-game winning streak, which marks the longest by a rookie in franchise history and is tied with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the lengthiest by any goaltender this season. He currently sits three games shy of matching the longest by any Wild goaltender, a mark set by Devan Dubnyk who went 10-0-0 in 10 appearances from Dec. 4-29, 2016 (1.67 GAA, .942 SV%, 1 SO). * Kahkonen made 26 saves on Monday to outduel veteran Marc-Andre Fleury, who currently ranks fifth on the NHL’s all-time wins list with 478. Only seven rookies have earned multiple victories in head-to-head starts against Fleury during a single regular season – none have achieved the feat since 2011-12, when Fleury entered the campaign ranking outside the top 75 in all-time wins. .