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Home , 2019 NHL Winter Classic, Auston Matthews, Mark Scheifele

NHL MORNING SKATE – MARCH 21, 2019

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS Home Team in Caps Toronto 4, BUFFALO 2 Tampa Bay 5, WASHINGTON 4 (OT) VANCOUVER 7, Ottawa 4 Winnipeg 3, ANAHEIM 0

THREE HARD LAPS: QUICK HITS FROM WEDNESDAY

* Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded a franchise-best 54 saves and Victor Hedman scored in overtime as the Lightning became the eighth team in NHL history to post four or more separate winning streaks of at least six games in a single .

* registered his 200th career to help the Maple Leafs sweep their season series against the Sabres for the first time in franchise history.

* reached the 80-point mark for the second time in three seasons as the Jets matched a franchise benchmark with their 20th road victory of 2018-19.

LIGHTNING WIN OVERTIME THRILLER, EXTEND WIN STREAK TO SIX GAMES After Alex Ovechkin (0-1—1) netted a multi- game in their first meeting of the season Saturday, Nikita Kucherov tallied a multi-goal outing of his own Wednesday as the League- leading Lightning (57-13-4, 118 points) earned their fourth win streak of at least six contests in 2018-19.

* The Lightning became the eighth team in NHL history to post four or more separate winning streaks of at least six games in a single season. Only one team has registered more than four six-game winning streaks in a single season – the 1995-96 Red Wings (6x).

* Despite allowing a game-tying goal with 52.6 seconds remaining in regulation, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 54 saves to establish a Lightning franchise record for most in a game, a mark previously set by Ben Bishop (48 saves on Jan. 19, 2014) and matched by Vasilevskiy himself earlier this season (Dec. 13).

* Additionally, the League’s wins leader (36-8-4) became just the 11th different netminder since 1955-56 to record multiple victories of at least 48 saves in a single season. In 2017-18, John Gibson (Oct. 20 and Nov. 19) and Henrik Lundqvist (Feb. 28 and March 2) each accomplished the feat.

* Tampa Bay earned just its second regular-season road win against Washington in seven visits. The club also captured its NHL-best 26th road victory of 2018-19 to establish the highest single-season total in franchise history, eclipsing the previous mark set in 2017-18 (25- 13-3, 53 points).

* The Lightning, who have six road games remaining in 2018-19, are six road wins shy of surpassing the NHL record for most in a season, a mark set by the Red Wings in 2005-06 (31-7- 3, 65 points).

* Jon Cooper became the 49th head coach in NHL history to reach the 300-win milestone (300- 156-44). He also joined Bruce Boudreau (301-138-61) as the second head coach in NHL history to have at least 300 career wins through 500 regular-season games.

MATTHEWS RECORDS 200TH CAREER POINT AS LEAFS SWEEP SEASON SERIES Auston Matthews (1-1—2) factored on each of Toronto’s first two goals to reach the 200-point milestone (109-91—200) and help the Maple Leafs (44-25-5, 93 points) sweep their season series against the Sabres for the first time in franchise history.

* Among players to debut with the Maple Leafs franchise, Matthews required the third-fewest games to record his 200th point.

* collected 1-1—2 to eclipse the 80-point mark for the fourth time in his career (41-40—81) and join (25-61—86) as the second player in a Toronto uniform to reach the benchmark this season. The last time the Maple Leafs concluded a campaign with multiple 80-point scorers was in 1993-94, when Dave Andreychuk (53-46—99 in 83 GP) and Doug Gilmour (27-84—111 in 83 GP) combined for the feat.

* Tavares, who has tallied the most goals by a Maple Leafs player since Mats Sundin in 2001- 02 (41-39—80 in 82 GP), trails only (42 in 1987-88) for the most by a Toronto skater in their first campaign with the club.

* The Maple Leafs earned their fifth consecutive regular-season win vs. the Sabres dating to April 2, 2018 (BUF: 0-4-1), outscoring them 23-12. It marks the third time in franchise history in which Toronto has collected five straight regular-season victories against Buffalo, joining five- game runs from Dec. 13, 1970 to Feb. 27, 1971 and Nov. 21, 1971 to Feb. 19, 1972, respectively.

SCHEIFELE RECORDS 80TH POINT IN JETS’ 20TH ROAD WIN Mark Scheifele scored his 35th goal to reach the 80-point mark (35-45—80 in 73) as the Central Division-leading Jets (44-25-4, 92 points) matched their single-season franchise record with their 20th road win (also 2006-07: 20-16-5, 2014-15: 20-13-8 and 2017-18: 20-13-8).

* Scheifele, who also recorded 32-50—82 in 2016-17, joined (2x), Ilya Kovalchuk (4x) and Marian Hossa (2x) as the fourth player in Jets/Thrashers franchise history to record multiple 80-point seasons.

QUICK CLICKS

* Rasmus Dahlin passes in points among 18-year-old defensemen * Winter Classic logo captures Texas flair * NHL Winter Classic tickets on sale April 23 * Sharks rode special teams, home success to playoff berth * Devils GM Ray Shero joins Executive Suite podcast

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION

ALL ABOUT THE WILD CARD RACES The race for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern and Western Conference will continue to intensify on Thursday, with both teams currently holding down the position – Columbus in the East (40-29-4, 84 points) and Arizona in the West (36-31-6, 78 points) – in action, as well as two teams in each conference looking to track them down in the standings.

* The Coyotes and Blue Jackets will visit the Panthers (32-29-12, 76 points) and Oilers (32-34- 7, 71 points), respectively. Columbus (20-13-2, 42 points) has won 20 games on the road for the fourth time. With six away games remaining, the Blue Jackets sit three shy of matching the single-season franchise record for road wins originally set in 2014-15 (23-15-3, 49 points).

* Arizona, looking for their first playoff appearance since 2011-12, has posted a 19-11-4 (42 points) mark since Jan. 1 to propel the club into a postseason position. They had a 17-20-2 (36 points) record prior to the turn of the calendar that had them sitting outside the playoff line.

* The two teams chasing down a postseason berth in the Eastern Conference also are in action with the Canadiens (38-28-7, 83 points) hosting the Islanders and the Flyers (35-30-8, 78 points) visiting the Blackhawks sitting one and six points back of the Blue Jackets, respectively.

* In the Western Conference, the Avalanche (32-29-12, 76 points) visit the Stars sitting two points back of the Coyotes while the Blackhawks (32-30-10, 74 points), who sit four points back of Arizona, host the Flyers.

* Did You Know? The largest point deficit a team has overcome to make the with 10 or fewer games remaining in the regular season was a miraculous seven-point swing by the 1958- 59 Maple Leafs that occured in their final five contests of the season.

* On March 13, 1959, Toronto sat seven points out of a playoff spot through 65 games of a 70- game schedule.

* The Maple Leafs went 5-0-0 the rest of the way, including back-to-back wins over the Rangers on March 14 and 15, to leapfrog New York into the final postseason position.

* The comeback story would continue for Toronto in the opening round of the playoffs, rallying for a seven-game series win over after dropping the opening two games - with overtime goals by Gerry Ehman and Frank Mahovlich turning the tide in Games 3 and 4. The Maple Leafs would go on to lose to the Canadiens in the 1959 Final (MTL: 4-1).