NHL MORNING SKATE – DEC. 14, 2019 THREE HARD LAPS * It was a spooky Friday the 13th in the NHL, with Max Pacioretty scoring in overtime for the Golden Knights – his 13th goal of the season – and No. 13 Valeri Nichushkin recording the game winner for the Avalanche. * Despite being over two years removed from the start of its inaugural season, Vegas rewrote the NHL history books again as they contested their 100th all-time regular-season road game. * Nathan MacKinnon became the third player to reach the 50-point mark this season and first on a team not known as the Edmonton Oilers. GOLDEN KNIGHTS EARN OVERTIME WIN IN 100TH ALL-TIME ROAD GAME Jonathan Marchessault (0-1—1) was among a group of six Vegas players who found the score sheet as the Golden Knights earned an overtime win in the franchise’s 100th all-time regular-season road game. Vegas, which improved to 50-41-9 (109 points) as visitors, owns the best record in NHL history by a franchise through its first 100 road games in terms of wins, points and point percentage – with the latter statistic outlined in the graphic below. * Marchessault leads all Golden Knights players with 80 regular-season road points since their inaugural season (30-50—80 in 98 GP). He became the 11th player in League history to record 80 or more points through a franchise’s first 100 all-time road games and first since Brian Bradley with Tampa Bay (42-51—93 in 95 GP), which contested its first NHL season in 1992- 93. * The Golden Knights will play their 200th all-time regular-season game overall when they return home to host the Canucks at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday. Vegas (111-69-19, 241 points) will own the second-best record in NHL history by a franchise through its first 200 games, trailing only the original Ottawa Senators (124-72-4, 252 points). MacKINNON REACHES 50-POINT MARK AS AVALANCHE EXTEND POINT STREAK Nathan MacKinnon collected 1-1—2 to reach the 50-point mark (20-30—50 in 32 GP) and help the Avalanche extend their point streak to a season-high nine games (8-0-1). Colorado improved to 21-8-3 (45 points) overall this season and leapfrogged its idle intradivision rival St. Louis (19-8-6, 44 points) for first place in the Western Conference standings. * MacKinnon reached the 50-point mark in his 32nd game of the season, one fewer than when he hit the milestone in 2018-19 (21-31—52 in 33 GP). He became the second player in Avalanche/Nordiques history to require 33 or fewer games to reach 50 points in consecutive seasons, joining Quebec’s Peter Stastny in 1981-82 (31 GP), 1982-83 (29 GP) and 1983-84 (31 GP). * Pavel Francouz (37 saves), a 29-year-old undrafted native of Plzen, Czech Republic, improved to 7-0-1 in 10 appearances since Nov. 7 – including a 4-0-1 mark at Pepsi Center. QUICK CLICKS * NHL Network Ice Time: Nick Holden, Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty * Marc-Edouard Vlasic, set for 1,000th game with Sharks, has been 'Steady Eddie' * Connor Hellebuyck finds motivation in helping Jets tackle latest challenge * Ryan O'Reilly reads 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' to young Blues fans * Statement by Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher on Oskar Lindblom PREVIEW OF TODAY’S ACTION EICHEL CAN EXTEND POINT STREAK AS LAMORIELLO APPROACHES 2,500TH GAME Jack Eichel (14-13—27 in 15 GP) can extend his career-high point streak to 16 games when the Sabres, winners of three straight, visit the Islanders – who own an active home point streak of 12 contests (11-0-1), including five consecutive wins. Eichel, who has scored two goals in each of his last two games, can record the longest point streak by a player this season; he would eclipse Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane from Nov. 2-30 (11-13—24 in 15 GP). * Only four different players in franchise history have recorded at least one point in 16 or more consecutive team games within a regular season: Gilbert Perreault from Oct. 24 – Dec. 4, 1971 (10-21—31 in 18 GP), Dave Andreychuk from Dec. 31, 1991 – Feb. 4, 1992 (11-25—36 in 17 GP) and Oct. 8 – Nov. 14, 1992 (17-14—31 in 17 GP), Richard Martin from Oct. 27 – Nov. 28, 1974 (13-15—28 in 16 GP) as well as Tim Connolly from Dec. 23, 2009 – Jan. 25, 2010 (7-18—25 in 16 GP). * Buffalo faces the daunting task of becoming the first team to earn a regulation road win versus the Islanders since Oct. 8, when Edmonton did so at NYCB Live/Nassau Coliseum (5-2 W). New York has posted a home point steak of 13 or more games six times in the franchise’s 47- year history, most recently from Jan. 2 – April 3, 1982 (21-0-2). * Saturday will mark the 2,499th career regular-season contest for New York general manager Lou Lamoriello, who is expected to reach the 2,500-game milestone when the Islanders host the Predators on Dec. 17. Only two general managers in NHL history has served as many regular-season contests, including Lamoriello’s counterpart on Dec. 17: David Poile (2,816 GP) and Glen Sather (2,700 GP). RED-HOT FLAMES HOST HURRICANES AT SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME The red-hot Flames, who have earned points in each of their last nine games including seven straight wins (8-0-1), host the Hurricanes at Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary, which occupies third place in the tightly-contested Pacific Division standings, has recorded a win streak of eight or more games five times in franchise history – doing so from Oct. 14 – Nov. 3, 1978 (10-0-0), Feb. 21 – March 13, 2017 (10-0-0), Jan. 31 – Feb. 15, 1989 (8-0-0), Dec. 14, 1992 – Jan. 2, 1993 (8-0-0) and Nov. 1-16, 2005 (8-0-0). * Sean Monahan has found the score sheet in each of the Flames’ last eight games dating to Nov. 25 (5-5—10), the second-longest active point streak in the League behind Eichel. Monahan is two games shy of matching the longest point streak of his NHL career, a mark set from Nov. 28 – Dec. 19, 2016 (5-7—12 in 10 GP). McDAVID, MATTHEWS SET FOR SIXTH HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETING Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews are set to meet in their sixth head-to-head matchups when the Oilers host the Maple Leafs at Rogers Place. McDavid (2-4—6) owns a two-point edge over Matthews (2-2—4) in their five previous meetings. * McDavid (20-37—57 in 34 GP) and teammate Leon Draisaitl (20-35—55 in 34 GP) rank first and second among all players in points this season, respectively. Only two different Oilers players have reached the 60-point mark in 35 or fewer games: Wayne Gretzky (7x) and Jari Kurri (2x). * Matthews has scored 130 career regular-season goals since being selected by Toronto with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft (130-109—239 in 245 GP), two back of McDavid (132-249—381 in 276 GP) for the third-most among all players over that span. VLASIC TO REACH 1,000-GAME MILESTONE Marc-Edouard Vlasic is expected to skate in the 1,000th regular-season game of his NHL career when the Sharks welcome the Canucks to SAP Center. Vlasic, a second-round pick (35th overall) by San Jose in the 2005 NHL Draft, will become the third player to skate as many games with the franchise – joining longtime teammates Patrick Marleau (1,523 GP) and Joe Thornton (1,068 GP). * Vlasic has been in the Sharks’ lineup for 576 regular-season wins. Only three defensemen in League history have skated in more wins through their 1,000th career regular-season game: Larry Robinson (607), Serge Savard (599) and Nicklas Lidstrom (581). .