The Avalanche had their lengthy winning streak snapped by the Canadiens, the Bruins extended their point streak to 17 games, Brad Marchand delivered yet another cheap shot that he might be suspended for, Carter Hutton continued his solid play by blanking the Sens, Penguins’ Jean-Sebastien Dea scored his first NHL goal, plus Connor McDavid and the Oilers were embarrassed at home by the Jack Eichel-led Sabres.
It was a wild Wednesday in the NHL. Here are five things we learned.
Stars, Panthers set season high for combined penalty minutes
The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers don’t play one another very often and don’t have a storied rivalry, but you wouldn’t have guessed that watching their matchup Tuesday. The two teams combined for 138 penalty minutes, including six fighting majors, which is the most combined PIMs so far this season.
Crosby ties Jagr for second place on Pens’ all-time list
Sidney Crosby wasn’t able to register goal No. 400 for his career — he’s been stuck at 399 for more than a week now — but he did record one assist in a 3-1 Penguins win over the Hurricanes to tie Jaromir Jagr for second place on the Penguins’ all-time career scoring list.
Crosby sits at 1,079 points, sixth most among active NHLers, and he hit that total in his 832nd game. Crosby has 40 fewer goals and 40 more assists than Jagr when reaching 1,079 points in a Penguins uniform. It took Jagr 26 fewer games to hit that total.
Chara moves into top four on European games played list
Bruins veteran Zdeno Chara suited up for his 1,396th career regular-season game and by doing so he moved into sole possession of fourth place on the list of games played by European-born players, leapfrogging Roman Hamrlik.
The only players ahead of Chara on the list are Teemu Selanne (1,451 games), Nicklas Lidstrom (1,564 games) and Jagr (1,733 games).
Chara now sits in 39th place overall on the all-time list.
Konecny becoming an OT hero in Philly
Travis Konecny has been thriving of late thanks to an increased role with the Flyers, and for the second time in as many nights he buried an overtime winner. That’s something a Flyers player hadn’t accomplished in more than a decade.
Kariya honoured by the Preds
Paul Kariya only spent two seasons with the Nashville Predators but they were memorable enough for the team to honour the Hockey Hall of Famer Tuesday night prior to a game against the Lightning.
Kariya, whose career was plagued by and cut short due to injuries, ironically never missed a game for the Preds. He finished with 161 points in 164 games and holds the franchise record for assists (54) and points (85) in a single season (2005-06).
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