Anywhere is home when you’re as good as Steven Stamkos, the Stanley Cup playoff picture is all of a sudden taking form, the Canucks have an elite rookie on their blue line and the Blues made a quick, significant impact in their goals total.
Here are four things we learned in the NHL on Thursday.
Stamkos always feels at home
Steven Stamkos probably agrees with whoever said home is where the heart is.
The Toronto native netted the game-tying goal (his 44th of the season) in the Tampa Bay Lightning‘s 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and has now scored in seven consecutive road games — a new franchise record achieved on fateful ice at Scotiabank Arena.
Nikita Kucherov added an empty-netter in the final minute to become the third Lightning player with 40 goals this season. Stamkos, Kucherov and Brayden Point became the first same-team trio to each get 40 since Pittsburgh Penguins legends Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Petr Nedved did it in 1995-96.
The win over Toronto brought the Lightning’s record to 61-16-4 and Tampa Bay is now only one win away from tying the all-time NHL record, which currently belongs to the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings.
Watch out, playoff opponents.
Speaking of which…
We are ready for the post-season
The Stanley Cup playoff picture is starting to take shape as another handful of teams converted on clinching scenarios Thursday night.
The Carolina Hurricanes are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2009 after a spirited 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Sidney Crosby and the Penguins are making a run for the Stanley Cup for the 13th consecutive year, the longest active post-season streak in the NHL, after a win over the Red Wings.
The Colorado Avalanche killed a Winnipeg Jets power play in the final seconds of the third period to hold onto a 2-2 tie and dramatically pick up the point they needed to clinch the final wild-card spot in the West. The Avs were trailing 2-0 and managed to come back to beat the Jets 3-2 in overtime.
Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals once again proved that they are poised for a repeat as they rallied back from a one-goal deficit to beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 and win the Metropolitan Division for the fourth-straight season.
The race for the second wild-card spot is still alive in the East, with the Columbus Blue Jackets holding a game in-hand over the Canadiens — though they’re still tied at 94 points apiece.
April 10 can’t come soon enough.
Quinn Hughes isn’t your regular rookie
The Vancouver Canucks seem poised to have some fun seasons ahead of them.
Quinn Hughes collected two assists in Vancouver’s loss to the Nashville Predators, and now has three points through his first four NHL games. He’s the first Canucks defenceman to reach that mark since Mattias Ohlund did it in 1997.
Hughes did it in style, too, showing off his ice awareness in his first assist of the game with a backhand pass to Markus Granlund, who had no trouble tucking it in all alone in front of the net.
Yes, the Canucks are out of the playoffs, and yes, the feat came in a 3-2 loss. But things might be looking up pretty soon.
When it rains, it pours
The St. Louis Blues scored five times in less than 10 minutes as they routed the Philadelphia Flyers 7-3 and belted a new regular-season record.
The Flyers and Blues gave fans at Enterprise Center an irrefutable show, combining for eight first-period goals.
After allowing three goals through 20 minutes, Blues goalie Jordan Binnington found his form to finish the game with 26 saves and earn his 23rd win of the season. The mark tops the franchise record for wins by a rookie, previously established by Binnington’s teammate, Jake Allen, in 2014-15.
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