Mikko Rantanen continued to pad his scoring lead, Alex Ovechkin helped the Washington Capitals earn a rare win in Arizona and Mitch Marner joined a couple of Toronto Maple Leafs legend with another milestone night.
Here are five things we learned in the NHL.
Rantanen continues to increase his scoring lead
With his 12th goal of the season, Rantanen extended his point streak to 10 games, showing no sign of giving up the top spot in the NHL scoring race.
His 10-game point streak is the second-longest active streak in the league behind Cam Atkinson, who extended his to 12 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Mike Hoffman’s 17-game point streak, which established a new franchise mark for the Florida Panthers, was the longest of the season so far.
Rantanen now has 12 goals 47 points in 29 games this season, which is three points up on linemate Nathan Mackinnon and four points up on Nikita Kucherov. The 22-year-old is among a star-studded restricted free agent class looking to get a big pay raise.
Ovechkin scores again as the Capitals earn rare win in Arizona
Not only did the Washington Capitals get back to their winning with a 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes but they ended a slump in the desert dating back to the 2005-06 season.
Coming into this game, the Coyotes were 5-0-1 against the Capitals at home with their last regulation loss coming on Jan. 16, 2006. In that game, Ovechkin had one the more memorable goals of his career as he found a way to twist and score on his back.
Ovechkin did light the lamp for Washington, scoring his 21st of the season to tie Patrik Laine and Brayden Point for the league lead in goals. He also reached a new milestone, putting up 5000-plus career shots in his 1,031st career game, passing Marcel Dionne as the fastest player to accomplish the feat.
Pastrnak continues to lead the way for Bruins
The Czech winger continues to be worth every penny for the Boston Bruins, scoring his 20th goal of the season in the Boston Bruins’ loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jaromir Jagr is the only Czech-born player to require fewer games to reach 20 goals.
The 22-year-old winger has 20 goals, 12 assists for 32 points in 29 games so far this season. He had a career-high 35 goals, 45 assists and 80 points last season.
Pastrnak is on pace to score 59 goals, which would be the most by a Bruins player since Phil Esposito scored 61 back in the 1974-75 season. The last time a Bruins skater scored 40-plus goals was Glen Murray, who had 44 back in the 2002-03 season.
Jagr is the last Czech-born player to score 50-plus goals in the season, when he scored 54 with the New York Rangers back in the 2005-06 season.
Marner joins Leafs legends with scoring milestone
With his assist on Zach Hyman’s third-period goal, Marner notched his 40th point of the season in his 29th game of the season. He joins Doug Gilmour and Darryl Sittler as the only Leafs players to score 40 points in 30 or fewer games to start a season since 1967-68.
In his first 30 games last season, Marner scored eight goals, 15 assists and 23 points, which had him tied with Auston Matthews for the team lead.
This season he is running away with the Leafs scoring lead with six goals, 34 assists and 40 points with John Tavares trailing him with 18 goals, 14 assists and 32 points.
Larkin scores his way into the Red Wings record books
Not only did Dylan Larkin blow by the Leafs to score his third overtime goal of the season, he also tied a Detroit Red Wings record for overtime goals in a season.
Larkin leads the league in overtime goals and has scored three of Detroit’s four overtime goals this season. The 22-year-old is tied with Gustav Nyquist for the team lead in scoring with 11 goals, 15 assists and 26 points in 29 games this season.
The Red Wings’ 15th-overall pick in the 2014 draft is in the first season of a five-year, $30.5-million contract signed back in August.
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