Hart Trophy frontrunner Nikita Kucherov became the first player in a dozen years to record 115 points in a season as the Lightning won yet again, Erik Brannstrom made his NHL debut as the Sens picked up the franchise’s first shutout over the Blues, Joe Thornton passed Jarome Iginla for 13th place on the NHL’s all-time games played list, and the streaking Coyotes stayed hot to remain in a playoff spot.
Thursday was Pi Day, so here are 3.14159265359 things we learned…nevermind…here are five things that caught our eyes last night on the ice.
Eddie the Eagle bested by Benny the Bishop
Ben Bishop has now gone 230:53 without allowing a goal in the Dallas Stars‘ net, which broke the franchise record previously held by Hall of Fame netminder Ed Belfour.
The 32-year-old, who had recorded three consecutive shutouts coming into Thursday, was forced to leave the game with what the team called a lower-body injury, but it was enough time for him to pass Belfour’s shutout streak of 219:26 that he recorded back in 2000.
Bishop left the net after the Stars went up 3-0 on the Minnesota Wild. He only faced seven shots in 26 minutes against the Wild before being replaced by Anton Khudobin, but he stopped all of them and was credited with his 24th win in his 40th start this season.
“Tremendous accomplishment,” Stars head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the game. “To be honest, if he doesn’t get hurt, maybe he gets another shutout, you know.”
The Stars begin a five-game homestand Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights, but the severity of Bishop’s ailment is still unclear .
Stamkos ties Lecavalier
Steven Stamkos is now just one goal away from setting a new Tampa Bay Lightning franchise record for goals.
The current Lightning captain tied former Lightning captain, teammate and first-overall pick Vincent Lecavalier with his 383rd career regular-season goal in a Lightning uniform in a dramatic 5-4 comeback win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Like so many of his goals, Stamkos fired home this one from the face-off dot on his off-wing on a power play to beat Jimmy Howard low blocker.
Martin St. Louis holds the franchise record for points with 953, so Stamkos won’t be able to break that one for a few years as he’s currently 204 points back of that record.
Since Stamkos entered the league in 2008, only Alex Ovechkin has more total goals, power-play goals and goals per game than him. His next opportunity to break the record comes Saturday at home against Ovechkin’s Capitals.
Helm makes goal No. 100 count
The Red Wings got off to a strong start against the Lightning — before blowing it late — thanks in part to Darren Helm scoring a shorthanded goal that marked the 100th of his NHL career.
It was a classic Helm strike as the winger showcased his breakaway speed to record his 12th shorty since the 2009-10 campaign, which is tied for 13th most during that stretch.
Wilson hits new personal best
Tom Wilson scored one of Washington’s five goals in a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers and hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career. It was his 36th point of the season, which is a new personal high for the power forward.
No player has more PIMs and only six have more hits than Wilson since the Toronto native entered the league in 2013, but he has taken his scoring prowess to another level in the past two years.
Scheifele moves up Jets goals list
Mark Scheifele slid into fourth place on the Jets/Thrashers franchise’s all-time goals list, passing Vyacheslav Kozlov, who spent the final seven seasons of his impressive NHL tenure with Atlanta.
Scheifele scored his 33rd of the season to mark a new career high as the Jets held on to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3.
Directly ahead of Scheifele on the list are current teammates Blake Wheeler, who scored his 192nd with the franchise Thursday, and Bryan Little who sits at 215. Ilya Kovalchuk remains the Jets franchise leader thanks to the 328 goals he scored in eight seasons with the Thrashers.
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