6 things we learned in the NHL: Vanek has memorable 1,000th game

Detroit Red Wings left wing Thomas Vanek. (Jose Juarez/AP)

Thomas Vanek and Dylan Larkin combined for a memorable night in Motown, the Pittsburgh Penguins got back in business and Tyson Barrie set a new Colorado Avalanche record.

Here are six things we learned in the NHL.

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Thomas Vanek’s 1,000th game one to remember

Thomas Vanek became the 10th player this season, and first Austrian ever, to play 1,000 NHL games when he took the ice for the Red Wings against the Predators. And with a goal in the second period, the 34-year-old also became the fourth Red Wings player to score on his milestone night.

According to Sportsnet Stats, Vanek is the 52nd player in NHL history to score in his 1,000th career game and fourth to do it this season, joining Brent Burns, Jason Pominville and Tomas Plekanec.

Vanek now has 364 goals and 406 assists in 15 NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Red Wings. The veteran has seven goals and 17 points in 35 games this season.

Dylan Larkin comes up clutch again for Detroit

Dylan Larkin’s overtime goal against the Nashville Predators gave him a new Red Wings record.

The goal was Larkin’s fourth in the extra frame this season, moving him past Herbie Lewis, Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan for most overtime game-winners in one campaign with Detroit.

Larkin had not scored a goal in extra time during his 242-game NHL career entering 2018-19, but now leads the league in overtime goals this season. The 22-year-old has 18 goals and 22 assists in 43 games so far.

Sergei Fedorov holds the all-time mark for overtime goals by a Red Wings player with 12, so Larkin should have no problem catching up to him before he retires based on his current pace.

Penguins continue dominance over Jets

Back on Nov. 16, Pittsburgh was at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, which came as a big surprise to pretty much everyone.

Since then, they’ve gone 16-5-3, giving them the second-most wins in the NHL behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and the third-most goals during that stretch with 87 (which is pretty fitting).

The Penguins’ 4-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets gave them their eighth straight victory, which is the longest active streak in the league, and their 18th consecutive home win over the Jets/Thrashers franchise dating back to 2007. Fortunately for Jets’ fans, that streak is not the longest in NHL history as the Anaheim Ducks won 25-straight home games against the Calgary Flames from 2004 to 2017.

The Penguins are now tied with the Washington Capitals for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division with 52 points, proving that you can never count out a team led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Tyson Barrie makes Avalanche history

With his assist on Nathan MacKinnon‘s first-period goal, Barrie passed John-Michael Liles for the most points by a defenceman in Avalanche/Nordiques history.

Barrie has 278 points in 444 career games since being drafted by Colorado in the third round (64th overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft. The 27-year-old has five goals and 25 assists in 38 games this season for the Avalanche.

Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog also each scored their 25th goal of the season in the game, marking the first time since the team moved to Denver that two Avalanche players have scored 25 goals in the team’s first 42 games.

P.K. Subban gets the monkey off his back

Since returning from an upper-body injury, it has taken some time for Subban to find his scoring touch. Five games to be exact.

Well against the Red Wings, he made sure to let out all of his frustration after scoring in the first period.

Subban has played in 22 of the Predators’ 42 games this season, posting three goals and 13 points. This puts the 29-year-old on pace to register eight goals and 35 points over 63 games.

He picked the best time to end his scoring slump too, as he will be going up against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night and you know he’ll want to be at his best against his former team.

The 2013 Norris Trophy winner has only failed to score 10 or more goals in a season twice in his career. He scored a career-high 16 goals to go along with 59 points, along with four goals and nine points in 13 playoff games last season for Nashville.

Hockey dogs return!

If there’s one trend we want to see carry over into 2019, it is more dog-related social media posts from NHL teams. Luckily, the Canadiens continued that trend on Friday when their dog Flambo made an appearance at practice.

So far this season, the St. Louis Blues, Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers have shared videos and pictures of players interacting with puppies and the results have been outstanding. For Flambo, this was a chance to have some fun as he has been training to become a service dog for the MIRA foundation since November.

The Canadiens plan to introduce Flambo during Saturday’s game against the Nashville Predators as a way to spread awareness for the work MIRA does for people with disabilities. One thing Montreal missed the mark on though was not using “eau” at the end of Flambo’s name to give him some more francophone flair.

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