Sidney Crosby clinched his 20th career point-per-game season to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
* Nikita Kucherov helped the Lightning strike for eight goals as Tampa Bay moved within one point of Toronto, which overcame a multi-goal deficit in the final minute of regulation to pick up a point Thursday.
* Dylan Holloway had two goals as the Blues extended their winning streak and kept pace with the Wild, who clipped the Capitals in Marc-Andre Fleury’s final time dressing during a regular-season game against fellow veteran Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin called his teammates back onto the ice after the game ended to pay their respects to Fleury.
* All six games will impact the Rush to the Stanley Cup Playoffs during Friday’s slate, which could feature new Panthers forward Brad Marchand making his team debut.
Crosby’s consistency stands alone with 20th career point-per-game season
Sidney Crosby collected a first-period goal to guarantee his 20th career point-per-game season and pass Wayne Gretzky (19) for the most in NHL history. Crosby extended his point streak to nine games, which marks the second longest in franchise history by a player age 37 or older behind Mario Lemieux (11 GP from Oct. 12 to Nov. 6, 2002).
KUCHEROV LEADS LIGHTNING’S EIGHT-GOAL BARRAGE WITH FOUR-POINT NIGHT
Nikita Kucherov (1-3—4) factored on half of Tampa Bay’s eight goals while his teammates Jake Guentzel (2-0—2) and Ryan McDonagh (0-2—2) also picked up multiple points during the shutout victory – the 40th of Andrei Vasilevskiy’s career. With the win, the Lightning (42-25-5, 89 points) tied idle Florida (43-25-3, 89 points) and moved within one point of Toronto (43-25-4, 90 points) while also keeping their eight-point lead over Ottawa (38-28-5, 81 points), which won Thursday as well.
* Kucherov collected his 32nd career four-point game but also recorded three points in a contest for the 104th time in his career and passed Steven Stamkos (103) for the most in Lightning history.
* Vasilevskiy (534 GP) became the third-fastest active goaltender (min. 1 GP in 2024-25) to record 40 career shutouts, behind only Jonathan Quick (436 GP) and Connor Hellebuyck (516 GP).
* Other Lightning players also achieved notable franchise feats: Guentzel (36) passed Dino Ciccarelli (35 in 1996-97) for the second-most goals by a Tampa Bay player in his first season with the club, trailing only Brian Bradley (42 in 1992-93). Meanwhile, McDonagh became the franchise’s first player to record multiple points in their 1,000th NHL contest.
WILD, BLUES STRENGTHEN WILD CARD POSITIONS IN THE WEST
Matt Boldy and Dylan Holloway each posted multi-point performances to help the Wild (41-27-5, 87 points) and Blues (39-28-7, 85 points) strengthen their positions as the first and second Wild Card in the Western Conference:
* Boldy (1-1—2) buried his ninth game-winning goal of the campaign to establish a franchise record for most in a season and help the Wild maintain a two-point lead over the Blues for the first Wild Card spot in the West. Boldy scored his 99th career goal and can become the second player in franchise history with 100 before age 24, following Marian Gaborik (120).
* Holloway scored two of three St. Louis goals, including the game winner, to help the Blues mount a multi-goal comeback en route to their eighth straight victory – tied for the fifth-longest run in franchise history. Holloway has accumulated 8-11—19 since March 1 which is tied with Sidney Crosby (8-11—19), Roope Hintz (3-16—19) and Nikita Kucherov (5-14—19) for the third-most points over that span behind only Jack Eichel (7-13—20) and William Nylander (8-12—20).
STARS, AVALANCHE CONTINUE WINNING WAYS IN THE CENTRAL
Mikko Rantanen hit the 30-goal mark for the fifth straight season while Cale Makar reached 500 career points (regular season & playoffs) as the second-place Stars (47-21-4, 98 points) and third-place Avalanche (45-25-3, 93 points) each skated to a fourth straight win. Click here for more notes from Thursday’s 10-game slate.
* Rantanen (1-1—2) scored one of five Stars goals and became the third Finnish-born player in NHL history to record five straight 30-goal seasons, following Jari Kurri (10 from 1980-81 – 1989-90) and Teemu Selanne (6 from 1995-96 – 2000-01). Leon Draisaitl (7 from 2018-19 – 2024-25) is the only other player with an active run of that length, while Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews can still extend their streaks to nine this season.
* Makar collected two assists and reached 500 career points (regular season & playoffs) as he helped Colorado pick up the 4-0 win and establish its second-longest home winning streak in franchise history (11 GP). Nathan MacKinnon (0-1—1) also extended his home point streak to 23 games and eclipsed Zach Werenski (22 GP) for the longest run this season.
QUICK CLICKS
* EDGE stats: Brad Marchand’s outlook after trade to Panthers
* Ryan McDonagh’s kids make homemade signs for defenseman’s 1,000th NHL game
* John Tortorella fired as Flyers coach, replaced by Brad Shaw
* Michael Callahan fined maximum for cross-checking in Bruins game
* ESPN+ exclusively debuts OviCast alternate presentation for Alex Ovechkin’s Gr8 Chase
ALL SIX GAMES FRIDAY WILL IMPACT RUSH TO THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
The Utah Hockey Club will pay its final “first visit” to an NHL city during its inaugural season as they head to Sunrise, Fla., to face the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers (available on NHL Network and Sportsnet). The playoff race in both conferences will be impacted by all six games on Friday. Florida, Carolina, New Jersey, Vegas and Winnipeg are pushing to secure a playoff spot, home ice or both (all five clubs have sat in a playoff position since at least Oct. 24). Columbus, Montreal, Vancouver and the NY Rangers are all either in a playoff spot or part of a group of five teams within five points of a playoff spot.
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