* John Carlson (1-1-2), Nate Schmidt (1-1-2) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-2-2) led the offense for Washington, which is 11-2-3 in its past 16 games and has won four in a row. * Holtby earned his fourth shutout of the season, tied for second in the NHL. Three have come in his past 12 appearances, dating to Dec. 5 (7-2-2, 1.74 goals-against average, .938 save percentage).
THURSDAY'S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps Edmonton 4, BOSTON 3 WASHINGTON 5, Columbus 0 Nashville 6, TAMPA BAY 1 Carolina 4, ST. LOUIS 2 CHICAGO 4, Buffalo 3 (OT) Detroit 4, LOS ANGELES 0 Minnesota 5, SAN JOSE 4
BREAKING DOWN THE SECOND-LONGEST WINNING STREAK IN NHL HISTORY
A closer look at the Blue Jackets' historic 16-game winning streak, which saw them defeat 14 different teams over the course of 36 days: * The run, which began with a 5-1 victory against the Lightning on Nov. 29, propelled Columbus from a share of ninth place in the overall NHL standings into the top spot. * The streak was part of an overall stretch of 18 consecutive games with a point (17-0-1), also a franchise record. Columbus also established a club record with an 11-game road point streak that began in Washington on Nov. 20 (10-0-1). * Columbus had an even split of home and road victories during the streak to establish and match franchise records for longest home and road winning streaks, respectively. * The Blue Jackets outscored opponents 62-27 during the streak, withCam Atkinson (10-8-18), Brandon Saad (8-8-16) and Sam Gagner (7-9-16) leading the way. * Sergei Bobrovsky went 14-0-0 to equal the second-longest winning streak by a goaltender in NHL history; Gilles Gilbert of the Boston Bruins won 17 in a row in 1975-76.
WILD RALLY (TWICE) TO RETURN TO WINNING WAYS
The Minnesota Wild fell behind 4-2 in the third period, their second two-goal deficit of the game, before EricStaal (2-1-3) scored the first of three unanswered goals to help his club rally for a road victory against the San Jose Sharks. It was their first game since New Year's Eve, when Columbus ended Minnesota's franchise-record winning streak at 12 games. * Minnesota improved to 24-9-4 (52 points) overall to keep pace with the Chicago Blackhawks, who also won to move to 24-12-5 (53 points), in the race for first place in the Central Division and the Western Conference. * Signed as a free agent in the offseason, Staal leads the Wild in goals (13) and points (33) through 37 games, equaling his goal total from 2015-16 (83 GP with the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers). Zach Parise (1-2-3) and Mikko Koivu (2-0-2), who skated in his 800th NHL game, scored the other goals. * Via the Elias Sports Bureau: The Wild overcame multiple deficits of two or more goals to win for just the second time in franchise history (also Dec. 4, 2009 vs. the Anaheim Ducks: 5-4 SO). * The Wild extended their road winning streak to seven games, one shy of matching the Blue Jackets for the longest such run in the NHL this season.
CAREER FIRSTS POWER OILERS, PREDATORS AND RED WINGS
Edmonton Oilers forward Pat Maroon and Nashville Predators forward Colton Sissons each had his first NHL hat trick, and Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jared Coreau had his first NHL shutout. * Maroon (260 GP) opened the scoring 68 seconds into the game and got the eventual winning goal midway through the third period against the Boston Bruins to help the Oilers move to 5-1-2 in their past eight games. Maroon has 14-7-21 through 40 games in 2016-17; the 14 goals are a career high, besting his previous mark of 11 set with the Ducks in 2013-14 (62 GP). * Sissons (79 GP) scored three of the Predators' four unanswered goals during the final two periods to help Nashville extend its road win streak to four games. Sissons, a second-round pick (No. 50) in the 2012 NHL Draft, entered the night with 7-6-13 in his first 78 NHL games, including 2-1-3 in 27 games this season. * Coreau (5 GP) made 34 saves for his shutout, andAndreas Athanasiou (1-2-3), Thomas Vanek (2-0-2) and Anthony Mantha (1-1-2) combined for all four goals in Detroit's win against the Los Angeles Kings. Athanasiou had the first three-point game of his NHL career.
LOOSE PUCKS
Patrick Kane (1-2-3) of the Chicago Blackhawks, who has five overtime goals in 123 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, scored his third OT goal in the regular-season (699 GP). … Jeff Skinner, who led the Hurricanes with seven game-winning goals in 2015-16, got his first game-winner of the season against the St. Louis Blues. He leads the Hurricanes with 14-14-28 in 37 GP. … Connor McDavid (0-2-2) of the Oilers extended his League lead for assists (31) and moved into sole possession of first place in the scoring race (14-31-45 in 40 GP). … Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel scored to extend his point streak to five games (3-3-6). … Duncan Keith (0-1-1) became the third defenseman in Blackhawks history to reach 400 career assists, joining Doug Wilson (554) and Pierre Pilote (400). … The Bruins honored Milt Schmidt, a member of the 100 Greatest NHL Players who passed away Wednesday at age 98, during a pregame ceremony at TD Garden. … The NHL fined Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov$2,000 as supplementary discipline. … The League announced details of the 2017 NHL Fan Fair, the official fan festival of 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. … The United States overcame deficits of 2-0 and 4-2 before Ducks prospect Troy Terry scored the lone goal in the shootout for a 5-4 victory against Canada to win the gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship.
FINALE OF SERIES CHRONICLING JOURNEYS TO OUTDOOR CLASSICS
The fourth and final episode of the series that chronicled the journeys of four teams -- the Red Wings, Maple Leafs, Blackhawks and Blues -- as they prepared for the 2017 Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic and 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, respectively, debuts Friday night in the United States and Canada. Viewers in the United States can watch the finale of "EPIX Presents Road to the NHL Outdoor Classics" at 10 p.m. ET/PT / 9 p.m. CT via EPIX, EPIX.com and NHL.com. Viewers in Canada can catch the finale of "Sportsnet All Access: NHL Outdoor Classics" after the Maple Leafs-Devils game on Sportsnet Ontario and Sportsnet NOW.
