Facts and Figures: Draisaitl, Neal help Oilers end October atop division

Leon Draisaitl and James Neal are two of the biggest reasons the Edmonton Oilers will finish October first in the Pacific Division.

Draisaitl scored two goals and Neal scored one to
help the Oilers defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1
at Nationwide Arena in their final game of October. Draisaitl ended the month with 12 goals and Neal with 11, becoming the fourth and fifth players in Oilers history to score at least 11 goals in October, and the first since Wayne Gretzky scored 11 in 1986.

They're also the fourth set of NHL teammates to each score at least 11 goals in October. Gretzky (13) and Mark Messier (11) did it with the Oilers in 1981, followed by Peter Stastny (13) and Michel Goulet (11) of the Quebec Nordiques in 1982. The most recent teammates to do so were Mario Lemieux (16) and Kevin Stevens (12) of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992.
Draisaitl and Neal are the first set of Oilers teammates to score at least 11 goals in any calendar month since March 1988, when Craig Simpson (12), Glenn Anderson (11) and Jari Kurri (11) did it.
The Oilers (9-4-1) will conclude October first in the Pacific. Edmonton is set to lead its division through games played Oct. 31 for the fourth time in the past 20 years (since 1999-00). The three other instances during that span came when they were atop the Northwest Division in 2001-02 (9-4-1) and 2011-12 (7-2-2) and led the Pacific Division in 2016-17 (7-2-0).

Canadiens ride fast starts to win against Coyotes

The Montreal Canadiens got the jump on the Arizona Coyotes in each period on the way
to a 4-1 victory
at Gila River Arena on Wednesday.
Brendan Gallagher gave Montreal a 1-0 lead when he scored 22 seconds into the 500th regular-season game of his NHL career. Shea Weber scored 24 seconds into the second period and Nick Cousins made it 3-0 at 1:17 of the third.
It's the fourth time in Canadiens history that they scored at least one goal in the first 1:30 of each period. The others: Dec. 24, 1919 (12-5 win at the Quebec Bulldogs), March 10, 1962 (5-2 win against the Boston Bruins) and March 20, 2011 (8-1 win at the Minnesota Wild).

Lightning, Panthers continue season of comebacks

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers became the 12th and 13th teams to rally from down multiple goals in the third period to win their games. That's the most through the first 193 games of a season in NHL history.

The Lightning trailed the New Jersey Devils 5-3 at Prudential Center before scoring three consecutive times in the third to take a 6-5 lead. New Jersey's Kyle Palmieri completed a hat trick when he tied the game with 7.4 seconds remaining to force overtime, but Tyler Johnson's goal at 1:16 of OT
gave the Lightning a 7-6 win
in the highest-scoring game of the season so far.

It was the eighth game since the start of 2018-19 and the second this season to have at least five tying goals. There were nine such games from 2011-12 to 2017-18.

About two hours after the Lightning completed their comeback victory, the Panthers did the same when Jonathan Huberdeau scored his second goal of the game 29 seconds into overtime,
giving Florida a 4-3 win
against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center. The Panthers trailed 3-1 with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period, but goals by Aleksander Barkov at 12:04 and Huberdeau at 18:30 forced overtime.
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, extending his season-opening point streak to 12 games. He's the fifth player in the past 20 years and second in as many seasons to have one of
at least 12 games
. The longest streak of his NHL career at any point in a season is 14 games from Feb. 24 through March 22, 2018.

Boeser gets third NHL hat trick in Canucks win

Brock Boeser scored three goals for his third NHL hat trick,
helping the Vancouver Canucks defeat the Los Angeles Kings 5-
3 at Staples Center. The Canucks have outscored their opponents 25-15 during a five-game point streak (4-0-1).
The 22-year-old forward is the fifth player in Canucks history to have at least three hat tricks before turning 23.

Anze Kopitar had two assists for Los Angeles, giving him 901 points (316 goals, 585 assists) in 1,016 NHL games. He became the fifth player in Kings history to reach 900 points.