* Brady Tkachuk, who will be featured in the second season of FACEOFF: Inside the NHL, tallied the overtime goal as the Senators stretched their season-high winning streak to five games. Tkachuk’s goal was scored after his father, Keith, joined *NHL Coast to Coast* on Thursday.
* William Karlsson helped the Golden Knights clip the Canucks in a game that lasted just two hours and 15 minutes, which marked one of the quickest contests this season.
* William Nylander and Rasmus Dahlin, who are set to represent Sweden alongside Karlsson at the 4 Nation Face-Off, meet for the final time before the tournament when the Maple Leafs visit the Sabres on ESPN+ tonight.
Tkachuk tallies overtime winner as Senators secure FIFTH STRAIGHT VICTORY
Brady Tkachuk tallied his franchise-record 10th career overtime goal as the Senators (17-13-2, 36 points) edged the Flames and maintained their hold on the Eastern Conference’s final Wild Card spot. Linus Ullmark (29 saves) logged an assist on the overtime winner and improved to 7-0-0 in his last seven appearances dating to Dec. 5 (0.99 GAA, .967 SV%, 2 SO).
* Prime Video announced it has greenlit a second season of the sports docuseries FACEOFF: Inside the NHL, which will deliver unprecedented access to more of the League's elite players including Tkachuk. Click here to read more.
More highlights from 107-year anniversary of NHL’s first games
The latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes from Thursday, which marked the 107-year anniversary of the first games in League history on Dec. 19, 1917. Some highlights include:
* Cale Makar (9-31—40 in 34 GP) became the first defenseman to reach the 40-point mark this season and Mackenzie Blackwood (32 saves) earned the victory versus his former team as the Avalanche (19-15-0, 38 points) reclaimed the Western Conference’s final Wild Card spot. The tandem of Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, who the team has dubbed “The Lumber Yard”, own a combined record of 5-3-0 in eight appearances with Colorado.
* Zach Werenski tallied a goal and Elvis Merzlikins made a season-high 40 stops – including
two highlight-reel saves on **Jack Hughes** – as the Blue Jackets snapped a five-game slide. Werenski (8-9—17 in 10 GP) became the 10th defenseman in the last 15 years (since 2009-10) with a 10-game home point streak and tied the franchise record shared by forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand (10 GP from Feb. 27 to March 29, 2022), Cam Atkinson (10 GP from Oct. 13 to Nov. 21, 2016) and Andrew Cassels (10 GP from Oct. 14 to Nov. 14, 2002).
* Leon Draisaitl (370-530—900 in 751 GP) assisted on all three of the Oilers’ unanswered goals to reach the 900-point milestone and help Edmonton improve to 6-1-0 in its past seven games. Draisaitl (6-12—18 in 7 GP) collected a career high-tying seventh straight multi-point performance (also 7 GP from May 1-12, 2021) and became the NHL’s fifth-fastest player born outside North America to reach 900 points behind Peter Stastny (599 GP), Jari Kurri (632 GP), Jaromir Jagr (681 GP) and Nikita Kucherov (743 GP).
* Kucherov (14-35—49 in 28 GP) assisted on the first career goal by **Gage Goncalves** to reach 49 points on the season and help the Lightning (18-10-2, 38 points) leapfrog the Bruins (17-13-4, 38 points) for third place in the Atlantic Division. Kucherov passed Kirill Kaprizov (22-26—48 in 31 GP) and ranks third in the Art Ross Trophy race, which is led by Nathan MacKinnon (13-39—52 in 34 GP) and Draisaitl (23-27—50 in 32 GP).
* Anze Kopitar (2-0—2) and Kevin Fiala (2-0—2) accounted for four of the Kings’ season high-tying seven goals as Los Angeles logged another win and improved to 8-1-1 in its past 10 games dating to Nov. 27. Kopitar recorded his 312th career multi-point game for the Kings (19-9-4, 42 points) as they kept pace with the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (21-8-3, 45 points), who were victorious versus Vancouver thanks in part to goals by Brett Howden, William Karlsson and Alex Pietrangelo.
* Teuvo Teravainen (0-2—2) factored on the Blackhawks’ first two goals to help Chicago extend its winning streak to a season-high three games. Teravainen (1-7—8 in 3 GP) tallied a third straight multi-point performance and became the first Blackhawks player with an assist on five consecutive team goals since Patrick Sharp (5 from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6, 2015).
* Sidney Crosby (1-3—4) posted his 41st career four-point game – which included an assist on each of his team’s three tying tallies – as the Penguins earned a multi-goal comeback win against the Predators. Crosby (441-762—1,203 in 722 GP), who passed Ron Francis (65 GP) for the fifth most three-assist games in NHL history and leapfrogged Steve Yzerman (477 GP) for the seventh most multi-point outings, became the League’s fourth player with 1,200 career points *in wins* following Wayne Gretzky (1,920), Jagr (1,292) and Mark Messier (1, 243).
QUICK CLICKS
* Brady Tkachuk excited to ‘show off Ottawa’ in Season 2 of FACEOFF: Inside the NHL
* Alex Ovechkin could return to Capitals, resume Wayne Gretzky chase before holiday break
* Justin Schultz, 2-time Stanley Cup winner, retires after 12 NHL seasons
* Jeremy Roenick returns to Chicago as Hall of Famer for pregame celebration
* NHL Network announces WJC, Winter Classic plans
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTED BY “BATTLE OF THE QEW” ON ESPN+
William Nylander and the Atlantic Division-leading Maple Leafs (20-10-2, 42 points) visit Rasmus Dahlin and Sabres on ESPN+ and Hulu during a seven-game slate Friday. Dahlin, will skate alongside Nylander with Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, is set to return to the lineup for Buffalo – which hopes to snap its winless streak.
* More highlights include Martin Necas and the Hurricanes facing Dylan Strome and the Capitals as well as Leo Carlsson and the Ducks dueling Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche during a Sportsnet doubleheader, Clayton Keller and Utah Hockey Club hoping to extend their first-of-its-kind road winning streak as well as Patrik Laine looking to continue his nearly goal-per-game pace with the Canadiens.
