* Matinees delivered memorable moments Saturday with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny collecting five points, Tage Thompson tallying the fastest shot ever recorded by NHL EDGE and new father Joel Edmundson earning his first career multi-goal game.
* The Stars and Panthers each produced notable performances ahead of the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal. Florida has one more game remaining before flying overseas to Tampere (Oct. 28 at BUF). The 2024 NHL Global Series Finland Interactive Information Guide is now available on the League’s Media site.
* The Jets earned their fourth straight comeback win to improve to 8-0-0 and match their franchise record for longest winning streak at any point in a season.
MATINEES DELIVER MEMORABLE MOMENTS TO OPEN 14-GAME SATURDAY
Each of the first three contests during Saturday’s slate saw skaters join rare franchise and NHL company:
* Sean Couturier (3-2—5) and Travis Konecny (1-4—5) became the first Flyers teammates with five points each in the same contest since Dec. 11, 2007 (Joffrey Lupul & R.J. Umberger) as Philadelphia put an end to Minnesota’s seven-game season-opening point streak. Couturier collected his second career regular-season hat trick and the NHL’s sixth of the campaign – with every hat trick this season, AstraZeneca will donate $3,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation up to $300,000.
* Tage Thompson (2-1—3) starred in the Sabres’ afternoon win with three points and a 104.69 mph slap shot 4:01 into the first period which was the fastest shot ever recorded by NHL EDGE (since 2021-22). It marked the second time in three days that a new benchmark has been set, following the 103.77 mph blast by **Michael Kesselring** with Utah on Oct. 24. Rasmus Dahlin (0-3—3) recorded his third career three-assist game and 40th multi-assist outing, breaking a tie with Doug Bodger (39) for second all-time among Sabres defensemen behind Phil Housley (77).
* Joel Edmundson scored his first two markers with the Kings to record his first career multi-goal game. Edmundson (31 years, 120 days), who recently became a father, was the fourth oldest Los Angeles player at the time of his first career multi-goal game behind Brian Kilrea (32 years, 358 days on Oct. 14, 1967), Derek Armstrong (32 years, 215 days on Nov. 24, 2005) and Jaroslav Modry (31 years, 248 days on Nov. 2, 2002).
STARS, PANTHERS SKATE TO VICTORIES AS NHL GLOBAL SERIES FINLAND APPROACHES
The Stars (7-2-0, 14 points) and Panthers (6-3-1, 13 points) each captured their second victories in as many contests as the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal approaches (Nov. 1-2 at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland). Tampere will host its third and fourth such contests to tie Tokyo (4) for the fourth most of any city outside North America.
* Miro Heiskanen (0-2—2), who hails from Espoo, Finland, factored on half of his team’s goals and is the highest-scoring Finnish defenseman since 2018-19, while Jake Oettinger (118 wins in 199 GP) made 22 saves to help the Stars win each of their first five home games of a season for the fourth time in franchise history. Oettinger became the ninth goaltender in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) with at least 118 wins prior to his 200th career game.
* Matthew Tkachuk (2-1—3) tallied two of Florida’s six unanswered markers as the Panthers rallied past the Islanders and became the third team with a three-goal comeback win this season, following the Flames (Oct. 9) and Blues (Oct. 10). Florida completes its three-game New York state road trip in Buffalo on Monday before travelling to Tampere.
JETS STAY PERFECT, TAKE FLIGHT TO EIGHTH STRAIGHT WIN
The Jets fell behind 28 seconds into the contest before Kyle Connor (1-1—2) factored on both of his club's goals in the opening frame, only to have the Flames score a pair of game-tying tallies of their own. The NHL’s best power play in 2024-25 to date would then strike for the second time with 3:44 remaining in regulation to help Winnipeg improve to 8-0-0 and match the franchise’s longest winning streak *at any point in a season*.
\* Scott Arniel became the first head coach in NHL history to record a winning streak of eight games to start his tenure with a franchise. Only three others have started their time with a club with seven victories: Bruce Boudreau (VAN in 2021-22), Geoff Ward (CGY in 2019-20) and Jacques Lemaire (NJD in 1993-94).
* The Jets registered their fourth straight comeback win dating to Oct. 20 and their sixth overall in 2024-25. They joined the 2005-06 Predators and 2014-15 Canadiens as the third team in NHL history to record six come-from-behind victories through their first eight games of a season.
AROUND THE RINKS WITH #NHLSTATS
* Captain Mark Stone (1-2—3) sparked a Golden Knights offense that scored at least six goals for the third straight game – a first in franchise history – and extended its season-opening home win streak to six games. Stone (4-13—17 in 9 GP) overtook the NHL lead in points – the third Golden Knights player to do so this season (Ivan Barbashev, last: Oct. 12 & Jack Eichel: Oct. 13) – and has recorded the most points by a Vegas skater prior to the club’s 10th game of a campaign.
* Nikita Kucherov (8-6—14 in 8 GP) collected an assist in the Lightning’s shutout win to extend his season-opening point streak to eight games. He became the eighth reigning Art Ross Trophy winner with a run of that length, following Wayne Gretzky (5x; last: 8 GP in 1987-88), Mario Lemieux (2x; last: 12 GP in 1992-93), Phil Esposito (2x; last: 15 GP in 1973-74), Connor McDavid (17 GP in 2021-22), Jaromir Jagr (15 GP in 1999-00), Marcel Dionne (8 GP in 1980-81) and Guy Lafleur (10 GP in 1976-77).
* The Bruins scored two game-tying goals in the second period and Auston Matthews brought the Maple Leafs even with 1:17 remaining in regulation, but Brad Marchand (1-1—2) capped the contest with his 20th career overtime goal as Boston secured its eighth consecutive regular-season victory against Toronto dating to Jan. 14, 2023. Marchand, who moved past Phil Esposito (77) for the third-most game-winning goals in franchise history, joined Alex Ovechkin (26) and Sidney Crosby (20) as the third player in NHL history with 20 career overtime tallies.
* Elias Pettersson, Kiefer Sherwood and J.T. Miller scored goals 65 seconds apart as the Canucks erased a 2-0 deficit and set the stage for Surrey, B.C. native Arshdeep Bains to bury his first career NHL goal. Bains’ tally stood as the game winner, which was called by Mantar Bhandal and Harpreet Pandher on the Hockey Night In Canada: Punjabi Edition telecast.
* Artemi Panarin (6-9—15 in 8 GP), who extended his season-opening point streak to eight games, started 2023-24 on a 15-game point streak and joined Nathan MacKinnon (13 GP in 2019-20 & 9 GP in 2018-19) as the second active player to record a season-opening point streak of eight-plus games in consecutive campaigns.
* Nick Suzuki (0-2—2) and Lane Hutson (0-1—1) combined on a third-period goal, with the Canadiens captain extending his point streak to six games (2-7—9 in 6 GP), as Montreal improved to 5-1-0 in its past six home games against St. Louis dating to 2018-19. Hutson boosted his career totals to 0-7—7 (10 GP) and became the first rookie defenseman in Canadiens history with seven assists through his first 10 career games with the franchise.
QUICK CLICKS
* Statement from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on the passing of Bill Hay
* Nathan MacKinnon returns favor to Nikola Jokic, presents NBA MVP with trophy
* Saturday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates
SPORTSNET AND NHL NETWORK OPEN SUNDAY’S FOUR-GAME SLATE
Sunday starts with Connor McDavid and the Oilers visiting Dylan Larkin and the Red Wings on Sportsnet and NHL Network. The four-game schedule closes with Brady Tkachuk and the Senators facing Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, who can extend their season-opening point streaks to nine contests as the Avalanche aim for a fifth straight win after starting the campaign with an 0-4-0 record.
