Facts and Figures: Lightning closer to making NHL history

The Tampa Bay Lightning, showing no signs of slowing after clinching the Presidents' Trophy on Monday, inched closer to making NHL history when they won their 58th game of the season on Thursday, a 6-3 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.

With seven regular-season games remaining, the Lightning (58-13-4) are five wins from establishing an NHL record for wins in one season; the Detroit Red Wings finished 62-13-7 in 1995-96.
The 1995-96 Red Wings and the 1976-77 and 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens (60 and 59 wins, respectively) are the only teams in League history to win more games than Tampa Bay in one season. The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in each of those seasons.
The Lightning also improved to 27-7-2 away from Amalie Arena and can set an NHL record for most road wins in a season, held by the 2005-06 Red Wings (31). Tampa Bay would have to win its five remaining road games to accomplish that; they play at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, SUN, NHL.TV), and finish the season with four straight games on the road: at the Ottawa Senators on April 1, at the Canadiens on April 2, at the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 4 and at the Boston Bruins on April 6.
Tampa Bay's win at Carolina was their seventh straight, making the Lightning the second team in NHL history to post four separate winning streaks of at least seven games in a season; the other is the 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers, who won the first of their five Stanley Cup titles that season.
The Lightning also established their record for goals in a season with 292, breaking their previous mark of 290 last season. The last NHL team to score at least 300 goals in a season was the Washington Capitals with 313 in 2009-10.
Forward Nikita Kucherov, who had an assist Thursday, leads the NHL with 120 points (37 goals, 83 assists), tied for the second-most points in an NHL season by a Russia-born player. Sergei Fedorov of the Red Wings also had 120 points (56 goals, 64 assists) in 1993-94. The NHL record for most points by a player born in Russia is held by Alexander Mogilny, who had 127 points (76 goals, 51 assists) for the Buffalo Sabres in 1992-93.
Kucherov is the first player in 20 years to reach the 120-point mark in 75 games or fewer and the fifth since 1993-94; Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins got his 120th point in his 59th game in 1995-96.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper became the 49th coach in NHL history to win 300 games (300-156-44), joining Bruce Boudreau (301-138-61) as the second NHL coach with at least 300 wins through 500 regular-season games.

Canadiens, Avalanche climb into playoff position

Goalie Carey Price made 28 saves to spark the Canadiens (39-28-7) to a 4-0 win against the New York Islanders at Bell Centre and into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets (40-30-4). The Canadiens also are two points behind the Hurricanes (40-26-7) for the first wild card. Carolina has a game in hand on Montreal and Columbus.
With the 44th shutout of his NHL career, Price is two from tying Ken Dryden (46) for third place on the Canadiens all-time list. George Hainsworth (75 shutouts) and Jacques Plante (58) are first and second.
The Colorado Avalanche (33-29-12) moved into the second wild card from the Western Conference with a 3-1 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center; the Avalanche are tied in points with the Arizona Coyotes (36-32-6), who lost 4-2 at the Florida Panthers, and one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild (34-31-9). Minnesota, which has one more regulation/overtime win than Colorado and Arizona, plays the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, NBCSWA, FS-N, NHL.TV).
Colorado's Tyson Barrie scored the 72nd goal of his NHL career to tie Sandis Ozolinsh for the most by a defenseman in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history.

Bergeron, Marchand each make mark for Bruins

Center Patrice Bergeron (two goals, one assist) and forward Brad Marchand (three assists) helped power the Bruins to a 5-1 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Boston (45-20-9) is one point from its second straight 100-point season (112 last season). It would be the second time in 27 years the Bruins have hit triple-figures in consecutive seasons; they had 103 points in 2010-11 and 102 in 2011-12.
Bergeron scored his 30th goal of the season Thursday, reaching that total for the fifth time in his NHL career. He became the fourth player with at least three 30-goal seasons for the Bruins after age 30, joining Johnny Bucyk (seven times), Phil Esposito (four) and Rick Middleton (three).
Marchand reached the 90-point mark (31 goals, 59 assists) in the NHL for the first time, becoming the fifth Boston player since 1996-97 to hit 90 points, joining Marc Savard (96 points, 2006-07), Glen Murray (92, 2002-03), Joe Thornton (101, 2002-03) and Jason Allison (95, 2000-01).

Ovechkin takes stage for Capitals

Alex Ovechkin is in sight of several significant marks.
The forward, who leads the NHL with 48 goals this season, is two from becoming the third player in League history with at least eight 50-goal seasons. Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy each did it nine times.
Ovechkin (33 years, 186 days as of Friday) can become third-oldest player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season, behind Bucyk (35 years, 308 days) with the Bruins in 1970-71 and Jaromir Jagr (34 years, 37 days) with the New York Rangers in 2005-06.
And with 655 NHL goals, Ovechkin is one from tying Brendan Shanahan for 13th place on NHL all-time list, and one power-play goal from tying Luc Robitaille (247) for fourth place.