Josi, Stamkos Reach Notable Milestone as Preds Beat Canucks

A majority of the attention was on Zach L’Heureux following Nashville’s win over the Canucks on Sunday night in Vancouver - and rightfully so after the rookie recorded his first NHL goal.

But two other Preds skaters hit noteworthy milestones in the victory, and the numbers are worth the extra recognition, especially when a former NHL great is involved.

As Filip Forsberg remarked in the postgame celebration in the locker room, “Jagr?!”

More on that in a moment, but first, let’s recognize the Predators captain.

With his goal in the second period, Roman Josi recorded his 700th NHL point and further established himself into elite company when it comes to defensemen.

Per NHL PR, Josi is now just the seventh European-born blueliner to reach the 700-point milestone. The others?

• Nicklas Lidstrom (1,142 in 1,564 GP)
• Erik Karlsson (828 in 1,022 GP)
• Sergei Gonchar (811 in 1,301 GP)
• Borje Salming (787 in 1,148 GP)
• Sergei Zubov (771 in 1,068 GP)
• Victor Hedman (744 in 1,068 GP)

Furthermore, Josi required the third-fewest games to reach 700 points among defensemen born outside North America. The only blueliners to reach the mark in fewer contests are Erik Karlsson (871 GP) and Borje Salming (912).

Josi is also the only Swiss-born player in NHL history with 700 points, and his total continues to pace the Predators franchise as he became the only player in team history to reach the mark.

Impressive, no? Well, Steven Stamkos also felt like getting in on the fun.

The Nashville forward tallied twice on the man advantage - his first multi-goal game as a member of the Preds - to give himself career power-play markers 218 and 219 to pass Hall-of-Famer Mike Gartner and future Hall-of-Famer Jaromir Jagr (both with 217) for the 11th-most in NHL history.

Stamkos is now just 13 power-play goals away from cracking the Top 10 all-time among NHL greats, and he could quickly skyrocket up that list with just five goals separating the tenth and seventh spots on the ledger.

And yes, as Forsberg exclaimed, in recognition of the NHL’s second-highest scorer of all time, “Jagr?!”

“Just hearing those names, it's obviously pretty cool,” Stamkos said of achieving the feat. “I mean, as a hockey fan in general, to move past some Hall-of-Fame quality players, and obviously played in the League a long time, so I’ve certainly had my fair share of power-play goals and played with some pretty awesome players along the way that have given me those opportunities. But, hopefully [I can] keep going.”