Around the League notebook for Wednesday, April 1

Thursday, 04.02.2015 / 2:11 AM
NHL Public Relations

WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in CAPS

BUFFALO 4, Toronto 3

Philadelphia 4, PITTSBURGH 1

ANAHEIM 5, Edmonton 1

SAN JOSE 5, Colorado 1

DUCKS CLINCH THIRD STRAIGHT PACIFIC DIVISION TITLE

The Anaheim Ducks opened a 4-0 lead midway through the second period, powered by Corey Perry's 600th NHL point and three assists from Jakob Silfverberg, to sweep their four-game season series with the Edmonton Oilers and clinch the Pacific Division for the fourth time in Ducks history.

* The Ducks (50-22-7, 107 points), who have won four straight games and eight of their past 10, increased their lead to four points over the New York Rangers (48-21-7, 103 points) and Nashville Predators (47-22-9, 103 points) – each idle – in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.

* The Ducks have finished atop the Pacific Division in each of the past three seasons (and also in 2006-07). Elias says Anaheim is the first team to win three straight division titles since the Vancouver Canucks won the Northwest Division five years in a row from 2008-09 to 2012-13.

* Anaheim has won 50 games for the second time in Ducks history (also 2013-14: 54-20-8, 116 points). The most-recent team to post back-to-back 50-win campaigns was Vancouver in 2010-11 (54-19-9) and 2011-12 (51-22-9).

* Perry (296-304—600) scored his 33rd goal of the season to become the fourth player from the 2003 NHL Draft to reach 600 points, joining Eric Staal (311-427--738), Ryan Getzlaf (207-469—676) and Thomas Vanek (297-309—606). (Via Elias)

* Perry, who has selected by Anaheim with the 28th pick that year, is the fourth player in Ducks history to score 600 points, after Teemu Selanne (457-531—988), Getzlaf and Paul Kariya (300-369—669).

* Silfverberg established and matched career highs for assists and points in a game, respectively. His only other three-point performance came on March 3 at the Arizona Coyotes (1-2—3).

* Francois Beauchemin (1-1—2) got his 126th assist in a Ducks uniform to surpass Oleg Tverdovsky into second place on the club's all-time assists list among defensemen; Scott Niedermayer ranks first with 204.

* Playing against his former team, Andrew Cogliano (1-1—2) scored his first career goal via the penalty shot (1-for-3, 33.3%); his first two attempts came vs. Phoenix – March 17, 2011 (w/ EDM) and March 6, 2013. Shooters are 12-for-39 (30.8%) on penalty-shot attempts this season.

* Frederik Andersen (22 saves) is 34-11-5 in 52 games this season. His 34 wins are two shy of the single-season Ducks record set by Jean-Sebastien Giguere in 2006-07.

* The Ducks have won six straight home games against the Oilers dating to April 8, 2013.

SHARKS CONTINUE PLAYOFF PUSH WITH WIN AGAINST AVALANCHE

Ahead 1-0 after 40 minutes, the Sharks added four goals in the third period, including Chris Tierney's first career game-winner, to extend their point streak to four games overall (3-0-1) and pick up their 13th straight home win against the Avalanche dating to March 22, 2009.

* The Sharks (38-30-9, 85 points) pulled within five points of the idle Winnipeg Jets (39-26-12, 90 points) in the race for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. San Jose owns the ROW tiebreaker (SJS: 34, WPG: 32) and won the season series against the Jets (SJS: 2-1-0, WPG: 1-2-0).

* Tierney has 5-11—16 in 38 games this season, including 3-3—6 in his past seven. He is the third rookie to notch a decisive goal for the Sharks this season, joining Melker Karlsson and Barclay Goodrow (each has two). The Sharks hadn't had at least three rookies score a game-winning goal in the same season since 2008-09 (Tomas Plihal, Jamie McGinn, Lukas Kaspar, Brad Staubitz – all had one).

* Logan Couture (3-3—6) and Brent Burns (0-6—6) each had two points to extend point streaks to four and five games, respectively.

* Couture, who had 1-1—2, ranks second on the Sharks with 26-38—64 this season (77 GP), one point shy of his career high established in 2011-12 (80 GP). He has 7-11—18 in 19 career games vs. COL.

* Scott Hannan, Patrick Marleau and John Scott contributed the other goals for the Sharks. Alex Stalock turned aside 19 shots and is 8-7-2, including a 3-0-1 record in his past four games (1.20 GAA, .945 SV%, 1 SO).

CROSBY SCORES 300TH GOAL ...

Sidney Crosby scored his 300th career goal to become the fifth player in Penguins history to reach the milestone, following Mario Lemieux (690), Jaromir Jagr (439), Jean Pronovost (316) and Rick Kehoe (312).

* Via Elias, Crosby, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, is the only player from his draft class to score at least 300 goals; Anze Kopitar (11th overall, LAK) is next closest with 218.

* Elias also says that Crosby is one of seven players with at least 300 goals since the 2005-06 season: Alex Ovechkin (472), Jarome Iginla (336), Rick Nash (318), Ilya Kovalchuk (309), Patrick Marleau (302) and Eric Staal (300).

* He has 31-45—76 in 51 careers games against the Philadelphia Flyers. Elias says Crosby's 76 points against Philadelphia are more than any other player since he entered the NHL in 2005-06. The 31 goals are the most he has scored against one opponent.

* Overall, the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner paces the NHL with 26-54—80 this season, including points in four straight games (2-4—6).

... BUT FLYERS WIN BATTLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

The Flyers scored four unanswered goals, including 2-0—2 by Brayden Schenn, to end a nine-game road skid overall (0-5-4), improve to 3-0-0 against the Penguins this season, and win their sixth straight visit CONSOL Energy Center dating to Nov. 13, 2013.

* The Flyers are 11-1-1 in their past 13 regular-season games with the Penguins dating to Oct. 7, 2010, including seven straight wins. They close their four-game season series with a matinee on Sunday at Wells Fargo Center (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC, SN).

* Jakub Voracek stretched his point/assist streak to five games (0-8—8) to regain the League lead in assists (56; one more than Nicklas Backstrom). He tied Alex Ovechkin (50-27—77) and John Tavares (34-43—77) for second in the NHL with 21-56—77.

* Schenn posted his fourth game-winner and fourth multi-goal effort of the season. Carlo Colaiacovo and Vincent Lecavalier snapped 38 and 27-game goal droughts, respectively. Colaiacovo's goal was his first since March 9, 2014 at MIN (w/ STL).

* Steve Mason made 24 saves to earn his second road win of the season (also Dec. 6 at LAK) and is 5-2-1 in nine all-time games vs. PIT.

SABRES CONTINUE HOME DOMINANCE OF MAPLE LEAFS

Matt Ellis scored 1-1—2, including the game-winning goal at 3:14 of the third period, to rally the Sabres to their second straight win overall and finish their season series with the Maple Leafs at 2-1-1 (TOR: 2-2-0).

* The Sabres are 15-1-1 in their past 17 home games against the Maple Leafs dating to Feb. 4, 2009, including five consecutive victories. The home club has won 19 of the past 21 games between these teams dating to March 12, 2011, including 11 straight.

* Ellis, a native of Welland, Ont., recorded his first goal/point since April 13, 2014 vs. NYI, snapping a 33-game drought. It also was his first game-winning goal since Nov. 11, 2011 vs. OTT and first multi-point effort since March 31, 2010 (at BOS: 0-2—2).

* Matt Moulson (North York, Ont.) and Cody Hodgson (Toronto, Ont.) also scored for the Sabres. Moulson has 16-8—24 in 24 games against his hometown team.

* Zac Dalpe (Paris, Ont.) also ended a 24-game goal drought with his first goal since March 6, 2014 at DAL (w/ VAN). Sabres captain Brian Gionta added two assists. Anders Lindback made 24 saves to pick up his second straight victory.

LOOSE PUCKS

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1-0—1) and Jordan Eberle (0-1—1) had points for the Oilers; they have 5-8—13 and 6-8—14 in their past 11 games, respectively. … Maple Leafs forwards Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak each had two assists. Kessel paces the Maple Leafs in assists (35) and points (59). … James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Eric Brewer scored for the Maple Leafs. van Riemsdyk leads them with 25 goals, five shy of his career-high set last season. … ICYMI: Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond, Flames forward Jiri Hudler and Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk were named the NHL's “Three Stars” for the month of March . . . Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for March.

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