Around the League notebook: Monday, Nov. 30

MONDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in CAPS

NY ISLANDERS 5, Colorado 3

NY RANGERS 4, Carolina 3

TORONTO 3, EDMONTON 0

ANAHEIM 4, Vancouver 0

SPARKS FLY AT AIR CANADA CENTRE

Garret Sparks turned aside all 24 shots he faced to post a shutout in his NHL debut and lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 3-0 victory against the Edmonton Oilers.

Courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau:

* Sparks became the first goaltender in Maple Leafs history to post a shutout in his NHL debut.

* Sparks is the 25th goaltender in NHL history to post a shutout in his League debut. The most-recent: Troy Grosenick (45 saves) w/ San Jose Sharks on Nov. 16, 2014 at Carolina Hurricanes (2-0 W).

* Sparks is the 16th goaltender in Maple Leafs history to earn a win in his NHL debut: The most-recent: Ben Scrivens (38 saves) on Nov. 3, 2011 at Columbus Blue Jackets (4-1 W).

* Sparks – a native of Elmhurst, Ill. – was the first American-born goaltender to start for the Maple Leafs since Scott Clemmensen (Des Moines, IA) on Jan. 3, 2008 at PIT.

* ICYMI: After being named the game's First Star, Sparks gave a goalie stick to a child in the audience and conducted an emotional interview with the in-arena host as his parents happily looked on from the stands.

NEW YORK CLUBS CONTINUE HOME DOMINANCE OF MONDAY NIGHT OPPONENTS

The New York Rangers and New York Islanders earned wins on Monday night to improve their impressive home records versus the Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche, respectively:

* Derick Brassard (1-1—2) registered two points – including scoring the game-winning goal at 15:49 of the second period – and Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves as the Rangers won their 11th consecutive home game vs. CAR dating to Jan. 5, 2011 (CAR: 0-8-3).

* New York’s 11-game home winning streak vs. CAR is tied for the longest such streak against a single opponent in franchise history; the Rangers also posted an 11-game home winning streak vs. the Philadelphia Flyers from Jan. 14, 1990 – Nov. 4, 1992 (PHI: 0-9-2).

* Overall, the Rangers improved to 18-1-0 in their past 19 games vs. CAR dating to Feb. 22, 2011 (CAR: 1-12-6).

* The Rangers ended a three-game overall losing streak (0-3-0) and improved to 10-2-0 in their past 12 games at Madison Square Garden.

* Lundqvist improved to 13-5-2 this season (2.10 GAA, .935 SV%, 2 SO) and improved to 22-9-1 in 32 career games vs. CAR.

* Mats Zuccarello opened the scoring just 1:09 into the contest and extended his point streak vs. CAR to 11 games dating to Nov. 2, 2013 (1-12—13). Per Elias, Zuccarello is the first member of the Rangers to record an 11-game point streak versus a single opponent since Mark Messier from Nov. 2, 1991 – Jan. 9, 1993 vs. PHI (3-13—16 in 11 GP).

* Zuccarello has 2-15—17 in 17 career games vs. CAR. His other goal vs. CAR was the first goal of his NHL career on Jan. 5, 2011.

* Thomas Greiss made 25 saves and Ryan Strome (1-1—2) had a goal and an assist to help the Islanders improve to 8-1-0 in their past nine home games vs. COL dating to Oct. 10, 1999 (COL: 1-8-0).

* The Islanders extended their overall point streak to four games (3-0-1) and improved to an Eastern Conference-leading record of 9-2-1 (19 points) against Western Conference opponents this season.

* Greiss won his second consecutive start and improved to 7-3-2 overall this season with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage.

GIBSON, DUCKS BLANK CANUCKS

John Gibson (25 saves) posted his first shutout of the season and four different players scored as the Anaheim Ducks concluded the month of November with a record of 8-4-3 following a 1-7-2 start to the season in October.

* Two of Gibson’s three career regular-season shutouts have come against the Vancouver Canucks. The others: Oct. 28, 2014 at CHI (38 saves) and April 7, 2014 at VAN (18 saves), the latter being Gibson's NHL debut.. Gibson also recorded a shutout during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 10, 2014 at Los Angeles Kings (28 saves).

* Gibson improved to 2-1-1 this season with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage.

* The Ducks improved to 5-1-2 in their past eight games vs. VAN dating to April 7, 2014 (VAN: 3-3-2).

MILESTONES & BENCHMARKS

* Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist earned his 352nd career win (all w/ NYR) to pass Terry Sawchuk (351 w/ Detroit Red Wings) for the third-most victories in NHL history by a goaltender with one franchise. The only two with more: Martin Brodeur (688 w/ New Jersey Devils) and Tony Esposito (418 w/ Chicago Blackhawks).

* Lundqvist also earned his 301st career win in either regulation or a five-minute overtime period, tying Mike Richter for the franchise record in wins not earned in a shootout.

* Avalanche forward Jarome Iginla scored his 597th career goal and moved within three of becoming the 19th player in NHL history to score 600 goals and four of tying Jari Kurri (601) for 18th on the NHL’s all-time goals list.

* Iginla also skated in his 1,416th career game and tied Al MacInnis for 29th on the NHL’s all-time games played list. Iginla trails Luke Richardson (1,417 GP) by one game for 28th place.

* Rangers forward Oscar Lindberg scored his first career power-play goal (26 GP). He ranks second in goals and fourth in points among rookies with 9-7—16 this season (25 GP).

* Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin and Ducks forward Nick Ritchie each registered an assist for the first points of their NHL careers (6 and 8 GP, respectively).

* Islanders forward Josh Bailey skated in the 500th game of his NHL career.

LOOSE PUCKS

Sparks led the Maple Leafs to their first shutout victory since Dec. 23, 2014 at Dallas Stars (4-0 W). ... The Maple Leafs improved to 7-1-0 in their past eight games vs. Edmonton Oilers dating to Dec. 14, 2010 (EDM: 1-5-2), which includes wins in their last four games at Air Canada Centre. ... Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov (2-0—2) scored his team-leading ninth and 10th goals of the season (24 GP), eclipsing his career-high of eight from 2014-15 (62 GP). ... Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk (0-3—3) matched his career-high for assists and points in one game, most recently achieved on March 28 vs. OTT (0-3—3). ... Anaheim forwards Corey Perry (1-0—1) and Ryan Getzlaf (0-1—1) have posted 3-2—5 and 0-7—7 in their past four games, respectively. ... Hurricanes forward Elias Lindholm (0-1—1) extended his point streak to five games (1-4—5), equaling his career-high from Nov. 1 – 8, 2014 (5-2—7 in 5 GP). ... The NHL and its corporate partners will extend the celebration of the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic with the 2016 NHL Winter Classic Spectator Plaza, a two-day free fan festival to be held in Lot 22 of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. ... The 2016 NHL All-Star Fan Vote opens worldwide on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 12:00 p.m. ET at NHL.com/Vote and hockey fans will determine the four All-Star captains for the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 31, 2016. ... Stars left wing Jamie Benn, Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby and Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk were named the NHL's "Three Stars" for the week ending Nov. 29.