Monahan joins Barkov among youngest scorers

It's always a special moment for a player when he scores his first NHL goal. But for the Florida Panthers' Aleksander Barkov, his goal made a bit of history.

The second pick of the 2013 NHL Draft, Barkov's goal in the third period of the Panthers' 4-2 win at the Dallas Stars on Thursday made him, at age 18 years, 31 days, the youngest player to score in a game in 70 years.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Barkov is the youngest player to score his first goal since Don Raleigh, at age 17 years, 147 days, scored for the New York Rangers in a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 21, 1943.

Aleksander Barkov

Center - FLA

G: 1 | A: 0 | P: 1
SOG: 4 | +/-: 1

The Panthers scored the next two goals to win the game, and after finishing with the fewest points in the League last season, they start 2013-14 with a 1-0-0 record. Barkov finished the game with four shots on goal, a plus-1 rating and one blocked shot in 15:34 of ice time.

Barkov also is the youngest player to score his first goal in the post-1967 expansion era. He was one day younger than Grant Mulvey of the Chicago Blackhawks and Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were 18 years, 32 days old when they scored their first NHL goals. Mulvey's came in a game Oct. 1974 against the St. Louis Blues, while Staal scored Oct. 12, 2006 against the New York Rangers.

It didn't take long for Barkov to find company as one of the youngest players in NHL history to score a goal. On Friday, Calgary Flames rookie Sean Monahan scored his first NHL goal in his team's 4-3 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The sixth pick in the 2013 draft, Monahan became the second player this season to score a goal before his 19th birthday. At 18 years, 357 days, Monahan is just starting his NHL career, but there are other rookies who could still join this club.

Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche just turned 18 on Sept. 1, giving him ample time to score as an 18-year-old. In his first two games with the Avalanche, the first pick in the 2013 draft has already collected three assists. So it seems like only a matter of time before MacKinnon, who was born one day before Barkov, earns that first goal.

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