Around the League notebook for Saturday, Oct. 18

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

Boston 4, BUFFALO 0

MONTREAL 3, Colorado 2

OTTAWA 3, Columbus 2

DETROIT 1, Toronto 0 (OT)

San Jose 4, NEW JERSEY 2

PITTSBURGH 3, NY Islanders 1

WASHINGTON 2, Florida 1 (SO)

Philadelphia 6, DALLAS 5 (OT)

CHICAGO 2, Nashville 1 (OT)

St. Louis 6, ARIZONA 1

Tampa Bay 4, VANCOUVER 2

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: A CLOSER LOOK AT SATURDAY’S ACTION

* Five of 11 games were tied or within one goal entering the third period.

* Eight games were tied or within one goal in the final five minutes of regulation, including three that were decided in overtime (TOR-DET, NSH-CHI and PHI-DAL) and one that went to a shootout (FLA-WSH).

* Three captains scored in overtime: Henrik Zetterberg (DET), Jonathan Toews (CHI), Claude Giroux (PHI).

* Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (500 assists) and San Jose’s Joe Thornton (1,200 points) achieved career milestones in their team's victories.

* Four teams – San Jose (4-0-1), Chicago (3-0-1), Nashville (3-0-2) and Washington (3-0-2) – kept their perfect regulation records intact.

CROSBY RECORDS 500th NHL ASSIST IN PENGUINS' VICTORY

Sidney Crosby (0-2—2) reached the 500-assist plateau and Patric Hornqvist (2-1—3) had three points as the Penguins scored three unanswered goals to win 3-1, handing the Islanders their first loss of the season.

* According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Crosby is the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to record 500 career assists (554 GP). The only players to reach the milestone faster than Crosby are Wayne Gretzky (352 GP), Mario Lemieux (433), Peter Stastny (507), Bobby Orr (522) and Peter Forsberg (551). He is the third player in Penguins history to reach the milestone, following Lemieux (1,033 assists) and Jaromir Jagr (640).

* Crosby (4-5--9) has at least one point in each of the team's first four games, including three multiple-point games. He has 5-14—19 in his last 10 games against the Islanders.

* In addition to Crosby, four other Penguins players have a four-game point streak to start the season: Hornqvist (4-4—8), Evgeni Malkin (2-5—7), Chris Kunitz (2-3—5) and Kris Letang (0-4—4).

* Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 34 of 35 shots to improve to 13-3-2 in 18 career home starts against the Islanders.

THORNTON REACHES 1,200-POINT MILESTONE IN SHARKS’ WIN

Leading 3-0 in the third period, the Sharks surrendered two goals to the New Jersey Devils before Joe Thornton scored his first goal of the season, an empty-netter, to clinch a 4-2 win for San Jose, who improved to 4-0-1.

* Thornton became the 46th player in NHL history to reach 1,200 career points (343-857—1,200 in 1,212 GP). He and Jaromir Jagr (705-1,053—1,758 in 1,478 GP) are the only active players with at least 1,200 points.

* Thornton, the Sharks’ all-time assists leader, has a point in each of his last four games (1-5—6) and 45 points (19-26—45) in 37 career games against the Devils.

* Brent Burns (0-1—1) extended his point streak to five games (1-6—7), matching the longest stretch of his career (2-5—7, Mar. 25 to Apr. 3).

* Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture each tallied one goal and two assists for their first multiple-point games of the season. Pavelski is 4-6—10 in 10 career games against New Jersey.

* Antti Niemi stopped 35 shots to improve to 3-0-0 for the third straight season.

VORACEK, GIROUX HELP FLYERS OUTLAST STARS

Jakub Voracek (1-2—3) factored on Philadelphia’s final three goals, including an assist on Michael Raffl’s tying goal with 3:53 left in regulation and Claude Giroux’s overtime winner, as the Flyers erased multiple Stars’ leads to win 6-5.

* Voracek also scored in the third period to tie the game at 4-4. He now has 2-5—7 on his season-long five-game point streak.

* A total of 12 Flyers players registered a point including multiple-point performances by Voracek, Giroux (1-1—2), Mark Streit (0-2—2) and Andrew MacDonald (1-1—2). Giroux's overtime goal was the fourth of his career; he and Streit have four-game point streaks.

ZETTERBERG, RED WINGS SWEEP HOME-AND-HOME VS. MAPLE LEAFS

Henrik Zetterberg scored with 9.9 seconds left in overtime and Jonas Gustavsson made 30 saves for his sixth career shutout as Detroit defeated Toronto 1-0 to sweep their back-to-back, home-and-home set.

* Zetterberg assisted on all four Red Wings goals in the opening game of the home-and-home on Friday and has 7-8—15 in 11 career games versus Toronto.

* Gustavsson’s five previous shutouts were with the Maple Leafs.

* Niklas Kronwall (62-236—298) had an assist to take sole possession of fifth on the franchise’s all-time points list for defensemen, passing Marcel Pronovost. He is now five behind Gary Bergman for fourth (303).

TOEWS LIFTS BLACKHAWKS WITH RARE OT GOAL

Jonathan Toews scored shorthanded at 3:26 of overtime and Corey Crawford made 19 saves as the Blackhawks defeated the Predators 2-1 at the United Center.

* According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Toews’ goal was the first shorthanded overtime goal by a Blackhawks player in a regular-season game. The last such goal by any player was Feb. 22, 2007 when Glen Wesley scored the shorthanded overtime winner for Carolina.

SCHWARTZ’ HAT TRICK POWERS BLUES

Jaden Schwartz (3-1—4) scored his first NHL hat trick and Vladimir Tarasenko (0-3—3) and Jori Lehtera (1-2—3) each had three points as the Blues skated to a 6-1 win at Arizona.

* Schwartz’ four points are a career-high, and his seven shots match a personal best accomplished twice before.

* Tarasenko established career-highs in assists (three) and shots (seven). Lehtera, the Blues’ third round pick in 2008 (65th overall), registered the first three points of his career.

* David Backes (1-1—2), Kevin Shattenkirk (0-2—2) and Alexander Steen (1-1—2) also had multiple-point performances for the Blues, who have outscored the Coyotes 23-8 in their past five visits to Arizona (5-0-0).

* Jake Allen stopped 24 of 25 shots in his season debut.

STAMKOS STRIKES TWICE IN VANCOUVER

Steven Stamkos scored twice in the first period and assisted on Ryan Callahan’s winning goal as the Lightning kicked off their five-game Western Conference road trip with a 4-2 victory, handing the Canucks their first loss of the season.

* Ben Bishop stopped 30 of 32 shots in his first-ever game against the Canucks, improving to 3-0-1 this season.

* Jason Garrison had an assist in his return to Vancouver, where played for the past two seasons, and Anton Stralman also had a helper for the third straight game.

* Ondrej Palat had two assists in his 100th NHL game.

SUBBAN RALLIES CANADIENS PAST AVALANCHE

The Canadiens erased a 1-0 deficit with three goals in the second period – including two by P.K. Subban – en route to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche. Montreal (5-1-0) has won five of its first six games for the ninth time in franchise history and the first time since 2008-09, when the Canadiens started their centennial season 5-0-1.

* Subban chased down a loose puck out of the penalty and scored a highlight-reel goal after circling the Colorado net. The tally counted as his fifth career game-winning goal.

* Alex Galchenyuk (1-1—2) registered his first multiple-point game of the season and Carey Price stopped 32 of 34 shots for the victory.

SENS HOLD ON FOR VICTORY

Ottawa led 2-0 in the second period before Columbus evened the score with two goals in 41 seconds, setting the stage for Mike Hoffman’s first career game-winner in the third period. Hoffman – who failed to convert a penalty shot earlier in the game – matched a career-high with two points (1-1—2).

* Robin Lehner stopped 38 of 40 shots for the second straight game – including a highlight-reel stick-save – to improve to 2-0-0 this season.

* Chris Neil (0-2—2) tallied his first two points of the season while Erik Karlsson (2-2—4, four games) and Clarke MacArthur (2-1—3, three games) extended their point streaks.

OTHER SATURDAY NOTABLES

* Tyler Seguin established a career-high with four assists and has 4-4—8 in his past three games and 8-10—18 in 13 career games against the Flyers. Teammate Jason Spezza (1-3—4) had four points, including his first goal with the Stars.

* Dougie Hamilton (1-1—2) scored his second career game-winning goal and Niklas Svedberg made 32 saves for his first NHL shutout (4 GP) as the Bruins defeated the Sabres 4-0.

* Patrice Bergeron (0-1—1) tied Adam Oates for 13th on the team’s all-time points list. He sits one point shy of 500 for his NHL career (184-315—499 in 666 GP).

* Playing in his 500th NHL game, Nicklas Backstrom scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout as the Capitals improved to 12-1-0 in their last 13 home games against the Panthers, including nine straight wins.

* With his fifth goal of the season, Mike Cammalleri (5-2—7) became just the third player to tally at least one point in each of his first five games with the Devils, following Bobby Holik (5-2—7 in 5 games, 1992-93) and Neal Broten (3-6—9 in 7 games, 1994-95).

* Cory Schneider became the first goaltender other than Martin Brodeur to start a Devils’ home opener since Oct. 6, 1993, when Chris Terreri made 17 saves in a 2-1 win against Tampa Bay.

LOOSE PUCKS

Vancouver's Daniel Sedin extended his season-long point streak to four games (1-6—7) . . . Columbus forwards Nick Foligno (2-5—7) and Ryan Johansen (3-4—7) each have five-game point streaks . . . David Krejci (1-3—4) and Chris Kelly (0-4—4) each tallied an assist to extend their point streaks to three games . . . Florida’s Willie Mitchell (800), St. Louis’ Steve Ott (700), Nashville’s Craig Smith (200) and Columbus’ Curtis McKenzie (NHL debut) all played in milestone games . . . Alex Tanguay scored his second goal in as many games, marking the first time since April 6-8, 2013, that he has tallied in consecutive games. His 143rd goal with the Avalanche gives him sole possession of ninth on the franchise’s all-time list, passing Dale Hunter . . . The Devils debuted a 3-D on-ice production before their home opener. New Jersey was the final team to host their first home game . . . Actor John Travolta attended the Lightning-Canucks game.