Around the League notebook for Friday, Dec. 12

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

PITTSBURGH 3, Calgary 1

MONTREAL 6, Los Angeles 2

Florida 3, DETROIT 2 (SO)

Anaheim 4, EDMONTON 2

DUCKS EXTEND LEAD ATOP NHL STANDINGS . . .

The Ducks built a 3-0 lead 21 minutes into the game against the Edmonton Oilers, highlighted by goals from Kyle Palmieri (1-0—1) and Ryan Getzlaf (1-1—2) in the first 51 seconds of the second period, and held on for their sixth consecutive victory. Anaheim improved to 19-3-1 against Edmonton dating to March 31, 2009.

* Per Elias, the goals by Palmieri (0:07) and Getzlaf (0:51) in the second period marked the first time in franchise history that the Ducks scored multiple goals in the first minute of any period. Palmieri’s goal was the fastest by a Ducks player from the start of any period.

* Anaheim improved to 20-6-5 (45 points), extending their lead for the top spot in the Western Conference and NHL standings. They join the Chicago Blackhawks as the only two clubs with 20 wins this season.

* Sami Vatanen (1-1—2) opened the scoring on the power-play and reached a new career-high with 23 points this season (6-15—23). Among NHL defensemen, Vatanen ranks fourth in points (23), first in power-play goals (5) and second in power-play points (tied – 13).

* Rene Bourque (0-2—2) picked up his first multipoint effort of the season, and Palmieri (2-3—5) and Ryan Kesler (4-2—6) extended point streaks to four games.

* Making a career-high 17th consecutive start, Frederik Andersen stopped 21 shots to improve to 16-4-4 with a 2.44 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in 25 games.

* Nate Thompson scored into the empty net to give the Ducks their first win by more than a one-goal margin since Oct. 24 vs. CBJ; each of the previous 12 wins were one-goal decisions.

. . . PENGUINS KEEP PACE, RECLAIM TOP SPOT IN EAST

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened a 2-0 lead before the five-minute mark of the first period, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26 shots, including 13 in the last 20 minutes, to guide Pittsburgh to its eighth straight win over the Calgary Flames (dating to Dec. 6, 2007).

* The Penguins have won 14 of the past 17 games against the Flames in Pittsburgh since the 1989-90 season (14-1-2).

* The Metropolitan Division-leading Penguins improved to 19-6-3 (41 points) and leapfrogged the Detroit Red Wings (17-6-7, 41 points) and idle Tampa Bay Lightning (19-8-3, 41 points) into top spot in the Eastern Conference. They also kept pace with the Ducks (20-6-5, 45 points) for the best record in the NHL.

* Fleury has a 7-1-2 record with a 2.05 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in his past 10 starts. Fleury ranks second in the League in wins (tied – 16), fifth in goals-against average (2.10) and sixth in save percentage (.926).

* Evgeni Malkin (15-20—35) notched two assists to tie Sidney Crosby (9-26—35) and Jakub Voracek (10-25—35) for second in League scoring, one point behind Tyler Seguin (22-14—36).

* Malkin has nine multipoint performances this season and has at least one point in 23 of 28 games (82.1%), including 13 of 15 contests at CONSOL Energy Center.

* Blake Comeau shares third on the club in goals and has 9-8—17 in 27 games, surpassing his 61-game total from 2013-14 (5-11—16). He was 9-13—22 in parts of two seasons with the Flames (91 GP).

* Kris Letang scored his fifth goal of the season in his return from a five-game absence; he has 2-4—6 in his past four games played.

PRICE GUIDES CANADIENS PAST KINGS

Carey Price stopped a season-high 44 shots and Montreal built a 3-0 lead through 40 minutes en route to a 6-2 win over Los Angeles. The Canadiens have won 13 of their past 16 meetings with the Kings in Montreal dating to March 10, 1991 (13-2-1).

* At 19-10-2 (40 points), the Canadiens sit one point behind the Lightning (19-8-3, 41 points) and Red Wings (17-6-7, 41 points) for first place in the Atlantic Division.

* Price posted his highest save total in a regular-season game since April 12 when he turned aside all 41 shots he faced in a 1-0 overtime win vs. NYR. He improved to 12-4-3 in his career when making 40-plus saves in a game (regular season).

* Jiri Sekac posted his first career multigoal game to move into a share of fifth among NHL rookies with six goals. The Kladno, Czech Republic native has points in three straight games (2-2—4) for the second time this season (also 2-2—4 from Nov. 8-13).

* Sven Andrighetto scored his second career goal and now has a point in each of his first three NHL games (2-1—3). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Andrighetto is the first Canadiens player to record a point in each of his first three NHL games since Pierre Mondou in 1977-78.

* P.K. Subban (1-1—2) tallied his third game-winning goal of the season, which is tied for the League-lead among defensemen (second in entire NHL). He has 3-5—8 in his past seven contests and ranks third on the club – and tied for fifth among all NHL defensemen – with 8-14--22 this season.

* Thirteen Montreal skaters found the scoresheet, including David Desharnais (1-1—2) and

Tomas Plekanec (0-1—1), who stretched his point-streak to four games (1-3—4).

PANTHERS MOVE INTO SECOND WILD CARD SPOT

Roberto Luongo stopped 29 shots and both shootout attempts he faced, and Brandon Pirri and Vincent Trocheck found the back of the net in the tiebreaker to lift the Panthers to a 3-2 win against the Red Wings. With the victory, the Panthers (12-8-7, 31 points) moved into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

* Luongo improved to 10-6-6 with a 2.37 goals-against average and .924 save percentage (9th in NHL) this season. He has 36 career shootout victories, which ranks seventh among active goaltenders.

* Trocheck registered his first game-deciding goal and is 2-for-2 in career shootout attempts. Pirri is 3-for-5 (60.0 percent) in his career.

* Nick Bjugstad had an assist to stretch his point streak to four games (4-3—7). He paces all Panthers with 12-7—19 in 27 games.

* Tomas Fleischmann and Jonathan Huberdeau each scored his third goal of the season in regulation. Fleischmann extended his point streak to four games (2-3—5) and Huberdeau snapped an 11-game goal drought.

* The Panthers have earned a win in each of their past four visits to Joe Louis Arena, including two shootout victories; they posted a 2-5-4 record in their first 11 trips to Detroit.

SHARKS UNVEIL STADIUM SERIES JERSEY

The Sharks unveiled their jersey for the 2015 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series, which will be contested Saturday, Feb. 21, at Levi’s Stadium (10 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA2).

The uniforms use the concept of amplification to embrace the significantly larger scale of the Stadium Series venue, including a modified striping pattern and enlarged number system. The traditional Sharks crest features a carbon fiber finish for greater visual impact and a new mark paying tribute to Northern California – incorporating the state of state of California, a star on San Jose and the iconic dorsal shark fin – is positioned on the left shoulder.

Click here for a closer look at the features of the new jersey.

LOOSE PUCKS

The Red Wings (2-for-4) scored multiple power-play goals for the ninth time this season, a feat they accomplished 10 times in 2013-14. The club leads the entire NHL in power-play goals (26) and home-ice power-play goals (18) and has the League’s eighth-best overall efficiency (22.0 percent) . . . Rob Klinkhammer recorded his first goal/point since joining the Penguins via trade on Dec. 5 . . . Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau scored his sixth goal of the season; he ranks second among NHL rookies in assists (16) and points (22) . . . Kings forward Mike Richards registered his 300th NHL assist . . . Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk notched an assist and now has 7-13—20 in 15 career games vs. FLA . . . Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (1-1—2) posted his second straight multipoint game (also 0-2—2 vs. OTT) . . . Canadiens forward Brandon Prust had an assist in his 400th NHL game . . . Ducks forward Patrick Maroon played in his 100th NHL game . . . Flames defenseman Deryk Engelland returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since departing as a free agent in the offseason; he played 243 games with the Penguins from 2009-14 . . . Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog shared his journey to the NHL.