Liles Sets NHL Record

With his second period assist tonight, John-Michael Liles set a new NHL record for the longest assist streak by a defenseman to begin a season at nine games.  He broke the previous mark of eight consecutive games with an assist by Ottawa’s Filip Kuba in 2008-09.  Liles’ nine-game assist streak is a franchise record to begin a season and also the longest by an Avalanche/Nordiques defenseman at ANY point of a season.

The assist was originally credited to Kyle Quincey but changed during the second intermission. All scoring plays are reviewed by the local NHL Off-Ice Officials after each period. Upon a second look, it was clear that Liles was the player who threw the puck out of the Avalanche’s defensive zone and down the ice, where Ryan O’Reilly picked it up and made a pass to Daniel Winnik for a goal.

Tonight’s assist extended Liles’ point streak to nine games, which is now the longest scoring streak by an Avalanche player to begin a season since the team moved to Denver.  The previous record was eight games by Joe Sakic to open the 1999-2000 campaign.  The last Nordiques player to begin a season with points in nine straight games was Wendel Clark (10 games) to begin the 1994-95 campaign for Quebec.

Liles’ nine-game point streak is by far the longest by an Avalanche/Nordiques defenseman to start a season.  Not only that, but he now owns the longest scoring streak by a Colorado defenseman at ANY point of a season.  He surpassed Sandis Ozolinsh, who had an eight-game point streak from Dec. 17, 1996 to Jan. 2, 1997.  The last Quebec defender to have a point streak of this length was Steve Duchesne (15 games) in 1992-93.