Facts and Figures: Bruins, Blackhawks win final Winter Classic tuneups

The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks each earned overtime victories on the road Saturday in their final games before they play each other in the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, on Jan. 1 (1 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS).

Forward Jake DeBrusk tied the game with 2:29 remaining in the third period and Sean Kuraly scored with 1:16 left in overtime to lift the Bruins to a 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. It was Kuraly's first regular-season OT goal, although he scored a double-overtime winner in Game 5 of the 2017 Eastern Conference First Round against the Ottawa Senators.

Patrick Kane's second goal of the game 41 seconds into OT gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center. Chicago is 6-2-1 in its past nine games entering the Winter Classic. Kane, who also had an assist for his second straight three-point game, has seven goals and six assists during a seven-game point streak.

Barzal's hat trick helps Trotz to milestone win

Center Mathew Barzal had a natural hat trick in a span of 7:44 during the second period of the New York Islanders' 4-0 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. It was their first game against former captain John Tavares, who signed as a free agent with the Maple Leafs on July 1 after playing his first nine NHL seasons with New York.

It was the 782nd regular-season victory for Islanders coach Barry Trotz, tying him with Al Arbour, who coached New York to four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1980-83, for fourth on the NHL's all-time wins list.
Barzal (21 years, 217 days) became the 20th different player in Islanders history to have a natural hat trick during the regular season. He's the third-youngest to do so, behind Tavares (20 years, 117 days) against the Sabres on Jan. 15, 2011, and
Bobby Nystrom
(21 years, 113 days) against the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 31, 1974. Barzal is also the eighth different player in Islanders history to have a natural hat trick during the regular season in less than eight minutes; the last was Tavares, who scored three times in 7:14 against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 28, 2017.

Lightning stretch point streak to 14 games

Adam Erne scored with 1:02 remaining to break aa tie and give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 6-5 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Amalie Arena. The Lightning (30-7-2), who own the NHL's best record, pushed their point streak to 14 games (13-0-1).

Tampa Bay is the first team to reach 30 wins in 2018-19. The Lightning got win No. 30 in their 39th game, the fastest in team history; their previous best was 42 games, set last season. The Lightning are 12-0-1 in December and set team records for most wins and points (25) in a calendar month.
Forward Nikita Kucherov, the NHL's leading scorer with 63 points (18 goals, 45 assists), had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games, including five straight multipoint games. Kucherov is the 14th different player in NHL history to have multiple point streaks of at least 10 games in consecutive seasons; he's the first since Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Sharks extend road winning streak

The San Jose Sharks scored seven goals in a game for the third time this season and second this month when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers 7-4 at Rogers Arena to extend their road winning streak to four games. San Jose, which won 7-3 at Chicago on Dec. 16, scored at least seven goals in multiple games during the same calendar month for the seventh time in team history; the most recent was March 2018.

Defenseman Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists, giving him one goal and 13 assists during a nine-game point streak. Karlsson, who was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on Sept. 13, became the sixth defenseman in Sharks history to have four points in a regular-season game and the first since Brent Burns did it against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 29, 2013.

Capitals rookie defensemen combine for rare feat

Defensemen Tyler Lewington and Madison Bowey each scored his first NHL goal to help the Washington Capitals edge the Ottawa Senators 3-2 at Canadian Tire Center, extending their winning streak to four games. They are the first defensemen in Capitals history to each score their first NHL regular-season goal in the same game, and the first on any team to do so since Toronto's Travis Dermott and Justin Holl did it against the Islanders on Jan. 31, 2018.
Lewington and Bowey scored against Senators goaltender
Marcus Hogberg
, who was making his NHL debut. It marked the 12th time that two teammates each scored his first career goal against a goalie making his NHL debut. That hadn't happened since Oct. 14, 1967, when Los Angeles forwards
Brian Kilrea
and
Gord Labossiere
did so against Philadelphia Flyers goalie
Doug Favell
.

20-goal scorers list grows

Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider became the 15th and 16th players to score 20 goals this season. McDavid had two goals in the Oilers' loss to San Jose, and Kreider had a goal and two assists in New York's 4-3 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. It's the first time since 1995-96 (17) that at least 16 players have reached the 20-goal mark before Jan. 1.
Forward Dylan Larkin scored the only goal for the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center, extending his point streak to 13 games. It's the longest streak by a Red Wings player since
Henrik Zetterberg
had points in each of the first 17 games in the 2007-08 season.
Rangers forward Kevin Hayes had an assist in New York's win at Nashville, extending his point streak to nine games. That's the longest by a Rangers player since
Rick Nash
had points in 11 straight games from Nov. 19 to Dec. 16, 2014.