Facts and Figures: Chara will be sixth defenseman to play 1,500 NHL games

Zdeno Chara will become the 21st player and sixth defenseman in NHL history to skate in 1,500 regular-season games when the Boston Bruins face the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV).

Chara, 42, is set to join a list that includes Hockey Hall of Famers Chris Chelios, Scott Stevens, Larry Murphy, Ray Bourque and Nicklas Lidstrom, and be the third active skater to reach the milestone with San Jose Sharks forwards Patrick Marleau (1,668 games played) and Joe Thornton (1,581). He will also be the first player from Slovakia and the third born in Europe to play 1,500 games, joining Jaromir Jagr of the Czech Republic (1,733) and Lidstrom of Sweden (1,564).
It will be Chara's 97th game against the Canadiens. The only team he's faced more during the regular season are the Toronto Maple Leafs (100) and Buffalo Sabres (98). His 16 goals against Montreal are his third-highest total against one team. He's scored 18 against the Pittsburgh Penguins (71 games) and 17 against the Philadelphia Flyers (69 games).
Chara has played at least 20 games and scored at least one goal against every NHL team except the third-year Vegas Golden Knights (no points in five games).

Bruins try to continue streaks

Chara had his third assist and fifth point of the season when the Bruins couldn't hold a 3-0 lead in the second period but rallied in the third to defeat the Penguins 6-4 at TD Garden on Monday, extending their winning streak to six games and point streak to 10 (8-0-2).
The assist by Chara came on the first of two goals by Brad Marchand, who finished with two goals and three assists for his second five-point game of the season that extended his point streak to 13 games. He's the first player in Bruins history to have multiple five-point performances through Boston's first 14 games and it's the 10th instance of a player doing so for any team since 1986-87.

Marchand and David Pastrnak, who had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 12 games, became the fourth set of Boston teammates with simultaneous season-opening home point streaks of at least eight games and the fourth set of any teammates to do so in the past 25 years. The others: Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning (eight games in 2017-18), Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators (eight games in 2005-06) and Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis and Jagr of the Penguins (nine games in 1995-96).
Marchand (10 goals) and Pastrnak (14) joined Leon Draisaitl (13) and James Neal (11) of the Edmonton Oilers as the second set of teammates to each score at least 10 goals this season. The only time in Bruins history they've had two players reach double figures in goals before their 14th game was in 1973-74, when Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge each did it in 11 games.
Pastrnak's 12-game point streak matches his NHL career high set from Nov. 22-Dec. 18, 2017. He joined Sidney Crosby (three), Evgeni Malkin (three) and Nathan MacKinnon (two) as the fourth active player with multiple point streaks of at least 12 games before turning 24. The only other player in Bruins history to accomplish that feat was Bobby Orr, who did it three times.

Predators score five in second period, defeat Red Wings

The Nashville Predators scored five goals in the second period, two by Matt Duchene, to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 6-1 at Little Caesars Arena. The victory was the second in 12 games for Nashville against Detroit (2-8-2 since Jan. 17, 2015).
Roman Josi (16 points; five goals, 11 assists) and Ryan Ellis (15 points; two goals, 13 assists) top the Predators in scoring and have averaged 1.07 and 1.00 points per game, respectively. It's the first time in Predators history that two defensemen have produced at a point-per-game pace through 15 games and the sixth time (by four teams) since 1991-92.

Islanders host Senators, try for 10th straight win

The New York Islanders will try to win 10 in a row for the second time since entering the NHL in 1972 when they play the Ottawa Senators at Barclays Center (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, TSN5, RDS2, NHL.TV). The only double-digit winning streak in Islanders history came when they won 15 in a row from Jan. 21 through Feb. 20, 1982.
Last season, three teams had winning streaks that reached double figures: The St. Louis Blues won 11 in a row from Jan. 23 through Feb. 19, 2019, the Sabres won 10 straight from Nov. 8-27, 2018 and the Lightning won 10 consecutive games from Feb. 9-27, 2019.
Since 2009-10, 91.6 percent of all teams (22 of 24) that have won at least 10 in a row have gone on to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Islanders forward Derick Brassard has a five-game goal-scoring streak, the longest active run in the NHL. The last player to score in at least six consecutive games for New York was Michael Grabner (six games in 2010-11).