Facts and Figures: Memorable wins for Hart, Price, Fleury

Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights and Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens each had memorable nights on Thursday.

Hart, who won his NHL debut against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, made 31 saves to win his second start, 2-1 against the Nashville Predators at Wells Fargo Center. At 20 years, 129 days, Hart is the 23rd goalie in NHL history to win each of his first two starts before turning 21; he's the first since Mackenzie Skapski with the New York Rangers in 2014-15. Of the 22 others, six were younger than Hart at the time of their second win. The youngest in NHL history to win his first two starts is Tom Barrasso (18 years, 192 days) with the Buffalo Sabres in 1983-84
Hart became the eighth goalie in Flyers history to win each of his first two NHL starts and first since Anthony Stolarz in 2016-17. Only three Flyers goalies have won at least each of their first three NHL starts, with Bob Froese (8-0-0 in 1982-83) holding the longest such streak in Philadelphia history. The others: Antero Niittymaki (5-0-0 from 2003-04 to 2005-06) and Ron Hextall (4-0-0 in 1986-87).

Fleury made 19 saves in a 4-2 victory against the New York Islanders at T-Mobile Arena to pass Tony Esposito for ninth place on the NHL's all-time wins list. Fleury is 424-239-72 with two ties in 15 seasons, the first 13 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Esposito, who spent 15 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks after playing 13 games as a rookie with the Montreal Canadiens in 1968-69, was 423-306 with 152 ties.
Fleury also is the first goalie in the NHL to win 20 games this season. It's the second time in his NHL career that Fleury has been first to 20 wins; the other was in 2013-14, when he finished with 39 victories.
Price earned his 300th NHL win by making 36 saves in Montreal's 2-1 victory against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena. He joined Jacques Plante (314) as the second goalie in Canadiens history to win at least 300 games. Price, the seventh active goalie with 300 wins, did it in 587 games, all with Montreal; Plante required the fewest games in NHL history (521) to reach 300 wins with one franchise.

Lightning extend point streak to 11

Forward J.T. Miller's deciding goal in the shootout gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a 5-4 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome, extending their point streak to 11 games (10-0-1), dating to Nov. 29.
The League-leading Lightning (27-7-2) are the only team without a regulation loss in December.
Tampa Bay matched the Colorado Avalanche (9-0-2 from Nov. 11 to Dec. 2) for the longest point streak in the NHL this season. There were four team point streaks longer than 11 games in 2017-18; the Boston Bruins had the longest, going 18 games (14-0-4) without a regulation loss from Dec. 16, 2017 to Jan. 25, 2018.
It's the third time since entering the NHL in 1992-93 that the Lightning have had a point streak of at least 11 games. The others came in 2003-04 (14-0-4 in 18 games), 2002-03 (7-0-6 in 13 games) and 2013-14 (7-0-4 in 11 games).
Lightning center Steven Stamkos, playing in his 700th NHL game, scored for the 11th time in as many games dating to Nov. 29. It was his 366th regular-season goal, moving him past Martin St. Louis into sole possession of second place on the Lightning's all-time goals lists behind Vincent Lecavalier, who had 383 in 1,037 games.

Nikita Kucherov had two assists to extend his point streak to seven games, the forward's third such streak this season. Kucherov is sixth in the NHL in calendar year 2018 with 96 points (29 goals, 67 assists). Three players have hit the 100-point mark in 2018: Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (112 points; 46 goals, 66 assists in 77 games), Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen (109 points; 33 goals, 76 assists in 78 games) and Rantanen's linemate Nathan MacKinnon (106 points; 44 goals, 62 assists in 71 games). The most recent calendar year when at least four players reached the 100-point mark in the regular season was 2010, when six did it.

Comebacks continue

The Lightning and Golden Knights each overcame multigoal deficits to win. There have been 74 multigoal comeback victories so far this season, one shy of the most through 541 games in a season in NHL history (75 in 1985-86).

Matthews, Rielly power Maple Leafs

Center Auston Matthews (two goals, two assists) and defenseman Morgan Rielly (four assists) each had four-point games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-1 win against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena.
Since entering the NHL in 2016-17, Matthews' 18 multigoal games trail only Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (19) for the most in the NHL. Matthews has 19 goals in 21 games (he missed 14 games with a left shoulder injury), becoming the 59th player in the NHL's modern era (since 1943-44) to score at least 19 goals in his first 21 games of a season; he's the first since Ovechkin had 19 in 2013-14. Matthews joined Wendel Clark (21 goals in 1993-94) as the only Maple Leafs players in the modern era to score at least 19 goals in his first 21 games of a season. Three Toronto players did so before 1943-44: Babe Dye (four times), Corb Denneny (three twice) and Reg Noble (twice).
Rielly matched his NHL career high with four assists and became the first defenseman to reach 40 points this season. He did it in 35 games; only two defensemen in Toronto history required fewer games to get to 40 points: Bryan McCabe (32 games in 2005-06) and Borje Salming (34 games in 1976-77).
Rielly, who also had four assists on Oct. 9 against the Dallas Stars, is the eighth different defenseman in the past 30 years to have at least four assists in multiple games during a single season.

Atkinson joins 20-goal club with for Blue Jackets

Forward Cam Atkinson scored on the first penalty-shot attempt of his NHL career, and his goal proved to be the game-winner in the Columbus Blue Jackets' 2-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils at Nationwide Arena. Atkinson is the 12th player this season to reach the 20-goal mark. This is the ninth season in NHL history, and the first since 1992-93 (tied for the most at 17), with at least 12 players who have scored at least 20 goals through games of Dec. 20.
Ten of the 12 players are under the age of 30, and five are 25 or younger. Ovechkin, 33, leads the NHL with 29 goals and can reach the 30-goal mark for the 14th time in as many seasons with a goal against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, NBCSWA, NHL.TV). He would join Mike Gartner as the only players to score at least 30 goals in each of their first 14 NHL seasons; Gartner holds the record with 15.