Facts and Figures: Wild victory extends point streak to 11 games
Zuccarello scores winning goal against Lightning, Minnesota run longest since 2016
NHL.com @NHLdotcom
The Minnesota Wild and forward Mats Zuccarello stayed hot in a 5-4 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
Zuccarello had two assists before scoring the game-winning goal 4:08 into the third period. The victory was the Wild's fifth straight, and they have points in 11 consecutive games (8-0-3). It's the second-longest points streak in Wild history, behind a 13-game run from Dec. 2-29, 2016 (12-0-1).
Zuccarello has five points (two three assists) in his past four games and is the NHL all-time leader in regular-season scoring among players born in Norway with 371 points (120 goals, 251 assists) in 536 games. He's eighth in points among undrafted players born outside North America who debuted after the first NHL Draft, which took place June 5, 1963. Three players born outside North America who debuted prior to 1963-64 had at least 371 regular-season points: Stan Mikita (1,467), Sweeney Schriner (407) and Johnny Gottselig (372).
Coyotes take Pacific Division lead
The Arizona Coyotes (17-9-4) moved into first place in the Pacific Division after a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
The Coyotes moved one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers (17-10-3) and are first in their division 30 games into a season for the first time since 1991-92, when the franchise then known as the Winnipeg Jets was first in the Smythe Division at 15-8-7. The Jets moved to Arizona in 1996.
Arizona is 10-3-3 on the road and set a Coyotes/Jets record for fewest games needed to reach 10 road wins. The previous low was 17 games (10-6-1) in 2011-12, when the Coyotes went on to win the Pacific Division and advance to the Western Conference Final in their most recent appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Coyotes play at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ATTSN-PT, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV) in forward Phil Kessel's first game back at PPG Paints Arena since being traded to Arizona on June 29. He was a key member of Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup championships teams in 2016 and 2017. Kessel scored two goals in the win Thursday.
Hedman reaches 100-goal mark for Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, the No. 2 pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, scored his 100th regular-season goal in the loss to the Wild. He's the first Lightning defensemen to score 100 goals.
Hedman's goal means that each of the first seven players taken in the 2009 Draft has scored at least 100, following John Tavares (329), Matt Duchene (239), Evander Kane (229), Brayden Schenn (168), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (118) and Nazem Kadri (171). The 2009 Draft class is the second to have each of its first seven picks become 100-goal scorers, joining the 1993 Draft (Alexandre Daigle, Chris Pronger, Chris Gratton, Paul Kariya, Rob Niedermayer, Viktor Kozlov and Jason Arnott).
Bruins, Islanders continue home streaks
The Boston Bruins and New York Islanders each extended their home point streaks Thursday.
The Bruins, the only team yet to lose in regulation at home, stretched their streak to 17 games (12-0-5) by scoring three times in the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks to force overtime. However Jonathan Toews became the first Chicago player in 77 years to score an overtime goal at Boston when he beat Tuukka Rask 54 seconds into OT for a 4-3 win. It's Toews' 14th regular-season overtime goal, extending his Blackhawks record.
The Islanders extended their home point streak to 12 games (11-0-1) with a 3-2 overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Nassau Coliseum. Ryan Pulock scored a power-play goal at 3:20 of OT, 10 seconds after Jonathan Marchessault was penalized for tripping New York's Mathew Barzal. It's the longest run at home for the Islanders since they went 21-0 with two ties from Jan. 2 through April 3, 1982.
Panarin, Landeskog enjoy happy returns
Artemi Panarin, who played for the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2017-18 to 2018-19, scored the game-winning goal in his return to Nationwide Arena, helping the New York Rangers improve to 5-1-1 in their past seven games with a 3-2 win. Panarin led Columbus in scoring in each of the past two seasons before signing as a free agent with the Rangers on July 1.
Gabriel Landeskog scored in his return to the Colorado Avalanche after missing 16 games with a lower-body injury. His goal at 12:57 of the first period helped Colorado defeat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 at Bell Centre for their fifth straight win. Colorado (18-8-2) is second in the Central Division behind the St. Louis Blues (18-6-6).