Facts and Figures: MacKinnon among elite group of hockey greats

Nathan MacKinnon extended his season-opening point streak to nine games for the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Monday.

The center scored a 5-on-3 goal at 12:37 of the first period to give him 12 points (five goals, seven assists) to start the season. He is the fifth player in NHL history with a season-opening point streak of at least nine games in consecutive seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (30 games, 1982-83; 51 games, 1983-84; 16 games, 1984-85 and nine games, 1985-86), Charlie Simmer (nine games, 1979-80 and 13 games, 1980-81), Guy Lafleur (10 games, 1975-76 and 10 games, 1976-77) and Rod Gilbert (nine games, 1971-72 and 14 games, 1972-73).

MacKinnon's effort wasn't enough to help the Avalanche (7-1-1) avoid their first regulation loss. Vladimir Tarasenko had three points (one goal, two assists) to stretch his point streak to five games (eight points; three goals, five assists) and give St. Louis its fifth consecutive victory against Colorado. Tarasenko's 22nd game with at least three points helped him pass Keith Tkachuk for ninth place on the Blues' all-time scoring list. Tarasenko has 428 points (214 goals, 214 assists), and Tkachuk had 427 points (208 goals, 219 assists).

Nyquist delivers in overtime for Blue Jackets

Gustav Nyquist scored a penalty-shot goal in overtime to help the Columbus Blue Jackets stretch their point streak to five games (3-0-2) with a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. The goal was the 16th in overtime via the penalty shot and first by a Blue Jackets player.
The Blue Jackets played their third straight overtime game. They scored a power-play, shorthanded and penalty-shot goal in the same game for the second time in their history (
at the Nashville Predators on Dec. 17, 2005
).

Carlson, Marchand, Bergeron, Hutton hope to continue rolling

John Carlson hopes to become the first Washington Capitals defenseman in 10 seasons with an assist streak of at least eight games when they play the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SNF, NBCSWA, NHL.TV).
Carlson, the leading scorer in the NHL with 18 points (three goals, 15 assists), will attempt to match Scott Stevens (12 points; two goals, 10 assists in 1987-88) and Mike Green (10 points; one goal, nine assists in 2009-10) for the longest assist streak by a Capitals defenseman. His teammate, forward Alex Ovechkin, enters the game on a seven-game point streak (nine points; five goals, four assists).
Boston Bruins forwards Brad Marchand (12 points; four goals, eight assists) and Patrice Bergeron (eight points; two goals, six assists) each take a seven-game point streak into the game against the Maple Leafs at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, NESN, TSN4, NHL.TV). Marchand (14 points; six goals, eight assists in nine games from Nov. 29 to Dec. 18, 2017) and David Pastrnak (14 points; five goals, nine assists in 12 games from Nov. 22 to Dec. 18, 2017) were the last Bruins players to have an overlapping point streak of at least eight games.
Carter Hutton can become the second goalie (Martin Biron from Jan. 18-24, 2003) with a shutout in three straight games for the Buffalo Sabres when they play the San Jose Sharks at KeyBank Center (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, NBCSCA, NHL.TV). Hutton, named the
NHL Third Star for the week ending Oct. 20
, is 5-0-0 with a 1.40 goals-against average and .953 save percentage this season and made a combined 72 saves in two wins against the Dallas Stars and Kings last week.