Facts and Figures: Sharks grab first place in Western Conference

The San Jose Sharks moved into first place in the Western Conference with their sixth straight victory, 7-2 against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Monday.

Timo Meier and Evander Kane scored within the first four minutes to help the Sharks win their fifth in a row on the road. Joe Pavelski scored his 30th goal of the season, and San Jose (34-16-7) spoiled the NHL debut of Canucks goalie Michael DiPietro and moved one point ahead of the Calgary Flames (34-15-6) in the race for first place in the Pacific Division and Western Conference.
Pavelski became the sixth player selected in the seventh round (No. 205, 2003 NHL Draft) or later to have

, a list led by Luc Robitaille (12). He also had his 400th NHL assist, the third-most in Sharks history behind Joe Thornton (765) and Patrick Marleau (574).
In all, 14 of 18 skaters had at least one point for San Jose, which is 13-0-1 in its past 14 games at Vancouver since March 5, 2013. The Sharks are 11-0-1 overall against the Canucks since Feb. 2, 2017.

DiPietro jumps from junior hockey to NHL

DiPietro made his NHL debut at age 19 years, 247 days, becoming the

in Canucks history. Since DiPietro was born June 9, 1999, four goalies have made their first NHL start before turning 20: Rick DiPietro (Jan. 27, 2001), Dan Blackburn (Oct. 10, 2001), Marc-Andre Fleury (Oct. 10, 2003) and Jonathan Bernier (Sept. 29, 2007).
A third-round selection (No. 64) by the Canucks in the 2017 NHL Draft, DiPietro played for Canada at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver and has played 30 games in the Ontario Hockey League this season, 21 for Windsor and nine for Ottawa.
DiPietro is the seventh goalie since 1995-96 to play in the Canadian Hockey League and start an NHL game in the same season. Each of the others in that span made came from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: Bernier (2007-08 with the Los Angeles Kings), Fleury (2003-04 with the Pittsburgh Penguins), Maxime Ouellet (2000-01 with the Philadelphia Flyers), Jean-Sebastien Giguere (1996-97 with the Hartford Whalers), Marc Denis (1996-97 with the Colorado Avalanche) and Martin Biron (1995-96 with the Buffalo Sabres). Four other goalies during that span played a game in the CHL and NHL within the same season but did not start (Dylan Ferguson, 2017-18 with the Vegas Golden Knights; Alexander Pechurskiy, 2009-10 with the Penguins; Olivier Michaud: 2001-02 with the Montreal Canadiens; and Jose Theodore, 1995-96 with the Canadiens).
Prior to DiPietro, the last goalie to jump from the OHL to start an NHL game in the same season was Jamie Storr in 1994-95. Like DiPietro, Storr played for Windsor that season and 17 games for Owen Sound before joining the Los Angeles Kings for his first five NHL starts.

Thornton, Ovechkin, Crosby climb all-time lists

The three highest-scoring active NHL players each moved up all-time lists Monday:
Thornton had his 1,050th NHL assist in San Jose's win at Vancouver to pass Gordie Howe for
ninth all-time
. The 39-year-old also tied Teemu Selanne for 15th on the
all-time points list
with 1,457 (407 goals, 1,050 assists).
Alex Ovechkin scored the first goal of the game and had two assists to help the Washington Capitals defeat the Kings 6-4 at Capital One Arena. The Capitals forward has 1,186 points (645 goals, 541 assists) in the NHL, moving past Rod Brind'Amour (1,184 points; 452 goals, 732 assists) into 48th place on the all-time points list. The goal was Ovechkin's NHL leading 38th of the season; he's two away from becoming the fourth player in NHL history to have
at least 10 seasons with least 40 goals
.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists for the Penguins in a 4-1 win against the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. Crosby (1,181 points; 435 goals, 746 assists) moved past Sergei Fedorov (1,179 points; 483 goals, 696 assists) into sole possession of 50th place on the all-time points list.

Penguins end Flyers point streak at 10

Matt Murray made 50 saves against the Flyers, who will next face the Penguins in the 2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field on Feb. 23. The Penguins also ended the Flyers' point streak at 10 games (9-0-1) and 20-year-old rookie Carter Hart's personal winning streak at eight, leaving him tied with Jocelyn Thibault of the 1994-95 Quebec Nordiques for the longest run by a goalie before his 21st birthday.
Crosby extended his regular-season point streak against Philadelphia to six games. He has 97 points (40 goals, 57 assists) in 65 regular-season games against the Flyers, his second-highest total against any team; he has 113 points (36 goals, 77 assists) in 66 games against the New York Islanders). He's three points from becoming the fifth NHL player to have at least 100 regular-season points against the Flyers. Crosby would join Mario Lemieux (124 points; 51 goals, 73 assists in 71 games played), Jaromir Jagr (120 points; 47 goals, 73 assists in 101 games), Bryan Trottier (117 points; 44 goals, 73 assists in 110 games) and Wayne Gretzky (100 points; 34 goals, 66 assists in 58 games).

Crosby's goal made him the seventh player with at least 40 goals against the Flyers, his highest total against any team.

have at least 40 goals against one team: Ovechkin has 43 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Patrick Marleau, now with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has 41 against the Kings.