Facts and Figures: Carlson piling up points for Capitals

John Carlson pulled into a share of the NHL scoring lead with his second straight three-point game for the Washington Capitals in a 5-2 victory against the New York Rangers at Capital One Arena on Friday.

Carlson had three assists, giving him 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) and tying him with Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (five goals, 12 assists) for most in the NHL. He's the sixth defenseman in NHL history to have at least three three-point games through his team's first nine games. His final assist against New York came on Washington's 30th goal of the season; Carlson joined Tomas Kaberle (17 in 2009-10 with the Toronto Maple Leafs) as the second defenseman in NHL history to factor on 17 of his team's first 30 goals in a season (excluding goals awarded for shootout wins).
He has at least one assist in each of his past six games, matching the second-longest such run by a defenseman in Capitals history, trailing only Mike Green (eight games, Oct. 15- Nov. 1, 2009) and Scott Stevens (eight games, Feb. 19-March 6, 1988). Carlson is also the first defenseman in Capitals history to have at least 15 points in October.
He has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) during a six-game point streak.

MacKinnon's OT goal extends Avalanche point streak

The Colorado Avalanche remained the only team to have points in every game this season when center Nathan MacKinnon's overtime goal gave them a 5-4 win against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center.
Colorado (6-0-1) matched the second-longest season-opening point streak in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history (7-0-0 in 1985-86, 5-0 with two ties in 1997-98). The longest such run to begin a season by the Avalanche/Nordiques is 11 games (9-0-2 in 2000-01).
MacKinnon's OT goal was the seventh of his career and his 10th point of the season, joining linemate Mikko Rantanen as the second Avalanche player to reach double figures. It's the fourth time since the team relocated to Denver in 1995 that at least two players reached 10 points through the first seven games of a season. The others: 2018-19 (Rantanen and MacKinnon), 2003-04 (Alex Tanguay, Milan Hejduk and Peter Forsberg) and 1996-97 (Joe Sakic and Forsberg).

Oilers, Ducks stay perfect at home

The Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks each defeated an Eastern Conference opponent to remain undefeated at home this season.
Edmonton forward James Neal scored his NHL-leading ninth goal in a 2-1 victory against the Detroit Red Wings at Rogers Place. The Oilers have won each of their first four home games to begin a season for the first time since 2006-07 (6-0-0, which matched the longest such run in their history). Mikko Koskinen made 25 saves to join Andy Moog (4-0-0 in 1983-84) as the second goalie in Edmonton history to win each of his first four games.
Center Adam Henrique scored his team-leading fifth goal in the Ducks' 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Honda Center, where Anaheim is 4-0-0 to start the season. It's the third time since the Ducks entered the NHL in 1993 that they've had a season-opening home winning streak of at least four games. The others: 8-0-0 (2013-14) and 4-0-0 (2014-15).

Bruins, Maple Leafs play for first time since Game 7

The Boston Bruins visit the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN1, NESN, NHL.TV) in one of 11 games on the schedule Saturday. It's the first game between the Atlantic Division rivals since Boston eliminated Toronto in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round for the second consecutive postseason.
Forward David Pastrnak has factored on each of the Bruins' past seven goals dating to Oct. 14 (six goals, one assist). The most consecutive team goals factored on by a Boston player is nine, achieved by Phil Esposito from March 6-12, 1974 (three goals, six assists) and Ray Bourque from Jan. 2-11, 1994 (one goal, nine assists).
Toronto will play its first game without center John Tavares, who's expected to miss at least two weeks after breaking a finger in a 4-3 loss at Washington on Wednesday.