Greatest Moments of NHL Season … So Far: first round, matchup 24

The 2019-20 NHL season had many incredible moments before it paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, and now fans can decide which one was the best.

The Greatest Moments of the NHL season … So Far have been placed into a bracket of 64 entries, and fans will vote on one matchup per day, ultimately deciding the greatest moment up until this point.

Fans can vote on Twitter and Instagram each day from noon until 10 a.m. ET the next day. Each day, the winner of that matchup will be revealed, and a new set of moments will go head-to-head.

Though fans will have the ultimate say, two NHL.com staffers will weigh in on the matchup each day to give his or her opinion on which one should advance to the next round.

In the matchup Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning honoroing the 46 Congressional Medal of Honor winners defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins' crazy win against the Vancouver Canucks.

The matchup Thursday pits the Toronto Maple Leafs rallying for an 8-6 win on Dec. 23 against Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin passing Mario Lemieux on the NHL goals list on Jan. 18.

Brian Compton, deputy managing editor

It's been a treat watching Ovechkin continue to climb the NHL goals list. The opportunity to see him not only pass Lemieux (690), one of the all-time greats, but tie Steve Yzerman for ninth place (692) by scoring a hat trick on that Saturday afternoon against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum was pretty special. It also turned out to be a huge win for the Capitals, who were trailing 4-1 entering the third period before scoring five unanswered goals for a 6-4 win. Ovechkin has 14 goals since that day and now has 706, eighth most in NHL history. Showing no signs of slowing down, it's all but a certainty there are more special moments on the way.

Mike G. Morreale, staff writer

Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen called it "one of the craziest games I've been a part of." It was just as unbelievable watching the craziness unfold right before our eyes. It isn't often a team scoring five unanswered goals winds up losing the game, but that's what happened after Mitchell Marner had two goals and an assist in a span of 59 seconds in the third period, including the tiebreaking goal with eight minutes left, to give the Maple Leafs an 8-6 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Scotiabank Arena. The comeback began when Marner scored at 11:01 of the third to cut the Hurricanes lead to 6-5, before Tyson Barrie scored off a pass from Marner to tie the game 6-6 at 11:54. The 22-year-old then put Toronto up 7-6 six seconds later when he stole the puck and scored on a breakaway at 12:00. Said Marner after the game, "Our adrenaline was pumping, heart's pumping, I'm fired up." Carolina outshot Toronto 40-39 in what certainly was one of the most entertaining moments of the season.