Facts and Figures: Grabner getting it done for Rangers

No player on the New York Rangers has scored more goals since the start of last season than forward Michael Grabner's 41 (Chris Kreider is next with 38, followed by Rick Nash with 30).
What's more remarkable is how Grabner has done it.

Grabner, who signed a two-year contract with the Rangers on July 1, 2016, has averaged 13:59 of ice time during his 105 games with New York (14:06 in 76 games last season, 13:44 in 29 games this season). And it's not as if he's been getting prime offensive time: Grabner has played 6:56 on the power play with the Rangers, including 53 seconds this season. Not surprisingly, he hasn't scored a power-play goal as a member of the Rangers. In fact, he hasn't scored on the man-advantage since 2012-13, when he played for the New York Islanders.
Grabner is in a seven-way tie for 21st in goals scored among all players since the start of last season; however, he's the only one who hasn't scored at least four power-play goals. He's tied with Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov for third in even-strength goals with 40; Kucherov, whose 60 goals are the most of any player since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, has 20 on the power play.
There's one category where Grabner is unsurpassed: He's the runaway leader in empty-net goals since the start of 2016-17 with 10; no one else has more than six.

Islanders struggling on penalty kill

The Islanders' penalty killing has sprung some leaks.
New York's penalty killers allowed 14 goals in 69 opportunities (79.7 percent) through 22 games, good enough to help them go 13-7-2. But in the next seven games, the penalty kill has struggled badly.
The Islanders have been shorthanded 23 times in those seven games and allowed 11 goals (52.2 percent). That includes a stretch at the beginning of December when they allowed two power-play goals in four consecutive games. New York allowed another man-advantage goal (in two opportunities) in a 3-1 loss at the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Despite their penalty-killing troubles, the Islanders went 3-3-1 in those seven games. And at 16-10-3 after 29 games, they're much improved from the same point last season, when they were 11-13-5. The Islanders hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference despite having played 11 home games, the fewest in the NHL.

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Vegas Strong

One of the reasons the Vegas Golden Knights are second in the Pacific Division (19-9-1, 39 points) is their resilience.
Consider what's happened after the two times they've allowed more than six goals in a game. After an 8-2 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 14, Vegas ran off its second five-game winning streak (the first came after its only home loss, 6-3 to the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 13). On Dec. 1, the Golden Knights allowed five goals in the third period of a 7-4 road loss to the Winnipeg Jets. They've won their next four games, including back-to-back road victories against the Nashville Predators on Friday and the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
The Golden Knights will get to try to extend that winning streak at home. They play their next five games (through Dec. 23) at T-Mobile Arena, where they are 11-2-0.

Subban vs. Subban

Malcolm Subban got the better of big brother P.K. Subban on Friday when they played against each other for the first time at any level of organized hockey. Malcolm made an NHL career-high 41 saves and didn't give up a goal on six shootout attempts to help the Golden Knights defeat P.K. and the Predators 4-3.
The Subbans are the ninth skater-goaltender pair of brothers in NHL history, but they'll have to face each other a lot more to catch the twosome who opposed each other most often. Hall of Fame goaltender Tiny Thompson played 553 NHL games and faced his brother Paul in 71 of them. No one has come close to the Thompsons; Phil and Tony Esposito are second at 43 games.

Star struck

The Stars begin the week fourth in the Central Division at 16-13-1, a solid improvement from their 11-13-6 record after 30 games last season. But to do more than contend for a wild card berth, they'll have to do something they haven't been able to accomplish so far this season: defeat the teams ahead of them.
Six of the Stars' 13 losses, and none of their 16 victories, have come in games against the three teams ahead of them in the division. They have lost each of their two games against the Predators, St. Louis Blues and Jets -- and five of those six losses have been by three goals. In all, the Stars have been outscored 25-8 by the Predators, Blues and Jets.

Just what they needed

A visit from the Buffalo Sabres on Friday was what the Chicago Blackhawks needed to get back on the right track after losing five in a row. Chicago extended its winning streak against the Sabres to 12 games when defenseman Gustav Forsling scored with 4.9 seconds left in overtime for a 3-2 victory. The Sabres haven't defeated the Blackhawks since Dec. 11, 2009 (2-1 at Buffalo) and haven't won in Chicago since a 2-1 victory on Jan. 10, 2007.