Welcome to the NHL On Tap. Three NHL.com writers will share what they are most looking forward to on the schedule each day. Today, their choices from the four games Monday.
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Fleury attempts to pass Roy in wins
Marc-Andre Fleury will attempt to move into sole possession of second in NHL history when the Minnesota Wild host the Dallas Stars (8 p.m. ET; BSWIX, BSN, BSSW). The goalie earned his 551st win with Minnesota's 4-3 overtime victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, tying Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy for second behind another Hall of Famer, Martin Brodeur (691). The 39-year-old is 7-8-2 with a 3.07 goals-against average and .896 save percentage in 18 games (16 starts) this season. He was the backup to Filip Gustavsson but has played each of the past five games with Gustavsson on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. The Wild (17-17-4) are seventh in the Central Division, 11 points behind the third-place Stars (22-11-5). Dallas has points in four consecutive games at Xcel Energy Center (3-0-1) and seven of its past nine (5-2-2). -- Shawn P. Roarke, senior director of editorial
Best on best in New York City
Two of the best teams in the NHL will play when the Vancouver Canucks visit the New York Rangers (7 p.m. ET; MSG, SN). It's surprising enough that the Rangers (26-10-2) are tied with the Boston Bruins (24-8-6) for the best record in the League (54 points, .711 points percentage) behind the Winnipeg Jets (26-9-4, 56 points, .718 points percentage). I doubt anyone, even one person, expected the Canucks (25-11-3) to rank fourth with a .679 points percentage given they've qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs twice since 2012-13 and finished no better than fifth in their division except for a seven-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2020 Western Conference Second Round. Vancouver's 3.82 goals per game leads the NHL, its 2.59 goals-against per game is fourth, and it has contenders for the Hart Trophy as League MVP (Elias Pettersson) and the Vezina Trophy as top goalie (Thatcher Demko). The Rangers are 10-1-0 following a loss, 12-3-1 against the West and have their own Hart contender, Artemi Panarin. The forward takes a seven-game point streak (eight goals, four assists) to Madison Square Garden and his 55 points (25 goals, 30 assists) are tied for third with Bruins forward David Pastrnak. -- Jon Lane, staff writer
MacKinnon unstoppable at home
Nathan MacKinnon will attempt to extend his 21-game home point streak when the Colorado Avalanche (25-12-13) host the Bruins at Ball Arena (9 p.m. ET; NESN, ALT, SN (JIP), TVAS). The forward has 44 points (16 goals, 28 assists) during the run and is getting closer to the Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques record of 23 set by Joe Sakic from Dec. 21, 2000 to April 4, 2001. MacKinnon is second in the NHL with 65 points (22 goals, 43 assists) behind Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (67 points; 28 goals, 39 assists). He had a 19-game point streak (36 points; 13 goals, 23 assists) from Nov. 20 to Dec. 27 and is on a current four-game point streak (three goals, six assists). The Bruins (24-8-6) have won five of six (5-1-0) and open a four-game road trip. -- Derek Van Diest, staff writer
Monday games
Vancouver Canucks at New York Rangers (7 p.m. ET; MSG, SN)
Pettersson's three points (two goals, one assist) in 6-4 win at the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 6 was his 30th three-point game in the NHL, tying Patrik Sundstrom for fifth by a Sweden-born player in Canucks history. Panarin (11 points) and Vincent Trocheck (10) have combined for 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in six games since Dec. 27. New York leads the NHL on the power play (29.7 percent) and has scored the fourth-most goals with the man-advantage (35).
Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers (7 p.m. ET, SN-PIT, NHLN,NBCSP, TVAS)
Travis Konecny's a seven-game point streak is tied for the longest in his NHL career and he has goals in his past three. The Flyers representative at the 2024 NHL All-Star game has 10 points (five goals, five assists) during the run and has factored in seven of the past nine goals Philadelphia (20-13-6) has scored. Sidney Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang have factored in the same goal 294 times for the Penguins (19-15-4), tied with Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings for the third-most by a forward-defenseman duo in NHL history and trailing Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey of the Edmonton Oilers (350) and Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr of the Bruins (306).
Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild (8 p.m. ET; BSWIX, BSN, BSSW)
Jason Robertson is getting hot at the right time for the Stars. The forward leads them with 39 points (13 goals, 26 assists in 38 games) and has points in eight of his past nine (four goals, nine assists) and four multipoint games. Wild defenseman Brock Faber leads NHL rookies in ice time per game (24:47) and 69 blocked shots. His 19 points (two goals, 17 assists) are second to Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils among first-year players at the position.
Boston Bruins at Colorado Avalanche (9 p.m. ET; NESEN, ALT, SN (JIP), TVAS)
Bruins forward Charlie Coyle can extend his point streak to seven games (four goals, four assists). The Avalanche are the first team with three 20-goal scorers through 40 team games (MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin) since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins (Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Tomas Sandstrom, Ron Francis) and Philadelphia Flyers (Eric Lindros, John LeClair, and Mikael Renberg).
