Facts and Figures: Saturday scoring surge

Saturday was a good day for scorers in the NHL

Eight of the 12 games played saw one team score at least five goals, with the Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild leading the way with seven apiece.
It was the second day this season that had at least eight teams scoring five-plus goals in a game (also on Dec. 23). In the past 25 years, the only times more teams have scored at least five goals on the same day are Nov. 21, 2018, Jan. 31, 2017, Dec. 29, 2007 and Jan. 11, 2007 (nine on each).
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl had two assists in Edmonton's 7-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Place, extending his point streak to eight games (14 points; five goals, nine assists). It's his third point streak of at least eight games this season. He's had multiple points in five of his past six games.

The Oilers scored seven goals in a game for the second time this season, becoming the 11th team with multiple games of at least seven goals this season. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins share the lead with six.

Jason Zucker had one goal and two assists in Minnesota's 7-0 win against the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild scored seven goals and shut out their opponent for the second time since entering the NHL in 2000; the other instance came at the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 15, 2015.

Ovechkin climbs goal list, powers comeback by Capitals

Alex Ovechkin scored three goals for his second straight hat trick and third consecutive multigoal game -- a first in his NHL career - in the Washington Capitals' 6-4 win against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. He tied Mario Lemieux for 10th place on the all-time goal-scoring list (https://records.nhl.com/records/skater-records/goals/most-goals-career) when he scored his 690th in the first period, then passed Lemieux midway through the third period before tying Steve Yzerman (692) for ninth place by scoring into an empty net to complete Washington's five-goal comeback after trailing 4-1.

Ovechkin has hat tricks in consecutive games for the third time in his NHL career -- once in each of the past three seasons. Each instance has come after he turned 32; the others were Oct. 5-7, 2017 and Dec. 11-14, 2018. He's the third player in NHL history to have consecutive hat tricks three times; Wayne Gretzky did it three times in the early 1980s with the Edmonton Oilers, and Joe Malone, one of the greatest goal-scorers in the early years of the NHL, had four consecutive games with at least three goals. Malone (31 years, 327 days) and Gretzky (23 years, 28 days) each had his last such instance at a younger age than Ovechkin (34 years, 123 days).

Washington's captain is on pace to go from 600 to 700 goals in 157 games, which would be the fewest needed to make that leap for any member of the 700-goal club. It also would be the second-fewest games to get from one 100-goal milestone to another in his career; he went from 100 to 200 goals in 130 games.

Ovechkin has averaged 0.61 goals per game to this point in his career,
fifth in NHL history among players who've played in at least 300 games
-- including a
League-best 0.58 rate since turning 30 on Sept. 17, 2015
. Among members of the 700-goal club, only two (Phil Esposito and Marcel Dionne) scored at a rate of 0.50 goals per game after turning 30.
The Capitals won after trailing by three goals in the third period for the second time this season, the first time that's happened since Washington entered the NHL in 1974. The Capitals and Penguins are the only teams with two three-goal third-period comeback wins this season; the only team with more is the 1983-84 Minnesota North Stars, who had four.

Elvis keeps rockin' in goal for Blue Jackets

Rookie Elvis Merzlikins made 41 saves for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 5-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at Nationwide Arena, giving him three shutouts in his past four games. The victory moved the Blue Jackets (25-16-8) into the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Columbus is 7-2-0 since the start of 2020, second only to the Tampa Bay Lightning (8-2-0).
Merzlikins, who has allowed a total of two goals in his past four starts, joined rare company with his third shutout during that span. He's the seventh rookie goalie in the NHL's modern era (since 1943-44) to have three shutouts in a four-game span, a list that includes Hall of Famers Terry Sawchuk (1950-51), Jacques Plante (1953-54), Glenn Hall (1955-56) and Tony Esposito (1969-70).

Kubalik scores twice for Blackhawks, first rookie with 20 goals

Dominik Kubalik batted an airborne cross-ice pass from Jonathan Toews into the net in the second period during the Chicago Blackhawks' 6-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena to become the first rookie this season to score 20 goals.
It capped a two-goal, one-assist night for the 24-year-old forward, who became the sixth player to debut with the Blackhawks and reach the 20-goal mark prior to his 50th game. The last to do it before Kubalik (47 games) was Eric Daze, who scored 20 goals in 43 games in 1995-96.

Kubalik also became the first Blackhawks rookie to have three multigoal games in a four-game span. He leads all rookies in scoring since Dec. 1 with 21 points (14 goals, seven assists) and is second in the NHL in goals during that span behind Toronto's Auston Matthews, who has 18.