A three-goal comeback, six goals in less than six minutes, four tying tallies and a five-point night by Zach Werenski – who scored the overtime winner – were just some of the highlights from a 13-goal, back-and-forth affair between the Blue Jackets and Lightning.
* Marc-Andre Fleury backstopped the Wild to victory on the night he appeared in his 1,030th career game and moved into third on the NHL’s all-time games played list among goaltenders.
* Friday has two games on tap, beginning with the League-leading Jets visiting Sidney Crosby and the Penguins on NHL Network and ending with the Ducks hosting the Sabres on Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
BLUE JACKETS PREVAIL IN BACK-AND-FORTH, THREE-GOAL COMEBACK WIN
In a back-and-forth affair that featured four game-tying tallies and 10 combined goals through the opening 26:18 of play – including six in a flurry of 5:50 – Zach Werenski (2-3—5) required just 1:26 into the extra frame to score his sixth career overtime goal, collect his fifth point of the night and help the Blue Jackets (8-9-2, 18 points) capture the seventh regular-season three-goal comeback win in franchise history.
* Columbus is no stranger to overcoming a three-goal, first-period deficit against Tampa Bay after it also memorably did so in Game 1 of the 2019 First Round – the first of four consecutive Blue Jackets victories en route to becoming the first team to sweep the Presidents’ Trophy winner in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
* Werenski, who also factored on two winning goals in the 2019 First Round series (1-1—2; Game 1 & Game 2), matched the franchise record for points in a game and became the first Blue Jackets defenseman with a five-point performance. The franchise leader in goals, assists and points by a blueliner joined a group of four others to register a five-point outing in 2024-25 and became the first defenseman this season to hit the mark after four accomplished the feat in 2023-24.
* Nikita Kucherov (0-3—3) played a pivotal part for the Lightning offensively and collected his third point of the night on the first of his team’s two game-tying goals. His three-point outing helped him eclipse the 900-point mark in his career (743 GP) and become the third-fastest active player to hit the milestone behind Connor McDavid (602 GP) and Sidney Crosby (677 GP). Among players born outside of North America, only Peter Stastny (599 GP), Jari Kurri (632 GP) and Jaromir Jagr (681 GP) reached the mark in fewer games.
RAYMOND, HUGHES HELP RED WINGS, DEVILS EARN VICTORIES
A pair of 23-and-under forwards in Lucas Raymond and Jack Hughes played important roles to lead the Red Wings and Devils to victories Thursday.
* After Jonatan Berggren levelled the game with 4:46 left in the third period, Raymond netted the game-winning goal with 52 seconds remaining in regulation for Detroit’s first third-period comeback win this season. Raymond, who does not turn 23 until March 28, tallied his 192nd career point and surpassed Filip Forsberg for the fifth most by a Swedish-born player before age 23; the list is topped by Mats Sundin (303), Nicklas Backstrom (280), Rasmus Dahlin (232) and Gabriel Landeskog (207).
* Hughes (0-3—3) and Jesper Bratt (2-1—3) each factored on three of four New Jersey goals and climbed the franchise’s all-time three-point games list as they helped the Devils (13-7-2, 28 points) defeat the Hurricanes (14-5-0, 28 points) and gain ground on top spot in the Metropolitan Division.
FLEURY ONE OF MANY GOALTENDERS WHO MADE HEADLINES THURSDAY
Marc-Andre Fleury highlighted a Thursday slate that saw several goaltenders make headlines through milestone moments and strong performances.
Fleury (28 saves), making his 1,000th career start*, led the Wild (13-3-3, 29 points) to victory in his 1,030th career game. He leapfrogged Patrick Roy (1,029 GP) for the third-most games played by a goaltender in NHL history, behind Martin Brodeur (1,266 GP) and Roberto Luongo (1,044 GP).
* Jacob Markstrom earned the victory in his 500th career game as he became the third Swedish-born goaltender in NHL history to reach the milestone, following Henrik Lundqvist (887 GP) and Tommy Salo (526 GP).
* Jordan Binnington backstopped St. Louis (9-11-1, 19 points) to a shootout victory and tied Mike Liut (151) for the most wins in Blues history. Since 2018-19, the season he won his first game, only six goaltenders have as many victories: Andrei Vasilevskiy (217), Connor Hellebuyck (205), Sergei Bobrovsky (187), Juuse Saros (166), Markstrom (165) and Fleury (161).
* Igor Shesterkin (46 saves) matched his career high for saves in a game but Dustin Wolf (27 saves) had the upper hand and backstopped the Flames (11-6-3, 25 points) to victory. Wolf extended his point streak to six games (5-0-1) and became the fifth different rookie goaltender to post a run of that length with Calgary and just the second in the past 35 years alongside Dan Vladar (13 GP in 2022-23 & 6 GP in 2021-22).
* Joonas Korpisalo stopped all 21 shots he faced to help head coach Joe Sacco earn a victory in his debut with Boston (9-9-3, 21 points). Sacco became the second head coach in Bruins history to guide his team to a shutout victory in his first game with the club (also Fred Creighton in 1979-80), while Korpisalo is one of 10 goaltenders in Bruins history to post two shutouts within his first eight appearances with the franchise.
AL MONTOYA FEATURED IN THIS IS HOCKEY: PUERTO RICO EPISODE
This week, the NHL released ‘This Is Hockey,’ an original series featuring the growth of hockey in seven unexpected places where hockey is thriving including Puerto Rico. The local interest in hockey is growing, with young players working to make hockey part of their culture but the biggest obstacle for the Puerto Rico Ice Hockey Federation is bringing an ice surface back onto the island. Former NHL player Al Montoya revisits memories of playing in an NHL game in Puerto Rico in 2006, and how far the game has come.
* Viewers can watch in Canada on Amazon Prime Video (English and French captions), in the U.S. on ESPN+ (English and Spanish) with all episodes also airing on ESPN Deportes in Spanish; and on YouTube.com/NHL for the rest of the world (English and Spanish, with “Brazil” episode also offered in Portuguese).
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* Jaden Schwartz throws towel back to Kraken bench, lands on Dan Bylsma’s head
LEAGUE-LEADING JETS VISIT CROSBY, PENGUINS ON NHL NETWORK
A double-dip of NHL action on Friday night opens with the League-leading Jets (16-3-0, 32 points), who can become the sixth team in NHL history to win 17 of their first 20 games (last: 2022-23 Bruins), visit Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, with Crosby one tally away from the 600-goal milestone on NHL Network and TVA Sports.
* Closing the night on Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada, as well as regionally in local markets, a pair of clubs aim to rise above the .500 mark. The streaking Ducks (8-8-2, 18 points) will look to win four straight games for the first time since a six-game run early in the 2023-24 season (6-0-0 from Oct. 24 – Nov. 5, 2023) when they host the Sabres (9-9-1, 19 points), who look to win back-to-back contests in California after blanking the Kings on Wednesday, which included a 23-save shutout performance from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
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