RANT SPORTS – Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar both reached the 30-point mark to achieve a feat the NHL hasn’t seen in nearly 20 years and help the Avalanche claim victory in an 11-goal contest.
* Gen Z skaters and veterans both had celebratory moments Saturday as Matvei Michkov scored his second career overtime winner and Sidney Crosby reached the 600-goal milestone.
* Eight of Saturday’s 15 games were decided in the third period or beyond, while 11 of them were won by a margin of one goal or two-plus with an empty net.
* Toronto and Utah are set to meet for the first time Sunday in a contest that could feature Alex and William Nylander skating together in the NHL for the first time. It would mark the first time in 37 years the Maple Leafs saw brothers playing in a game.
COLORADO TRIO PROVIDE POTENT OFFENSE IN SEVEN-GOAL OUTBURST
In a battle between two of the past three Stanley Cup champions, it was the Avalanche (2022) who came out on top against the Panthers (2024) thanks to a seven-goal outburst led by Mikko Rantanen (1-3—4) and Cale Makar (0-2—2), who each joined teammate Nathan MacKinnon (0-1—1) at the 30-point mark this season.
* Makar (336 GP) recorded his 100th career multi-point game and became the sixth-fastest active player – and only defenseman in that cohort – to reach the mark, following Sidney Crosby (235 GP), Connor McDavid (270 GP), Alex Ovechkin (272 GP), Kirill Kaprizov (292 GP) and Evgeni Malkin (292 GP). In fact, the only blueliner in NHL history to hit the plateau in fewer games is Bobby Orr (307 GP).
* Of the eight players with 30 points in 2024-25, three belong to the Avalanche (MacKinnon:35, Rantanen: 32 & Makar: 30). The trio helped Colorado improve to 102-24-6 in games where they all record a point.
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GEN Z’S SHINE ON SATURDAY’S SLATE
As Gen Z makes a charge to overtake Millennials in the NHL, several of them found the score sheet across the 15-game slate, including Dylan Guenther who helped Utah surge to victory, Tim Stützle who reached a milestone and Matvei Michkov who netted the decisive tally against reigning Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard.
* Guenther factored on three Utah goals during its 6-1 win Saturday, including scoring twice in the final frame, to help his club earn its largest margin of victory in franchise history. Guenther (21 years, 227 days) became the second-youngest player this season with a multi-goal period and multiple power-play tallies in a game, behind Michkov (19 years, 311 days), who achieved both feats on Oct. 15.
* Stützle (22 years, 313 days) became the youngest Senators player to score his 100th career goal, eclipsing Marian Hossa (23 years, 56 days), and the first player to do so from the 2020 NHL Draft class. Stützle (305 GP) required the seventh-fewest games in franchise history to reach the milestone, behind Dany Heatley (164 GP), Alexei Yashin (253 GP), Martin Havlat (286 GP), Hossa (289 GP), Jason Spezza (290 GP) and teammate Brady Tkachuk (300 GP).
* Facing a 2-0 deficit in the third period, the Flyers rallied to force overtime where 19-year-old Michkov scored the game-winner – just as he did nine days earlier in the club’s only other multi-goal, third-period comeback win of the season (Nov. 14 at OTT). Michkov, who will celebrate his 20th birthday Dec. 9, became the first teenager in franchise history with multiple overtime goals and just the eighth in League history to achieve the feat.
CROSBY SCORES 600TH NHL GOAL
Sidney Crosby scored his 600th career goal and joined Alex Ovechkin as the second active player to reach the milestone. Crosby followed former teammate Mario Lemieux (690) as the second player in franchise history to hit the milestone – Pittsburgh joined Detroit (Gordie Howe & Steve Yzerman) as the only franchises with two 600-goal scorers.
AROUND THE RINKS IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
A jam-packed 15-game Saturday featured a plethora of notes and storylines from around the rinks, including multiple teams extending their winning streaks, stars reaching season checkpoints and a franchise icon having his number raised to the rafters. For all that and more, check out the latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates.
* Rasmus Andersson factored on one of his team’s three goals and tallied the winner in the shootout to help the Flames (12-6-3, 27 points) best the Wild (13-3-4, 30 points) and strengthen their grip over second place in the Pacific Division. Calgary, which earned its fourth straight victory, won its sixth game decided by one goal or fewer this season, which is tied with Boston, Philadelphia and Colorado for the second most behind only St. Louis (7).
* Darnell Nurse scored his sixth career shorthanded goal – which trails only Paul Coffey (15) for the most among Oilers defensemen – and tied Tyler Myers for the most among active blueliners as he helped the Oilers best the Rangers at Rogers Place.
* Elias Pettersson (0-2—2) registered multiple points to help lead Vancouver to its seventh consecutive road victory, tying the third-longest run in franchise history. The Canucks improved to 7-1-0 away from home and maintained the NHL’s best road points percentage (.875).
* Jack Eichel (1-2—3) registered his 15th three-point performance with Vegas, tying William Karlsson for the third most in franchise history. Eichel (21 GP) also became the fastest player in Golden Knights history to 30 points in a season, surpassing the previous benchmark set by Mark Stone (24 GP in 2020-21).
* Roman Josi scored half of the Predators’ goals Saturday to help his club become the fourth team in 2024-25 to earn a win against the Jets. Josi surpassed Craig Smith (20) for the third-most multi-goal games in franchise history, trailing Filip Forsberg (44) and David Legwand (24).
* After the Sharks celebrated Joe Thornton’s career by retiring his number to the rafters, Alex Tuch
(1-0—1) extended his point streak to six games and helped the Sabres (11-9-1, 23 points) sweep a three-game California road trip (ANA, LAK & SJS) for the first time in franchise history. Buffalo moved into the top three in the Atlantic Division for the first time since Dec. 16, 2019 (min 20 GP).
CLAUDIA TELLEZ FEATURED IN THIS IS HOCKEY: MEXICO 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 Mexico. The standard-bearer of ice hockey in Latin America with approximately 10 hockey rinks across the country, Mexico has felt the weight of their crown in developing the game with just a small group of passionate hockey people leading the charge. Much to their credit, they have seen huge growth of girls and women’s hockey, with the women’s national team ranked No. 25 in the world, higher than their soccer, basketball, and volleyball counterparts, led by Mexican hockey star Claudia Tellez.
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).
QUICK CLICKS
* CHL notebook: Capitals being patient with second-round pick Andrew Cristall
* Best moments of season through quarter mark shared by NHL.com writers
* ESPN’s College Gameday shows Stadium Series ice at Ohio State
* Auston Matthews skates, could return for Maple Leafs next week
* Stadium Series: Stinger makes surprise appearance at The ‘Shoe on ESPN’s College Game
NYLANDER BROTHERS COULD REUNITE WHEN MAPLE LEAFS HOST UTAH
The only game on Sunday’s slate will include many firsts as brothers Alex and William Nylander could skate together in the NHL for the first time when the Maple Leafs and Utah Hockey Club go head-to-head for their first showdown. William Nylander, a prominent figure in FACEOFF: Inside the NHL and the Maple Leafs’ leading goal scorer with 13-9—22 this season (20 GP), went from picking out taps for his condo to finding out he could be playing an NHL game with his brother this weekend (with their father, former NHLer Michael Nylander, in town to witness it).
* Drafted eighth overall two years apart, William and Alex last were teammates at the 2016 World Junior Championship. In their lone contest together, younger brother Alex tallied three assists including a helper on a goal by William just 81 seconds into a game against Switzerland.
* The Nylanders would be the first brothers in more than 37 years to play in a game together for the Maple Leafs and fifth set overall, following Barry and Brian Cullen, Don and Nick Metz, Art and Busher Jackson, as well as Miroslav and Peter Ihnacak. To date, 10 families have had siblings play for the Maple Leafs at any point (including those who never played in a game together).
Washington based CEO & Founder of LJC. Media covering politics, sports, & entertainment A seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director, and podcast host. Digital Director and Washington Bureau Chief at News Talk Florida & The Daily Cable
