Look who’s back!

Journeyman goaltender Michael Leighton, playing his first game for Carolina in seven years and only his fourth game in the NHL over the last seven seasons, recorded a 3–2 win (and an assist) for the Hurricanes against the Panthers.

This was Leighton’s first NHL victory since Dec. 30, 2010, when he won a game for the Flyers against the Kings.

Leighton’s gap between those wins (5 years, 333 days) is the longest between two NHL victories by any goaltender since Kay Whitmore went more than six-and-a-half years between the last two of his 60 career wins in the NHL: #59 for Vancouver on April 13, 1994 and #60 for Boston on Nov. 2, 2000.

Anderson’s amazing resume at MSG

Craig Anderson recorded his third shutout of the season in Ottawa’s 2–0 win against the Rangers.

During 14 seasons in the NHL Anderson has never played for the Rangers, but he has made Madison Square Garden a home away from home by posting a 7–1–1 record in nine regular-season games as the “World’s Most Famous Arena.”

Anderson’s clean sheet on Sunday night was his third regular-season shutout at MSG (one for Florida and two for Ottawa), tying the record for a visiting goaltender, which he now shares with Dominik Hasek and John Vanbiesbrouck.

• Hasek got those shutouts in three consecutive games for Buffalo at the Garden spanning the 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons
• Vanbiesbrouck, who posted nine regular-season shutouts at MSG for the Rangers, had one shutout there for Florida and two for Philadelphia

But Anderson is the only one of those three goaltenders with three regular-season shutout wins as a visitor at MSG, since Hasek and “the Beezer” each earned one of their three shutouts in a 0–0 tie!

Stolarz stars in NHL debut

Anthony Stolarz, making his NHL debut, racked up 29 saves as he recorded a 5–3 win for the Flyers against the Flames.

Stolarz, who is the first player born in New Jersey to play goal in the NHL, is the fourth goaltender in the last 25 years to make his NHL debut with Philadelphia and post a win in his first game.

The others to do that in the last quarter-century were Antero Niittymaki (2004), Sergei Bobrovsky (2010), and Rob Zepp (2014).

A busy Rask is an unbeatable Rask

Tuukka Rask helped to end the Bruins’ three-game losing streak by making 30 saves in Boston’s 4–1 win over the Lightning.

Rask has won all seven games in which he faced 30 or more shots on goal this season and he allowed only 10 goals while doing so.

• That matches Rask’s career high for consecutive wins in one season in games in which faced 30-plus shots, a mark he set in 2013

Rask’s current streak is the longest within one season by a Bruins goaltender since Chad Johnson won eight straight games in which he faced 30 or more shots on goal in 2013–14.

Hellebuyck turns aside 42 shots in shutout

Connor Hellebuyck recorded his second shutout of the season in the Jets’ 3–0 victory against Nashville in which he made 42 saves, including 20 in the third period.

That’s the most saves by a Jets goaltender in a shutout since the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg in 2011, and the second most in franchise history.

• Hellebuyck fell one short of the club record 43 saves made by Chris Mason in the Thrashers’ 1–0 win at Philadelphia on March 31, 2011

Hellebuyck also tied the NHL season high for shots faced by a goaltender in a shutout, a mark set by the Canadiens’ Carey Price with 42 saves in his 3–0 win against the Canucks on November 2.

Oilers find the Coyotes unbeatable

The Coyotes, who posted a shootout victory at Edmonton on Friday, completed a sweep of their home-and-home series against the Oilers with a 2–1 win at Glendale on Sunday.

Arizona has gained at least one point from each of its last 25 games versus the Oilers (21–0–4), a streak that dates back to March 2011.

This is the longest point streak by one NHL team against another since the Flyers went unbeaten in 32 consecutive games against the Kings from October 1974 to February 1983 (27 wins and 5 ties).

Source: Source: Elias Sports Bureau