NHL Public Relations October 21, 2021

* Brent Burns is skating in his 600th consecutive regular-season game and has become the 14th player in NHL history with an Ironman streak of 600+ consecutive games. 

* Brent Burns’ assist tonight secured him at least one point in each of his first three games of the season (0-3—3), a feat he’s achieved twice before (5 GP in 2016-17 & 5 GP in 2014-15). Burns is the only Sharks defenseman to open a season with points in three or more straight games multiple times in his career. 

* Brent Burns now has a 14-game point streak against Ottawa – the longest active point streak versus one team by any player.  

* With his assist tonight, William Eklund became the fifth rookie in Sharks history to record at least one point in each of his first three games of the season (0-3—3), joining Jan Caloun (6 GP in 1995-96), Brad Stuart (4 GP in 1999-00), Tomas Hertl (3 GP in 2013-14) and Grant Stevenson (3 GP in 2005-06).

* This is the eighth time in franchise history that the Sharks have started their season 3-0-0 and first since 2015-16 (4-0-0). 

* Brady Tkachuk assisted on Drake Batherson’s first goal of the season. Tkachuk now has at least one point in his first game in each of the past three seasons (2-3—5). 

* Lou Lamoriello enters Thursday’s game with 1,496 career NHL wins as a general manager (regular season & playoffs combined) and needs four to become the third in League history to reach 1,500, joining David Poile (1,553) and Glen Sather (1,506). Lamoriello would become the second general manager to reach a noteworthy milestone this season – on Oct. 19, Ken Holland of the Oilers earned his 1,000th career regular-season win.

* Zdeno Chara (44 years, 217 days) is over 26 years older than Cole Sillinger (18 years, 158 days). Thursday marks the first NHL game to feature at least one player age 44 or older and one age 18 or younger since March 23, 2017, when Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr (age 45) went head-to-head with Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun (age 18). 

* Cole Sillinger’s father, Mike, skated each of his final three NHL seasons with the Islanders from 2006-07 to 2008-09 (42-45—87 in 141 GP).

* Cole Sillinger (18 years, 158 days) is over 26 years younger than Zdeno Chara (44 years, 217 days). Thursday marks the first NHL game to feature at least one player age 18 or younger and one age 44 or older since March 23, 2017, when Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun (age 18) went head-to-head with Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr (age 45). 

* Cole Sillinger (18 years, 158 days) became the fourth-youngest player in franchise history at the time of his first NHL goal, behind Rick Nash (18 years, 116 days) on Oct. 10, 2002, Dan Fritsche (18 years, 130 days) on Nov. 20, 2003 and Nikita Filatov (18 years, 145 days) on Oct. 17, 2008. 

* Patrik Laine potted his League-leading second overtime goal of 2021-22 (also Oct. 16 vs. SEA) to extend his season-opening point streak to four games (2-3—5).

* Patrik Laine became the fifth player in NHL history with two overtime goals through a team’s first four games in a season, joining Punch Broadbent with the original Ottawa Senators in 1921-22, Baldy Northcott with the Montreal Maroons in 1932-33, Jack Johnson with the Kings in 2011-12 and Mike Santorelli with the Canucks in 2013-14.

* Dmitry Orlov scored to extend his point streak against the Devils to three games (2-2—4), tied for his longest active run against one opponent (also 3 GP vs. OTT).

* Alex Ovechkin recorded an assist to extend his point streak to four games (4-3—7). It marks the first time that a Capitals skater has registered at least one point in each of Washington’s first four contests of a season since Andre Burakovsky in 2014-15 (2-3—5 in 4 GP).

* The Capitals extended their win streak against the Devils to nine games dating to Feb. 21, marking Washington’s longest active streak against one opponent. 

* Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded a goal and assist and has eight points through the first four games of the season (3-5—8), the second time he’s accomplished the feat (0-8—8 in 2017-18). Since 2010-11, Alex Ovechkin is the only other Capitals skater to have registered at least eight points through the first four contests of a campaign (8-0—8 in 2017-18).

* Sam Reinhart scored his first goal as a member of the Panthers after being acquired from the Sabres on July 24. He led Buffalo in goals and points in 2020-21 (25-15—40). 

* Sam Bennett scored and has four goals through his first four games in 2021-22. Only four players have recorded more through their first four games played in a season with the Panthers: Pavel Bure (6) in 1998-99, Mike Hoffman (5) in 2019-20, Scott Mellanby (5) in 1995-96 and Dino Ciccarelli (5) in 1998-99. 

* The Panthers improved to 4-0-0 through their first four games to start a season for the first time in franchise history.  

* Florida improved to 10-0-0 in each of its last 10 regular-season contests dating to April 27, the second longest such run in franchise history (spanning seasons or otherwise) behind a 12-game stretch from Dec. 15, 2015 to Jan. 10, 2016. 

* Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 31 shots to earn his 300th career regular-season win (300-180-45). Bobrovsky (541 GP) required the second-fewest appearances in NHL history to reach the mark behind only Jacques Plante (521 GP).  

* Elias Lindholm scored to extend his season-opening goal streak to three games (3-0—3), only one player in franchise history has posted a longer run: Gary Roberts (5 GP in 1989-90).

* Andrei Svechnikov became the fourth player in the past 35 years to record consecutive season-opening goal streaks of at least three games, joining Filip Forsberg (4 GP in 2019-20, 3 GP in 2020-21), Auston Matthews (6 GP in 2018-19, 3 GP in 2019-20) and Michel Goulet (3 GP in 1986-87, 3 GP in 1987-88). 

* Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his first goal in a Hurricanes uniform in his return to Montreal – the team that drafted him third overall in 2018. He played his first three seasons with the Canadiens, where he tallied 22-40—62 in 171 regular-season games.  

* Jesperi Kotkaniemi concluded the 2021 postseason with five goals – tied for second on Montreal – and boosted his career playoff goals to nine, which stands as the second most by a Canadiens player before the age of 21, behind Claude Lemieux (10). 

* Carolina earned its third straight win to start the 2021-22 campaign. This marks the third-longest win streak to start a season in Hurricanes/Whalers franchise history, behind 5-0-0 in 2019-20 and 4-0-0 in 1995-96. 

* Kevin Shattenkirk assisted on the 1-0 goal to extend his season-opening point streak to five games (3-3—6). He became the second player in franchise history to record at least one point in each of the team’s first five games in a season, joining Corey Perry in 2014-15 (5-2—7 in 5 GP). Of note, Paul Kariya also had points in six straight team games to open his 1997-98 campaign (5-5—10), but made his season debut on Dec. 12, 1997.

* Kyle Connor (5-2—7) became the second player in Jets/Thrashers franchise history with five goals through his first four games played in a season, joining Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk in 2009-10 (5-1—6). 

* Quinn Hughes collected an assist to record his 100th career point (12-88—100 in 133 GP). Among players to debut with the franchise, Hughes required the fewest games by a defenseman to reach the milestone – besting Dale Tallon (146 GP) – and sits 10th in Canucks history among all players behind Pavel Bure (96 GP), Elias Pettersson (103 GP), Ivan Hlinka (109 GP), Brock Boeser (118 GP), Patrik Sundstrom (122 GP), Stan Smyl (122 GP), Dennis Ververgaert (125 GP), Thomas Gradin (130 GP) and Rick Blight (132 GP). 

* Quinn Hughes required the fewest games among active defensemen to reach the 100-point milestone. In fact, just nine blueliners in the last 40 years have hit the mark in fewer contests: Brian Leetch (102 GP in 1989-90), Larry Murphy (105 GP in 1981-82), Phil Housley (106 GP in 1983-84), Sergei Zubov (108 GP in 1993-94), Al MacInnis (115 GP in 1984-85), Gary Suter (124 GP in 1986-87), Vladimir Malakhov (125 GP in 1993-94), Paul Coffey (126 GP in 1981-82) and Chris Chelios (127 GP in 1985-86).

* Conor Garland recorded an assist, extending his point streak to five games (1-4—5). He joins Elias Pettersson (5 GP in 2018-19) and Don Tannahill (5 GP in 1972-73) as the third player in franchise history to register a season-opening point streak of five or more games in their first campaign with the franchise.

* Vancouver improved to 9-1-1 in their last 11 games against Chicago (CHI: 2-7-2).

* Connor McDavid scored to reach 200 career NHL goals (200-383—583 in 411 GP). Among players to make their NHL debut with the Oilers, only three required fewer games to reach the 200-goal mark with the franchise: Wayne Gretzky (242 GP), Jari Kurri (328 GP) and Glenn Anderson (348 GP).

* Zach Hyman scored a shorthanded goal and a power-play goal in the same game for the first time in his career. Only two other Oilers skaters have accomplished the feat since 2007-08: Leon Draisaitl (Feb. 25, 2019) and Ben Pouliot (Jan. 15, 2015). 

* Connor McDavid (2-1—3), who had his third straight three-point game, took sole possession of the League scoring lead (6-5—11 in 4 GP). He became the second player in franchise history with 11 or more points through four games played in a season, joining Wayne Gretzky in 1983-84 (6-7—13).