* Stars forward Joe Pavelski posted 3-1—4 to eclipse Brett Hull as the oldest player in franchise history with a hat trick and help Dallas extend its season-opening point streak.
* Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin found the back of the net once again to extend the longest season-opening goal streak by a blueliner in NHL history.
* David Poile of the Predators served his 3,000th career regular-season game as an NHL general manager and became the first GM in League history to reach the milestone.
38-YEAR-OLD PAVELSKI TALLIES THREE TIMES AS STARS, DeBOER IMPROVE TO 4-0-1
Dallas forward Joe Pavelski (38 years, 103 days) became the oldest player in Stars/North Stars franchise history to score a hat trick and the oldest NHL player on any team with a three-goal game since his former Sharks teammate Joe Thornton (39 years, 231 days on Feb. 18, 2019). Pavelski assisted on two of Thornton’s three goals that night.
* Dallas (4-0-1, 9 points) earned at least one point during each of its first five games in a season for the sixth time in franchise history, following 1996-97 (6-0-0), 1989-90 (5-0-1), 1982-83 (5-0-1), 2009-10 (2-0-3) and 2006-07 (5-0-0). Peter DeBoer became the second Stars/North Stars head coach to record a five-game point streak from the start of his tenure with the club, joining Marc Crawford (2-0-3 in 2009-10).
DAHLIN, BLUES AND PENGUINS ALSO EXTEND SEASON-OPENING STREAKS
Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (1-1—2) scored a goal for the fifth time in as many games as Buffalo swept its Western Canada road trip, while St. Louis and Pittsburgh also extended noteworthy season-opening streaks:
* Dahlin (5-3—8 in 5 GP) matched the franchise record for longest season-opening goal streak and Alex Tuch (6-1—7 in 5 GP) scored his team-leading sixth tally of the season as Buffalo improved to 4-1-0 (8 points). Dahlin established a new franchise record for longest goal streak by a defensemanat any point in a campaign and became the first Sabres skater with a five-game run since forward Thomas Vanek over 14 years ago (5 GP from Oct. 10-18, 2008).
* Jordan Binnington turned aside all 23 shots he faced to record the 11th shutout of his NHL career and help the Blues (3-0-0, 6 points) extend their season-opening winning streak to three games. St. Louis never trailed during each of its first three contests in a campaign for the second time in franchise history, following a four-game run to open 2013-14. The longest such streak by an NHL team is seven games, achieved by the 1969-70 Bruins (who went on to meet the Blues in the Stanley Cup Final that year).
* Sidney Crosby (1-2—3) scored the 79th game-winning goal of his NHL career to move into sole possession of first place on the franchise’s all-time list and help Pittsburgh (4-0-1, 9 points) record a five-game season-opening point streak for the second time in as many years. Crosby also recorded his 162nd career three-point game with the Penguins, who have scored 26 goals this season (5.2 G/GP).
CAPITALS’ COMEBACK, POILE’S MILESTONE FEATURED IN LIVE UPDATES
Saturday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured several more notes from the 13-game slate, including Washington earning its second third-period, multi-goal comeback win of the season and former Capitals general manager David Poile becoming the first GM in League history to reach the 3,000-game milestone. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman congratulated Poile in a video shown during a pre-game ceremony at Bridgestone Arena.
QUICK CLICKS
* Predators honor general manager David Poile for 3,000 NHL games
* Andre Burakovsky receives Stanley Cup ring before Friday’s Avalanche-Kraken game
* Red Wings showing different vibe, excitement after offseason optimism
* CHL Notebook: Matt Savoie works on game with Sabres while in WHL
* Former Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and his two sons drop ceremonial puck at TD Garden
RED WINGS, DUCKS SET TO SQUARE OFF ON ESPN
The Red Wings (2-0-2, 6 points) and Ducks (1-3-1, 3 points) are set to clash on ESPN as part of the NHL’s five-game slate Sunday. Detroit enters the contest with the opportunity to extend its season-opening point streak to five games for the eighth time in franchise history and just the fourth in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68). The Red Wings’ other runs over that span were in 1997-98 (5-0-1), 1972-73 (6-0-0) and 2011-12 (5-0-0).
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