2016-17 SEASON ECLIPSES THE QUARTER MARK

The 2016-17 regular season passed the quarter mark on Friday, with 312 of 1,230 games (25.37%) now in the books.

A look at some of the highlights thus far (with assistance from the Elias Sports Bureau):

* 194 games (62.2%) have been tied or within one goal entering the third period.

* 150 games (48.1%) have featured one-goal margins.

* 132 games (42.3%) have seen a team overcome a deficit (at any point in the contest) to win, including 54 in the third period.

Of those 132 games, 31 have featured a multi-goal comeback (including 10 in which the winning team trailed by multiple goals in the third period).

* 75 coach’s challenges have been used (including seven initiated by the Situation Room), with 56 calls upheld and 19 overturned – 49 of the challenges have been for goaltender interference (39 upheld/10 overturned), while 26 have been for offside (17 upheld/9 overturned).

* Two division leaders – Montreal (Atlantic) and Edmonton (Pacific) – did not qualify for the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

LEAGUE LEADERS

A snapshot of the top individual performers thus far:

Goals
1. Sidney Crosby (PIT): 14
t-2. David Pastrnak (BOS): 12
t-2. Alex Ovechkin (WSH): 12
t-2. Michael Grabner (NYR): 12
t-2. Patrik Laine (WPG): 12

Assists
1. Connor McDavid (EDM): 18
t-2. Eight players with 15

Points
1. Connor McDavid (EDM): 10-18—28
2. Nikita Kucherov (TBL): 11-15—26
3. Mark Scheifele (WPG): 11-12—23

Rookie Points
1. Patrik Laine (WPG): 12-6—18
t-2. Zach Werenski (CBJ): 5-11—16
t-2. Auston Matthews (TOR): 8-8—16
t-2. Mitch Marner (TOR): 7-9—16

Wins
1. Carey Price (MTL): 12
t-2. Tuukka Rask (BOS): 11
t-2. Sergei Bobrovsky (CBJ): 11
t-2. Peter Budaj (LAK): 11
t-2. Cam Talbot (EDM): 11

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps
NY Rangers 3, PHILADELPHIA 2
Chicago 3, ANAHEIM 2
SAN JOSE 3, NY Islanders 2
MINNESOTA 6, Pittsburgh 2
WASHINGTON 3, Buffalo 1
NASHVILLE 5, Winnipeg 1
Calgary 2, BOSTON 1
Columbus 5, TAMPA BAY 3
Detroit 5, NEW JERSEY 4 (OT)
DALLAS 2, Vancouver 1
ARIZONA 3, Edmonton 2 (SO)

FURIOUS FINISH AT SHARK TANK

The Islanders tied the game with 57.2 seconds remaining in regulation, but Patrick Marleau scored with 22.5 seconds left on the clock to help the Sharks improve to 3-0-0 on their five-game homestand.

* Via Elias, it marked the 10th game this season in which a tying goal was scored in the last 60 seconds of regulation. It also was the fifth time in 2016-17 that a go-ahead goal was scored in the last minute of regulation.

* Marleau scored his 94th career game-winning goal (second this season) to tie Steve Yzerman for 11th place on the NHL’s all-time list. Only two active players have more: Jaromir Jagr (133) and Jarome Iginla (97).

EARLY LEADS POWER TOP CLUBS TO VICTORY

The Rangers (15-6-1, 31 points), Blackhawks (14-6-2, 30 points) and Capitals (13-5-2, 28 points) – who own three of the top four records in the NHL – each opened multi-goal leads en route to victory:

* The Rangers took a 3-0 lead into the third period and held off a Flyers rally to win the 2016 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown.

Henrik Lundqvist (40 SV) improved to 10-1-7 in his career when making at least 40 saves in a regular-season game (1.69 GAA, .961 SV%, 4 SO).

* Chicago opened a three-goal lead with help from Patrick Kane (1-1—2) and Ryan Hartman (GWG) and held off a Ducks surge to move to 3-3-0 on their seven-game road trip.

Corey Crawford made 34 saves to improve to 12-4-2 in 19 career regular-season games vs. ANA (1.85 GAA, .933 SV%, 3 SO), including a 5-0-1 mark dating to Nov. 28, 2014.

* The Capitals took a 2-0 lead in the second period courtesy of Marcus Johansson’s eventual winning tally to finish their season-high five-game homestand with a win (4-1-0).

Philipp Grubauer (32 SV) recorded the victory on his 25th birthday, with his parents watching from the stands for the first time (in an NHL start).

PREDATORS, BLUE JACKETS KEEP ROLLING

The Predators and Blue Jackets each improved to 8-2-2 in November:

* Nashville scored five unanswered goals – powered by three-point performances from Ryan Johansen (2-1—3) and Mike Fisher (0-3—3) – to extend their home win streak to six games and improve to 8-1-1 at Bridgestone Arena in 2016-17.

Via Elias, Nashville has won at least eight of its first 10 home games to start a season for the third time in franchise history; in 2005-06 they started 10-1-0 and in 2014-15 they began 11-1-1.

* The Lightning tied the game early in the third period, but Brandon Saad (1-1—2) scored the go-ahead goal just 57 seconds later to lead the Blue Jackets to victory.

Sergei Bobrovsky (25 SV) has recorded each of the team’s 11 wins this season, helping Columbus (11-5-3, 25 points) to their second-best 19-game start to a season in franchise history in terms of points (2010-11: 13-6-0, 26 points).

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BLUE

The Coyotes, Red Wings, Wild and Stars all earned wins thanks to key contributions from defensemen:

* Arizona erased a 2-0 deficit before Oliver Ekman-Larsson (0-1—1) scored the decisive shootout marker in the first half of a home-and-home set against Edmonton.

The Coyotes improved to 20-0-4 in their past 24 meetings w/ EDM dating to March 17, 2011, extending the NHL’s longest active head-to-head point streak.

* Detroit’s Mike Green scored his ninth career overtime goal (first w/ DET), the most by any defenseman since he entered the NHL in 2005-06.

* Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin (1-2—3) posted his first three-point game as the Wild matched a season-high with six goals in their win over the Penguins.

* Dallas rookie Esa Lindell (1-1—2) notched his first NHL goal and multi-point game (17 GP) to help the Stars improve to 11-0-1 in their past 12 games vs. VAN.

LOOSE PUCKS

Goaltender Chad Johnson (35 SV) improved to 7-3-1 in his first season with the Flames, including wins in five of his last six appearances (1.17 GAA, .958 SV%, 2 SO) . . . Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith (32 SV) improved to 14-1-1 in 18 career appearances vs. EDM . . . The Devils moved to 7-0-2 at Prudential Center in 2016-17 to match the longest home point streak to start a season in franchise history (1987-88: 8-0-1) . . . Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen (2-1—3) posted his first three-point effort since Dec. 31, 2014 w/ NYI . . . Forward Matt Puempel, who was claimed off waivers on Monday, scored in his Rangers debut . . . Tyler Johnson (2-4—6) and Joe Pavelski (2-3—5) extended their point streaks to six and five games, respectively . . . Penguins forward Phil Kessel (1-0—1) recorded his 600th NHL point . . . Defenseman Matt Carle announced his retirement after 12 NHL seasons . . . The Penguins unveiled their jersey for the 2017 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series, which will take place on Saturday, Feb. 25 against the Flyers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps
MONTREAL 2, Carolina 1
OTTAWA 3, Boston 1

NHL GREATS PARTICIPATE IN MACY’S THANKSGIVING PARADE

Recent Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Eric Lindros and former Rangers great Adam Graves were aboard the Discover NHL “Frozen Fall Fun” float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday.