Add another name to the growing list of potential Rocket Richard Trophy winners.

With another goal in the Los Angeles Kings' 4-0 thumping of the Nashville Predators on Thursday, Jeff Carter climbed a little higher on the list of the league's top goal-scorers.

The 31-year-old now has 17 on the campaign - six behind Sidney Crosby, but just two back of David Pastrnak and the second overall spot.

Carter has been on a tear of late, with six goals in his last seven games, and has proven to be the Kings' most dependable option on offense. He's the only member of the team to hit double digits in goals, and has more than twice as many as the next-highest teammate, Tyler Toffoli, who has eight to date.

Carter is likely going to need Crosby to hit a wall if he hopes to dethrone the Pittsburgh Penguins captain and capture the honor. In the meantime, he can rest his hat on the fact that he's on pace to eclipse the 40-goal mark for the second time in his career, and should at least be in the running at season's end.

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The kid can skate.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin stepped on the gas late in a win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, speeding down the ice in order to score an empty-net goal and squash any attempt at a comeback.

The goal was Drouin's second of the game and 10th of the season.

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Bruce Boudreau has a way with words.

The Minnesota Wild head coach was asked how he felt about his team tying a franchise record with its ninth straight win, and his answer was something.

"Tying is like kissing your sister," Boudreau said, according to the Star Tribune's Michael Russo. "Getting it is the nice thing. Our job's not done."

The Wild will go for 10 on Friday in Manhattan, when they visit the New York Rangers. They'll once again be without Zach Parise, Boudreau confirmed, as the winger's dealing with an illness that cost him Thursday's game, as well.

Devan Dubnyk was exceptional again Thursday, but backup Darcy Kuemper should get the call in the second half of a back-to-back.

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Jaromir Jagr wasn't the only NHL player to register a milestone assist Thursday night.

With a third-period helper on Devin Setoguchi's goal against the Nashville Predators, Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar reached a cool 700 points for his career.

L.A. defeated the Predators 4-0, as Peter Budaj recorded a 28-save shutout for his third clean sheet of the season.

Kopitar's spent his entire career with the Kings after being drafted 11th overall in 2005. He has 246 goals and 454 assists in 792 regular-season games.

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Lost in all the hype surrounding the scorching-hot Columbus Blue Jackets and Jaromir Jagr's record-setting week are the Minnesota Wild and Devan Dubnyk.

Dubnyk and his mates went into Montreal on Thursday night, where the Canadiens had only lost twice this year, and came away with a 4-2 win. It was Minnesota's ninth straight win, tying a franchise record.

In a battle between the league's top two goalies, Dubnyk came out on top, making 32 saves on 34 shots. Carey Price stopped 23-of-26 shots he faced. Eric Staal scored his fifth game-winning goal of the season, as he continues to be one of the top offseason signings.

Dubnyk is 10-0-2 in his last 12 starts. He's money, and leads the league in goals-against average, save percentage, shutouts, and wins. He's allowed three goals or less in 122 of the 132 games he's played for Minnesota, according to the club.

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This is a recording: A Toronto Maple Leafs rookie has scored a beauty goal.

Getting in on the action this time around was Frederik Gauthier, who fired a wicked shot over the catching glove of Colorado Avalanche netminder Semyon Varlamov for his first career NHL goal.

Gauthier - who was selected in the first round by Toronto in 2013 - picked up the marker in his second game of the season and the ninth of his career. The goal gave the Maple Leafs a 5-0 lead in the second period.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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It didn't happen quite the way he pictured it.

After Jaromir Jagr recorded career point 1,888, and with the game on hold to celebrate him passing Mark Messier on the NHL's all-time points list, he was asked what the milestone meant.

Jagr said he would have liked the point to come on a goal or a beautiful assist, but the puck happened to touch a certain area of his pants before finding Aleksander Barkov's stick and then the back of the net.

Here's all of it: the point, the celebration, and the golden stick.

Never leave us, Jaromir.

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Jaromir Jagr made a little more history Thursday, recording the 1,888th point - an assist - of his remarkable career to pass legend Mark Messier for second on the NHL's all-time scoring list.

Two months shy of his 45th birthday, and two night's after tying Messier with a three-assist game, Jagr stands alone at No. 2.

It wasn't the prettiest assist of Jagr's career, but one of the most important. His Florida Panthers down 2-0 in the third period, Jagr was parked in front of the Boston Bruins net and took a Michael Matheson slapshot off his leg. The rebound off No. 68 bounced directly to Aleksander Barkov, who potted the goal to give Jagr the point he was looking for.

Jagr was saluted by the home crowd in Florida, and his Panthers teammates, and was given a gold stick to commemorate the historical moment.

"It hit my ass," Jagr said as the game was stopped for an immediate interview with the legend. Off his bottom or not, it'll go down as the 1,133rd assist of Jagr's career.

Up next: Wayne Gretzky and his otherwordly 2,857 points.

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Remember when Auston Matthews was in a scoring slump?

It seems like forever ago, as the Toronto Maple Leafs stud has been on a goal-scoring terror over the last month. With his 16th goal of the year Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche, the 19-year-old now has 10 goals since Nov. 23.

To add to the offensive madness, Matthews hasn't gone goalless in consecutive games since Nov. 19 and 23 - the final two games of his 13-game goalless skid.

After it looked like Patrik Laine would walk away with the rookie scoring title, Matthews is just two goals and four points behind the Winnipeg Jets winger, with three games in hand.

You could say the kid is alright.

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Well that escalated quickly.

Entering the third period with a 3-1 advantage over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Columbus Blue Jackets did all they could to put the Metropolitan Division showdown out of reach with three goals in 51 seconds.

Here's who did the damage:

• Scott Hartnell (2:44)
• Brandon Saad (3:01)
• Boone Jenner (3:35)

Jenner's goal chased Matt Murray from the net after the rookie goalie allowed six goals on 23 shots, but Saad's goal was the nicest of the three:

(Courtesy: NHL.com)

The Blue Jackets entered the game one point back of the reigning Stanley Cup champions, and now sit in a tie for first overall with the Chicago Blackhawks after an eventual 7-1 win.

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