Henrik Lundqvist will soon stand alone among European goaltenders.
The New York Rangers star won his 389th game Sunday, a 3-2 decision over the New Jersey Devils in a shootout, tying another legend in the wins column - Dominik Hasek.
Goalie
GP
W
L
T/OT-SO L
SV%
Hasek
735
389
223
95
.922
Lundqvist
709
389
237
73
.920
The two 'keepers are level - for the time being - at No. 12 on the all-time wins list, with 11 Canadians in front of them. What Hasek has that Lundqvist doesn't is two Stanley Cup rings.
Up next for Lundqvist on the ladder: Chris Osgood (401 wins), Grant Fuhr (403), and Glenn Hall (407)
Only two goalies have won 500 or more: Martin Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551).
The club dispatched the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Sunday, making it five wins in a row, all of them coming with Scott Darling in the crease and over the past eight nights.
John Tortorella said it didn't matter. His team didn't care.
The Columbus Blue Jackets got their head coach the 500th win of his NHL career Sunday, winning their ninth straight, and captain Nick Foligno was happy to be a part of it.
"He says it doesn't mean (expletive), but that's a lot of wins," Foligno said, writes The Columbus Dispatch's Aaron Portzline. "He's gone through a roller coaster in his career ... but we're happy to have him at the helm here."
Known for his emotion and the outbursts that stem from it, Tortorella appears more mellow behind the bench this season, less of his firecracker self.
Chalk it up to age, says the 58-year-old.
"I'm trying to enjoy it more. I'm on the back nine. That's just the way it is," Tortorella, a Stanley Cup winner in 2004, said. "I'm fortunate enough to be in the league a long time. I know it's not going to be forever, so I do want to try and enjoy it."
The wins - Columbus has won 20 of 29 games - certainly help, too.
The recent retiree had one of his franchise records surpassed for the second time in less than 24 hours when Brent Burns registered an assist on Joe Pavelski's second-period goal for the San Jose Sharks against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Burns picked up his 270th point with the helper, moving past Boyle to become the Sharks' all-time leader in points by a defenseman.
Burns moved into sole possession of 11th place on the Sharks' all-time points list among all skaters. Ryan Clowe occupies 10th spot, one point ahead of Burns, and Marco Sturm ranks ninth with 273.
While Burns plays more like a forward than a defenseman these days, it's still an impressive accomplishment.
Randy Carlyle was apparently on a need-to-know basis with the Toronto Maple Leafs. And when he was fired by the club on Jan. 5, 2015, he wasn't told why management thought he was no longer up to the task.
Carlyle returns to Toronto for the first time as an NHL coach Monday, bringing with him his new old club, the Anaheim Ducks.
"I'd leave those questions to the people that were above me," Carlyle said Sunday, according to NHL.com's Dave McCarthy, when asked why he was let go when his Maple Leafs had a 21-16-3 record and held down a wild-card playoff spot. "If they don't want to answer them, they never told me any reason."
Carlyle took over for Ron Wilson in 2013, after Wilson was fired with 18 games to go in the 2012-13 season. In the shortened 2013-14 season, Toronto made the playoffs for the first time since the lockout cost the NHL the 2004-05 campaign. The Maple Leafs were up 4-1 on the Boston Bruins in the third period of Game 7 of their first-round series, only to collapse like no other team has collapsed before.
Toronto lost 5-4 in overtime after shockingly, amazingly blowing their lead. Carlyle never called a timeout.
A native of Sudbury, Ont., Carlyle has had this one circled on his calendar since rejoining the Ducks, the team he coached to a Stanley Cup in 2006-07.
"It'd be crazy to say that it's not special but again it's not about me, it's about our hockey club going out and playing against the Maple Leafs," Carlyle said.
Though Carlyle left Toronto with a winning record as Maple Leafs head coach (91-78-19), advanced stats show his teams in blue and white were a disaster. From 2012-13 through 2014-15, Toronto was the second-worst club in the league with respect to possession, coming in at a ghastly 44.47 percent, according to Corsica Hockey.
Under Carlyle, the Maple Leafs simply never had the puck. A career season from goaltender James Reimer - a .924 save percentage and four shutouts in 31 starts - got the club into the postseason in 2013, where it was thoroughly dominated by the Bruins, who were the deserving series winners, even though it took a modern miracle.
Carlyle drove a portion of Maple Leafs fans crazy with his lineup decisions. He played enforcers Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren on his fourth line regularly in 2013, and had the backing of Brian Burke in management to dress a team focused on physical play, while the league moved towards more skill and speed.
This season, Carlyle has a skilled Ducks team at his disposal, but the club ranks 18th in possession at 49.10 percent. Last season, under Bruce Boudreau, the club finished fifth at 52.36 percent.
Much of the criticism leveled at Carlyle when he left Toronto was that he wasn't willing to adapt to a changing game.
Monday, meanwhile, will also mark the first start for Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen against his former team. Andersen was traded to the Maple Leafs in the offseason, signing a five-year deal to be the No. 1.
Andersen will be motivated to show Anaheim it picked the wrong goalie between him and John Gibson. And Carlyle is, no doubt, hoping to prove to Toronto that he wasn't the problem.
Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones worked a two-on-one to perfection in overtime Sunday, with Jones sliding the puck past a helpless Ryan Miller to end the festivities.
Columbus has outscored its opposition 36-14 during its run.
John Tortorella's club won its ninth straight Sunday, a 4-3 overtime decision over the Canucks in Vancouver. The win was Tortorella's 500th of his NHL career, coming against the team that fired him one year into a five-year contract.
Tortorella is the first American-born head coach to reach the milestone, and the 24th overall.
The victory was earned by Columbus. The Blue Jackets blew a 2-0 lead before going up 3-2 with under five minutes to play in the third. Vancouver then tied it up with 1:09 to play. The Canucks' three third-period goals were the first three allowed by the Blue Jackets in the final period this month.
#CBJ captain Nick Foligno presented Tortorella the puck and whole club applauded for him room, celebrating win No. 500.
Columbus' nine straight victories matches a club record it set in 2015. The Blue Jackets look to make history Tuesday at home against the Los Angeles Kings.
In more record-setting news: Blue Jackets blue-liner Zach Werenski equaled the club record for most points in a season by a rookie defenseman, picking up an assist to give him 21 points in 29 games.
“He was out there (Sunday) with some players, and so he got some good work again,” Quenneville said. “(He’ll practice) Tuesday, and we’ll look at the 23rd as an option.”
Chicago begins a four-game homestand with a matchup against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday. The Blackhawks host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, then the Avalanche on Friday before taking three days off ahead of a Dec. 27 date with the Winnipeg Jets.
Sunday's game will be the ninth game Crawford has missed since having the procedure.
Scott Darling has filled in admirably in the starter's absence, winning each of the last four games and five of the eight since Crawford was forced out of the lineup, but he's given up eight goals combined in the last two contests.
"I couldn't be happier to have these three quality guys leading this (dressing) room," head coach Bob Motzko said in a release.
"We've been saying it every day that there's a pulse with this group. We know Luke, Charlie and Colin are at the center of that through their style of play and their tremendous amount of heart. We're fortunate to have them leading this team."
Kunin captained the U.S. Under-18 team to a gold medal at the world championship in 2015. The 19-year-old has 11 goals and 17 points in 16 games with the Wisconsin Badgers in his second college campaign.
Minnesota selected him 15th overall in June.
White was an alternate captain for the bronze medal-winning U.S. squad at last year's tournament. McAvoy was also a member of that team, and was Kunin's teammate on the Under-18 world champions in 2015.
