Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin scored his first regular-season goal in over 800 days in Tuesday's 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was his first regular-season goal since Dec. 15, 2014 - a stretch of 150 games.
When asked about how the goal transpired, Dumoulin provided quite a humorous remark.
As a stay-at-home, shutdown defenseman, Dumoulin's job isn't to be scoring goals - the Penguins have enough high-end talent to take care of that. Although, the injury-hit team will surely take any contributions it can get.
Dumoulin now has two goals and 30 assists over his 161-game career. He did, however, score two goals in 24 playoff games last spring during Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup-winning playoff run.
Marchand received a five-minute major for spearing and a game misconduct.
Following the game, Marchand called the play an "undisciplined penalty" and tipped his hat to his Bruins teammates for killing it off.
A suspension for Marchand could be detrimental to the Bruins, who have just two games remaining on the schedule. With a 4-0 win in Tuesday's contest, though, they have already punched their ticket to the postseason.
The Flames fell 3-1 to the Ducks on Tuesday, extending their road losing streak against Anaheim to 25 games. The last time the Flames won a regular season game in Anaheim was Jan. 19, 2004.
Let's take a look at how things were different in January '04:
The Ducks were still "Mighty"
Ah, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. We'd all love to see Anaheim sport their Disney-themed uniforms with more regularity. It wasn't until the 2006-07 season that the Mighty Ducks traded in their teal and purple uniforms for the black, gold, and orange to become simply the "Ducks."
Ties were still a thing
Tying is such a terrible way to end a hockey game, but at the same time, shootouts aren't a whole lot better. Perhaps the most annoying part of ties was the need for four columns to write out a team's record.
The Flames hadn't gone on their miracle Cup Final run yet
At the time of their Jan. 19 win, the Flames were 23-15-4-3. They would go on to finish sixth in the Western Conference, only to upset the Canucks, Red Wings, and Sharks before losing the Stanley Cup Final to the Lightning in seven games. Aside from Jarome Iginla in his prime, the Flames were led by a then-unknown Miikka Kiprusoff in goal and a 32-year-old Craig Conroy as their No. 1 center.
Anaheim was just coming off their own miracle Cup run
Although they failed to make the playoffs in 2003-04, the Mighty Ducks were just coming off a miracle Cup run of their own. Jean-Sebastien Giguere won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP, despite his team losing the series 4-3 to the Devils. Mike Babcock was the team's head coach and Paul Kariya was the captain and leading scorer in 2002-03.
The 2004-05 NHL lockout hadn't happened yet
The infamous NHL lockout of 2004-05. It was the first year in league history when there was no champion. Sad, sad times.
Neither Crosby nor Ovechkin had played an NHL game
It feels like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have been the faces of the NHL for an eternity. But in 2004, neither had played an NHL game. In fact, neither had even been drafted yet.
Connor McDavid just turned 7
McDavid, the new face of the NHL, was born Jan. 13, 1997, and therefore had just turned 7 years old. He was probably already playing against 10-year-olds - and probably skating circles around them.
Barret Jackman was the reigning Calder Trophy winner
Jackman? He's not even in the NHL anymore. You're probably assuming it was a weak rookie class, but he actually edged out Henrik Zetterberg and Rick Nash to earn Rookie of the Year honors.
There had only been two Harry Potter movies
On a pop culture note, only two Harry Potter movies had been released in theatres. "The Prizoner of Azkaban," the third installment in the series, wouldn't come out until later that year.
Through the remainder of the regular season, we'll take a look at how the night's action impacts the playoff race, highlighting which teams' postseason odds went up or down significantly.
Two of 16 playoff spots remain up for grabs after the Boston Bruins clinched their berth Tuesday, and barring a miracle, those spots are going to the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs.
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Patrick Eaves scored his eighth goal in nine games, John Gibson made 26 saves and the Anaheim Ducks moved closer to a fifth straight Pacific Division title with a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.
Kevin Bieksa ended his 47-game goal drought and Chris Wagner also scored as the Ducks recorded their 25th consecutive home regular-season victory over the Flames since Jan. 19, 2004, extending the longest such streak in NHL history.
Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary, which has lost three of four.
Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler left the game in the third period after a knee-on-knee hit from Flames captain Mark Giordano, who extended his leg and hit the U.S. Olympian's right knee well after he had shot the puck.
Fowler crumpled and couldn't leave the ice under his own power after the hit from Giordano, who wasn't penalized.
The hit set off a combative final period featuring 96 combined penalty minutes, including Josh Manson's battering of Giordano in a one-sided fight. The Flames had a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage while Anaheim had five players in the box midway through the period, but couldn't capitalize.
''I think there's a lot of hate there,'' Manson said.
The Ducks began the night two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, who have a game in hand. Anaheim has earned points in 12 consecutive games down the stretch, moving closer to a possible first-round matchup with the wild-card Flames.
Flames goalie Brian Elliott made 16 saves after replacing Chad Johnson just 5:19 into the first period. The Flames' backup goalie left his first appearance since March 23 with an unspecified lower-body injury after stretching to make a pad save.
Calgary hasn't won at Honda Center in the regular season since Darryl Sutter's Flames beat Mike Babcock's Ducks over 13 years ago. Anaheim's 25 straight victories over Calgary represent the longest winning streak in one arena against one opponent in NHL history.
Honda Center fans serenaded the Flames with a loud chant of ''You can't win here!'' in the closing seconds.
After Anaheim won 4-3 at Calgary on Sunday night on a late goal by Logan Shaw, the Flames were a step quicker than the Ducks in the first period of the rematch. Backlund ended an 11-game goal drought since March 11 with his 22nd goal of the season.
Anaheim evened it early in the second when captain Ryan Getzlaf took a sneaky shot off a faceoff and Eaves capitalized for his 31st goal - 11 more than his previous career high.
Bieksa then put Anaheim ahead when he slipped a stoppable shot past Elliott. The veteran defenseman hadn't scored a goal since Dec. 15.
NOTES: The Ducks also played without key defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen, both out with upper-body injuries. ... Gibson was solid in just his third appearance since Feb. 20 for the Ducks, who hope their starting goalie has recovered enough from his nagging lower-body injury to return for the postseason. ... Calgary earned a playoff victory in Anaheim back in 2006 during the regular-season skid.
The Anaheim Ducks will not sleep easy Tuesday night.
The club's tilt against Calgary turned ugly when defenseman Cam Fowler was forced from the game in the third period after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Flames captain Mark Giordano.
Fowler was in severe pain as he lay on the ice after the collision, and needed assistance in getting to the bench. He was unable to put any pressure on his right leg. No penalty was assessed on the play.
Randy Carlyle had no update on Cam Fowler other than "lower-body injury."
Fowler's teammate Josh Manson fought Giordano shortly after, and the final 15 minutes were full of scrums, chirping, slashing, and fighting. These two teams do not like each other.
The two teams could meet in the first round of the playoffs beginning next week, and that'd be something. If that's the case, the Ducks would surely welcome it, since they dominate the Flames in Calgary.
But more importantly, regardless of the opposition, the Ducks are hoping Fowler's okay.
The Edmonton Oilers forward scored twice Tuesday against the Kings, and his second marker was rather pretty. No. 93 split two Los Angeles defenders on his way to the net, before making Jonathan Quick look silly by finishing on his backhand.
Nugent-Hopkins has 18 tallies on the season and will be hoping to become the fifth Oiler to hit the 20-goal mark after Milan Lucic joined the club Tuesday.
The Kings, however, came out on top, erasing a 2-0 deficit to win 6-4.
Cam Ward made one hell of a save Tuesday night in Minnesota.
The Carolina Hurricanes goaltender used every bit of his body to take a sure goal away from Wild forward Jason Pominville, who could only reach for his head after the fact.
Pominville won't lose too much sleep about it, though, as his team won 5-3 and clinched second place in the Central Division.
