NHL Morning Skate Saturday, Nov. 2: Finnish players showing out early in season

Four of the seven Finnish-born players to skate in the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal found the score sheet Friday, including Aleksander Barkov who factored on four of his team’s six goals. It marked the third time in NHL history seven players participated in a regular-season game outside North America that took place in their birth country. Both teams are back in action Saturday (12 p.m. ET on SN1, NHLN, Victory+ & SCRIPPS).

* Nikolaj Ehlers (3-1—4) scored his fifth career hat trick in a 6-2 win as the Jets (10-1-0) continued their strong play to begin 2024-25 and became the first team to 10 wins. With every hat trick this season, AstraZeneca will donate $3,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation up to $300,000.

* Stars will be on display during Hockey Night in Canada as the Maple Leafs, Canucks, Senators and Canadiens headline the slate and are four of 22 teams in action on an 11-game Saturday.

* The latest #NHLStats Pack highlights the top notes from October, which featured teams playing to 96% capacity crowds and scoring at its highest rate in nearly 30 years.

BARKOV SHINES IN FIRST OF TWO GAMES IN HOMETOWN FOR PANTHERS
Less than 24 hours after Matthew Tkachuk praised his captain’s presence among the fans in his hometown of Tampere, Aleksander Barkov (1-3—4) rose to the occasion and guided the Panthers (8-3-1) to victory in the NHL’s highest-scoring regular-season game played outside North America. Florida, which treated a sellout crowd of 12,786 to the fastest goal to begin an outing in that scenario, joined Colorado (6 at 2022 Global Series) as the second team to score six goals in a regular-season game contested outside North America.

* Barkov brought the crowd to its feet 7:11 into the contest and became the sixth European-born player to score in their hometown during a regular-season game contested outside North America. His first-period effort also watched the Tampere native join Mikko Rantanen (2-1—3 in P3 at 2022 Global Series) and Patrik Laine (1-1—2 in P2 at 2022 Global Series & 2-0—2 in P3 at 2018 Global Series) as the third Finnish-born player to post a multi-point period in a regular-season game played in his home country.

* The Panthers captain then capped his team’s offensive outburst with an assist on their sixth and final goal and joined Theo Fleury (3-2—5 at GAME ONe Japan ’98), Nathan MacKinnon (0-4—4 on 2022 Global Series) and Mikko Rantanen (3-1—4 on 2022 Global Series) as the fourth player in NHL history to record four points in a regular-season game outside North America.

* Anton Lundell (Espoo, Finland) joined his fellow countryman and captain by scoring a goal at Nokia Arena – the second of three Finnish-born players to find the back of the net Friday (also: Esa Lindell, Vantaa, Finland). The trio combined to produce the second regular-season game outside North America to feature three players score a goal in their home country, following the 2009 Premiere Series in Stockholm, Sweden (Niklas Kronwall, Patrik Berglund & Tomas Holmstrom).

* Sam Reinhart (2-1—3) found the back of the net twice to become the first player in NHL history to record two multi-goal performances in games outside North America (2019 Global Series). In the process, Reinhart (5-2—7 in 3 GP) also became second skater in League history to net five career goals in games played outside North America, joining Laine (5-1—6 in 4 GP).

* Aaron Ekblad assisted on three goals against the Stars and became the fifth player to record three or more assists in a single game played outside North America, joining Nathan MacKinnon (2x; most: 4 on 2022 Global Series), Cale Makar (2022 Global Series), Dustin Byfuglien (2018 Global Series) and Blake Wheeler (2018 Global Series).

MORE FROM 2024 NHL GLOBAL SERIES FINLAND

* Teppo Numminen (Tampere, Finland), who holds the NHL record for most games played by a Finnish-born defenseman, and Jere Lehtinen (Espoo, Finland), a Stanley Cup champion and three-time Selke Trophy winner with Dallas, joined Stars forward Roope Hintz (Nokia, Finland) and Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov (Tampere, Finland) for the ceremonial face-off ahead of the contest at Nokia Arena.

* The Panthers entered Nokia Arena sporting bathrobes ahead of their 2024 NHL Global Series Finland showdown against the Stars, paying homage to the host country’s famous sauna culture. Each player’s bathrobe featured the team’s logo and their jersey number.

* The 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal concludes today when the Panthers and Stars go head-to-head at 12 p.m. ET.

EHLERS SCORES HAT TRICK, LEADS JETS TO NHL-BEST 10TH WIN OF 2024-25

Nikolaj Ehlers (3-1—4) led the Jets to a hot start Friday when he recorded a hat trick through the first two periods of play before he and Kyle Connor (0-1—1) each factored on Winnipeg’s fifth and sixth goals of the game, respectively, to help the Jets improve to 10-1-0 and become the first team to 10 victories this season. The Jets became the League’s first team to 10 wins in a season for the first time in franchise history and also set a club benchmark for fewest games to 10 victories in a campaign, eclipsing the previous mark of 15 contests set in 2022-23.

* Ehlers’ fifth career hat trick tied him with Connor for the fourth most in franchise history and also gave him the most in NHL history by a Danish-born player, passing Mikkel Boedker (4) who he previously shared the distinction with.

* Connor extended his point streak to 11 games and matched the second-longest run in franchise history. Only Patrik Laine (15 GP in 2017-18) has recorded a longer stretch.

KAPRIZOV’S HIGH-SCORING START CONTINUES IN WILD WIN

Kirill Kaprizov (2-1—3) extended his multi-point streak to seven games with his 35th career three-point outing – surpassing Mikko Koivu for the most in franchise history – and took lead of the NHL’s scoring race with 7-14—21 (10 GP). Kaprizov became the first player in Wild history to be the fastest to 20 points in a season as he helped Minnesota improve to 7-1-2 (16 points) – tied for its second-most points through 10 games of a campaign behind only 2006-07 (18 points; 9-1-0).

* Kaprizov became the first player in club history with a seven-game multi-point streak and the seventh active skater to achieve the feat following Steven Stamkos (9 GP in 2021-22), Connor McDavid (4x; longest: 8 GP in 2018-19), Mitch Marner (7 GP in 2021-22), Leon Draisaitl (7 GP in 2020-21), Auston Matthews (7 GP in 2018-19) and Nikita Kucherov (7 GP in 2018-19).

* The Minnesota forward also became the third active player with at least 21 points through 10 games of a season, joining Oilers duo Leon Draisaitl (23 in 2021-22 & 21 in 2022-23) and McDavid (22 in 2022-23 & 2021-22).

FRIDAY’S EDITION OF #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES

Alexis Lafrenière tallied 1-1—2 to reach 80 NHL goals and help the Rangers (7-2-1, 15 points) establish the third time in the past 30 years the club hit 15 points in 10 games (also 2023-24: 8-2-0, 16 points & 2008-09: 7-2-1, 15 points). More #NHLStats like these can be found in Friday’s Live Updates.

NHL PODCASTS WEEKLY ROUNDUP

* NHL Fantasy on Ice (Oct. 31): Week 4 mailbag; McDavid injury replacements
* NHL @TheRink (Oct. 30): John Hynes joins; Fleury’s impact, Global Series
* NHL Draft Class (Oct. 30): Dan Marr of Central Scouting; preliminary players to watch
* La Tasse de Café LNH (Oct. 30): Quels gardiens représenteront le Canada à la Confrontation des 4 nations?
* NHL Fantasy on Ice (Oct. 28): Week 4 pickups; returning Barkov, Woll and more
* NHL Schlagschuss (Oct. 29): Episode 10 – Krupp: Eishockey war nie besser als heute“

QUICK CLICKS

* Mikael Backlund honored for 1,000th NHL game in Calgary, all with Flames
* Longtime friendship between Paul Maurice, Pete DeBoer on display in Global Series
* Global Series blog: A.J. Greer
* Global Series blog: Esa Lindell
* #NHLStats Pack: October 2024

HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA HEADLINES SATURDAY SPOTLIGHT
The Maple Leafs (6-4-1, 13 points), Canucks (4-2-3, 11 points), Senators (5-4-0, 10 points) and Canadiens (4-6-1, 9 points) headline the Hockey Night in Canada schedule – four of 22 teams in action on an 11-game Saturday.

* John Tavares (5-6—11 in 10 GP) will enter Saturday with an active six-game point streak dating to Oct. 21 (3-6—9), a stretch that watched the 34-year-old score his fourth career hat trick in a Maple Leafs uniform. Only three Toronto players, age 34 or older, have posted a point streak of seven or more contests since 1986-87 (age at start of streak): Mats Sundin (4x; longest: 11 GP in 2005-06), Steve Thomas (10 GP in 1998-99) and Joe Thornton (7 GP in 2020-21).

* Canucks captain Quinn Hughes (45-296—341 in 374 GP) has recorded two four-assist outings in his career and will need a third to reach the 300-assist milestone on Hockey Night in Canada. Hughes is on pace to handily surpass the fewest games by an active defenseman to reach the benchmark, a distinction currently held by Erik Karlsson (502 GP).

* A showdown between Cole Caufield (10-1—11 in 11 GP) and Sidney Crosby (3-9—12 in 12 GP) underscores an encounter at PPG Paints Arena, with the 23-year-old Canadiens forward having benefited from a four-game goal streak to move into a tie for the NHL lead in goals (also Nico Hischier). Meanwhile, the Penguins captain is coming off back-to-back multi-point games en route to his 77th career month with at least a dozen points and 11th in the month of October – tied for the third most in NHL history, behind only Wayne Gretzky (15) and Joe Sakic (14).

* Kraken captain Jordan Eberle is no stranger to the spotlight of Hockey Night in Canada following his tenure with the Oilers to start his career from 2010-11 to 2016-17 – his regular-season totals on Saturday’s are 70-77—147 (214 GP). Both clubs skated to eight-goal wins this past week, with Seattle besting Montreal and Ottawa taking down St. Louis (both on 8-1 finals on Oct. 29).