If it seems like every goal Alex Ovechkin scores this season has historical significance, perhaps that’s because it does.

Ovechkin will try to continue his assault on the league’s record book Thursday night when the Washington Capitals face the surprising Kraken in Seattle.

The longtime Capitals star scored twice Tuesday in a 5-1 victory at Vancouver, tying one NHL record and breaking another. Ovechkin’s first strike against the Canucks was his 135th game-opening goal, tying Jaromir Jagr for most in league history.

His second tally was the 403rd road goal of his career, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL mark.

“It’s always nice when you beat the Great One,” Ovechkin said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of milestone it is. It’s history.”

Ovechkin has 793 career goals, eight behind Gordie Howe for second in NHL history. Gretzky holds the record with 894.

“He has 13 goals this year and I want to say like eight or nine have been … a new record,” said teammate Dylan Strome, who assisted on the second goal. “I’m sure you will see the video of the reaction we had after the game when we found out … cool moment. Anytime you pass Wayne Gretzky in anything, it deserves a standing ovation, which he got.”

Ovechkin’s first goal gave the Capitals a lead, something they hadn’t enjoyed in their previous four road games. They had lost six consecutive games on the road.

“He was really good in the first and I thought we were really good in the first so it was nice to get out and get a jump like that,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “He certainly led. We knew we needed to have a good first period, have a good game and you need your best players to do that.”

The Kraken are also coming off a record performance in a 9-8 overtime victory Tuesday in Los Angeles.

The nine goals marked the most for the second-year franchise and extended their winning streak to six games, also a team-best.

Andre Burakovsky scored his second of the game at 2:08 of overtime to lift Seattle after the Kraken had squandered a two-goal lead in the third period. Matty Beniers and Jared McCann also tallied twice in what was the highest-scoring game in the league this season.

“End of the day, it was one of those games where last shot wins, and that’s exactly what happened,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s better to be on the winning side and the good side of it than the other, but it’s a crazy hockey game.”

McCann likened the game to pond and junior hockey.

“It’s going to be one of those nights,” he said. “Going to be a lot of goals, going to be a lot of offense, so good to get the two points. It wasn’t like we were trying to open it up. Just had some weird bounces, had some things open up.”

Shell-shocked Seattle goaltender Martin Jones made 27 saves.

“We didn’t really particularly play well defensively,” McCann said. We didn’t shut it down in front of ‘Jonesy,’ and that’s on us.”

Added Burakovsky: “It was a kind of messed up night. We were trading chances, a lot of sloppy plays. I think we played a really bad game, and so did they. We were lucky that they didn’t play good at all.”

Seattle has scored 26 goals in its past four games and are third in the league in scoring — 3.82 goals per game. Moreover, their 14 wins in just 22 games this season are already more than halfway toward their total (27) all last season as an expansion team.

–Field Level Media

The return of Matthew Tkachuk to Calgary on Tuesday brought out as many — if not more — boo birds than cheers from Flames fans who watched their team beat the Florida Panthers.

Sean Monahan’s return to the Stampede City on Thursday as a member of the Montreal Canadiens shouldn’t have any animosity.

Monahan, who spent nine seasons with the Flames before being traded to the Canadiens last summer in a salary-cap clearing move that allowed the Flames to sign free-agent Nazem Kadri, will be honored by the Flames and their fans for his goal-scoring skills and determination to play through a litany of injuries.

Tkachuk, in contrast, was a restricted free agent after last season and didn’t want to sign a long-term deal with Calgary, leading to his off-season trade … and Flames fans let him know their displeasure.

“Sean did everything you asked him to,” said Flames coach Darryl Sutter, in his third year back with the team. “If Sean had been one of those guys on a long-term (contract), that’s a captain. I’ve never seen Sean at his best because … he played parts of two years with major issues, but Sean Monahan is such a coachable guy and a good guy. He’s moving a lot better than the last two years, so good for him.”

Monahan, who needed surgery after five of his last six seasons in Calgary, left the Flames seventh among the team’s career NHL goal-scorers, 10th in points and ninth in games played.

“It’s going to be weird, but I’m excited to get back there,” Monahan told Sportsnet. “I think the big thing is just the relationships. I built a lot of lifetime relationships with people from the city and the organization and obviously some teammates. It’s going to be special.”

Currently, Monahan is third on the Canadiens with nine assists, and tied for fourth with five goals — well on pace for his best statistical season since since 2018-19, when his career-high of 82 points marked his fifth consecutive season with more than 50 points.

The Canadiens arrive in Calgary to start a four-game road swing following a 4-0 home loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

On the surface, that would appear to be a one-sided defeat, but the Canadiens created their chances and put 28 shots on goal but weren’t able to convert.

“I think we were all over them for the most part of the game,” defenseman Mike Matheson said. “It’s just one of those ones you have to credit them.”

While the Canadiens look to rebound, the Flames are on a quest to build on a 6-2 win over the Panthers in the first of five consecutive home games for Calgary.

“It was a good way for us to start the week and start the homestand,” said forward Dillon Dube, who led the way with one goal and two assists. “Whether it was a 1-0 hockey game or whatever the score was, we needed to win and get that home-ice advantage for the start of this swing, so it’s going to be really good for us.”

The night was a veritable offensive explosion after the Flames managed only three goals in their three previous outings — all of them losses

“We’ve been battling quite a bit to score more goals,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “It was good to see last game, guys able to finish. Definitely a step in the right direction.”

–Field Level Media

Both among the bottom tier in the NHL in goals allowed, the Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks each will be looking for a grittier performance when they meet Thursday in Vancouver.

The Panthers are winless (0-1-2) in their past three games, and have gone 1-3-3 with 33 goals allowed in their past seven. The seven-game slump has been bookended by Florida’s two highest goals-conceded totals of the season — a 6-4 loss to the Dallas Stars on Nov. 17, and Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to the Calgary Flames.

“When we play the right way within our system, it makes it tough on opposition,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “I think we ought to shift our focus a little bit and get back to the defensive side of the game.”

Aleksander Barkov’s absence surely hasn’t helped matters, as Florida’s captain has missed three consecutive games due to a non-COVID illness. Head coach Paul Maurice said Barkov has been “feeling better,” but it isn’t clear if he’ll be ready to rejoin the team by Thursday.

Other players have been picking up the offensive slack with Barkov sidelined. Gustav Forsling has nine assists over his past nine games, while Aaron Ekblad has seven points (three goals, four assists) during the course of a five-game points streak.

Spencer Knight’s solid play (2.74 goals against average, .914 save percentage) has started to earn him more playing time over Sergei Bobrovsky, and Knight will likely be back in net on Thursday. The Panthers’ defensive breakdowns led to a tough night for Bobrovsky against the Flames, as the goalie allowed six goals on 23 shots.

Vancouver is also looking to rebound from a tough loss, after dropping a 5-1 result on home ice to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. The defeat interrupted the Canucks’ best stretch of the season, after Vancouver went 5-1-0 in the six games prior to the setback against Washington.

The loss came down to effort, in the view of Canucks forward J.T. Miller.

“It’s disappointing when you come out and don’t execute and don’t really compete, get out-competed pretty much period by period there,” Miller said. “It’s frustrating because when you lose games, it should never be about your compete level and battle level. They didn’t out-skill us today, they didn’t out-system us. They literally just out-battled us.”

Miller has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during a nine-game points streak.

The Canucks also have moved into a virtual goalie timeshare, as Thatcher Demko’s early-season struggles have created more opportunities for backup Spencer Martin. Since Martin started against the Capitals, Demko might be likelier to get the nod against Florida.

Opponents have feasted on the power play against Vancouver for much of the season, but the Canucks’ penalty-kill unit has been starting to tighten up. The Canucks are 14-for-17 on the penalty kill over their past seven games.

Vancouver’s Luke Schenn has 2,937 career hits, nine away from tying Brooks Orpik’s NHL record for most hits by a defenseman.

–Field Level Media

Jason Robertson will try to extend his points streak to 17 games when the Dallas Stars open a five-game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

Robertson has 17 goals and 12 assists during the streak, which is second-longest in the Stars and Minnesota North Stars histories. Brian Bellows had a 20-game point streak for the North Stars during the 1985-86 season.

“I told him, I’ve seen the goal-scoring ability, so the shot should impress the (heck) out of me, but it doesn’t,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “The blocked shot impresses the (heck) out of me.”

Dallas avoided losing three in a row for the first time this season with a 4-1 win at the St. Louis Blues on Monday, improving to 5-1-3 in its past nine games.

Roberston scored a goal to extend his point streak, and Scott Wedgewood came through with 23 saves. Wedgewood was a late substitute for Jake Oettinger, who was unable to play because of an illness.

“I would term it a flu, I guess,” DeBoer said after the game. “We’ve had it running through the team a little bit. We’ve had some guys have it. If it’s the same thing other guys have been getting, hopefully it’s a 24-hour thing.”

Anaheim is in a far different situation than the Stars, who came into play Wednesday leading the Central Division.

The Ducks have the fewest points in the NHL (14) and, the biggest goal differential (-37) and are ranked near the bottom of the league in both the power play and penalty kill.

Anaheim was 3-0 in games that ended in overtime this season before losing 2-1 at the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. The Ducks dropped three in a row three times in November alone.

Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek told reporters earlier Tuesday that he expected the Ducks to have a record near .500 at this point of the season. Instead, the Ducks are 6-15-2 with just one regulation win in their first 23 games.

“It’s OK to be frustrated, it’s totally fine,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “It’s a natural human emotion.”

Anaheim forward Troy Terry knows what it’s like to have a 16-game points streak.

He produced one early last season before finishing with NHL career highs of 37 goals and 30 assists.

Terry scored the lone goal for Dallas in the loss to the Predators on Tuesday, his 10th of the season. He said he’s trying to lead by example both on and off the ice.

“It starts with myself, not getting frustrated and trying to fight that,” he said. “As a team, I know the work ethic and the battle in this group. When it doesn’t go our way, I think you see it in games, when we get down a goal, there’s no quit. So, just trying to keep taking positives and keep taking that road game mentality that we had (Tuesday) night and just bring that to Dallas.”

Anaheim defenseman Urho Vaakanainen made his season debut after recovering from an upper-body injury that occurred on April 29.

Vaakanainen played 14:52 against Nashville, recording a hit and two blocked shots.

–Field Level Media

The Carolina Hurricanes will try to continue their recent resurgence when they visit the sputtering St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

The Hurricanes have won their last two contests on the heels of a five-game winless streak (0-1-4). They are catching the Blues in the midst of a 1-3-0 stretch.

Carolina posted a 3-2 victory in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday to start a six-game road trip. The Hurricanes, who are 7-3-4 on the road this season, had to overcome Jake Guentzel’s tying goal with 58 seconds remaining in the third period.

“That’s a huge win,” said Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce, who scored in overtime. “It’s a division rival and when you look at the standings, it’s early in the year, but they’re right next to us.

“We faced a little adversity when they scored with a minute left. That kind of hurt, but we had the resiliency to get the extra point.”

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour liked his team’s performance against Sidney Crosby and company.

“I thought we played well the whole game,” Brind’Amour said. “Yeah, they put a little push on in the third and we had a little mess up on the six-on-five — we should’ve kept the pressure on — and they kind of just floated one in. I like the game overall and the two points is what we needed.”

The Blues have been outscored 15-5 in their last three losses. One of their problems has been their inability to transition smoothly from defense to offense.

“We could definitely be a little bit cleaner on execution,” Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo said. “That’s something we preach here. Coming out of our end has been kind of the bread and butter of this team for a while. That’s something that should be addressed, and just something we need to clean up.”

Blues defensemen and forwards have struggled to get into sync with their breakouts. That weakness could be problematic against the Hurricanes, one of the NHL tighter-checking teams, on Thursday.

“We could definitely do a better job of managing the puck,” Blues forward Brandon Saad said. “It’s tough. Our execution’s kind of been poor. I don’t know if it’s the amount of games or nervousness. But unfortunately we’re getting hemmed in a little bit too much. We had some offensive zone shifts where we played pretty well. At the end of the day we gotta keep it out of our net.”

Carolina forward Teuvo Teravainen (upper-body injury) is questionable to play Thursday. Forward Max Pacioretty (Achilles tendon tear) and goaltender Frederik Andersen (lower-body injury) are traveling with the team but not as close to returning.

The Blues could see the return of center Robert Thomas (lower-body injury) for this game. He was centering a line with Pavel Buchnevich and Vladimir Tarasenko at practice on Wednesday.

“What happened to (Thomas), it could’ve been more serious,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “I think we dodged a bullet.”

–Field Level Media

The Tampa Bay Lightning were unable to prevent the Boston Bruins from extending their NHL-record season-opening home winning streak in the most recent encounter between the teams.

On Thursday, the Lightning will look to stop the Flyers from posting back-to-back wins at home when the teams meet in Philadelphia.

Tampa Bay star captain Steven Stamkos recorded his 999th career NHL point by scoring a power-play goal late in the second period of his team’s 3-1 setback to the Bruins on Tuesday.

Stamkos has collected six goals and eight assists during his eight-game points streak, during which the Lightning have posted a 6-2-0 record.

Former Hart Trophy recipient Nikita Kucherov set up Stamkos’ team-leading 13th goal of the season on Tuesday to boost his point total to 14 (four goals, 10 assists) during that same eight-game stretch. Kucherov leads the team in both assists (25) and points (35).

Tampa Bay was unable to muster anything more than Stamkos’ goal on Tuesday, much to the chagrin of coach Jon Cooper.

“In the end we didn’t get it done,” Cooper said. “Tie game in the third period and you come in here and want to commit penalties against Boston and can’t kill off one penalty. Shame on us.”

Kucherov set up both of Stamkos’ power-play goals early in the second period during the Lightning’s first meeting of the season with the Flyers on Oct. 18. The Flyers, however, responded with three unanswered goals to claim the 3-2 win.

Kevin Hayes, who had an assist in that game, scored two goals on Tuesday as the Flyers snapped a 10-game winless skid (0-7-3) with a 3-1 home victory over the New York Islanders.

“It’s no fun when you’re losing every night, but I do think that there (are) games that we deserved to win in that streak and there’s definitely games we deserved to lose,” Hayes said. “Tonight, I think everyone gave a full (60-minute) effort right from the first faceoff, and I think everyone’s pretty happy that we won and ended it.”

Said Philadelphia coach John Tortorella: “Are our problems solved? Absolutely not. You get what you deserve, and I think we deserved to win tonight’s game.”

Hayes has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past 10 games. He leads the team in goals (eight), assists (16) and points (24).

Scott Laughton returned to the lineup after being sidelined for four games due to an upper-body injury. He scored a goal in the initial meeting with Tampa Bay.

The Flyers also could see the season debut of Cam Atkinson on Thursday.

Atkinson has been sidelined with an upper-body injury, however the 5-foot-8, 176-pound forward didn’t shy away from initiating contact with 6-4, 220-pound defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen during a recent practice.

“Just good to be back with the guys and battling and going through a lovely Torts practice like that was,” Atkinson said, per the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Atkinson finished second on the team in goals (23), assists (27) and points (50) last season — his first in Philadelphia.

–Field Level Media

The Pittsburgh Penguins, who host the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, got jarring news Wednesday when it was discovered that top defenseman Kris Letang had a stroke.

Letang, who will be out indefinitely for further tests and to allow a medical plan to be devised, missed Tuesday’s Penguins game because he was not feeling well. General manager Ron Hextall said the stroke happened on Monday.

It was the second stroke of his career, following one in 2014. As with that one, Letang, 35, is expected to recover sufficiently enough to resume his career. The team said he is not experiencing any lasting effects of the most recent stroke, and he issued a statement through the team on Wednesday.

“I am fortunate to know my body well enough to recognize when something isn’t right,” he said. “While it is difficult to navigate this issue publicly, I am hopeful it can raise awareness. It is important for me that my teammates, family, and the fans know that I am okay. … I am optimistic that I will be back on the ice soon.”

That was good news for the Penguins, who already were feeling down from their past two games following a five-game winning streak.

Pittsburgh was frustrated by a series of gaffes and miscues Saturday in a 4-1 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tuesday, the Penguins were left fuming over what they were convinced was a missed penalty call against Carolina in overtime that helped lead to the Hurricanes’ winning goal in a 3-2 game.

“A point is good,” Penguins winger Jason Zucker said of the overtime loss coming after a regulation loss, “but it’s not enough. We have to be better.”

And that’s how a five-game homestand started for Pittsburgh after the team played 14 of its opening 21 games on the road. The game against the Golden Knights is also the first of nine at home in December.

“It’s important for us to establish ourselves as a stingy team at home,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said going into the current homestand.

“We’ve got a stretch where we’ve got a bunch of (home games). … It’s an opportunity for us that we’re going to maximize.”

So far, not so good.

Vegas could be another challenge for the Penguins.

The Golden Knights opened a four-game road trip with a 3-2 shootout win Tuesday at Columbus. That snapped a two-game losing streak, but it was just the second time Vegas has lost back-to-back games this season.

“It was just about getting a win,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said of the road-trip opener. “Now we can start building a streak the other way.”

His team knows about those. An earlier nine-game winning streak helped establish the Golden Knights as a team to reckon with this season. There was also a three-game winning streak to open the season. They lead the Pacific Division.

Vegas survived a scare in the third period of the game in Columbus when Jack Eichel took a puck to the face, left bloodied, but returned.

“He’s a warrior,” goaltender Logan Thompson said. “That just shows how hungry we are this year.”

Thursday’s game also marks the return of former Penguins winger Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh for the only time this season. Kessel’s numbers are down in his first season with Vegas — four goals, eight points in 24 games.

Like Pittsburgh, Vegas played its most recent game without its top defenseman. Alex Pietrangelo was excused for personal reasons. It seems likely he will be available for Thursday’s game.

–Field Level Media

The New Jersey Devils will aim for their fourth straight win and 17th in their past 18 games on Thursday when they host the Nashville Predators in Newark, N.J.

The Devils answered the lone misstep in that stretch — a loss to Toronto on Nov. 23 — with multi-goal victories over Buffalo, Washington and the New York Rangers. The 5-3 win over the Rangers in the Hudson River Rivalry on Monday allowed New Jersey to conclude November with a 13-1-0 record, with only four teams in NHL history having recorded more victories in a single calendar month.

“It feels good, but we’re not where we want to be yet,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “We’ve still got tons of hockey left. We’re really happy with our start, but we’re not even halfway through. You can’t buy anything with that, so we’ve just got to keep improving, keep getting better. That’s our goal.”

Speaking of goals, New Jersey improved to 9-0-0 this season in games in which Jack Hughes scores a goal.

Hughes scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season on Monday and fifth in his past three games. He has 23 of his club high-tying 26 points over his past 17 games.

Yegor Sharangovich collected two goals against the Rangers to boost his point total to eight (five goals, three assists) in his past seven games. That surge has come on the heels of being held off the scoresheet in eight of his previous nine games.

Vitek Vanecek made 35 saves to record his 11th win on Monday and join Sean Burke as the lone goaltenders in franchise history to claim that many victories in their first 15 appearances with the club. Burke accomplished the feat spread over the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons.

Defenseman John Marino (upper-body injury) did not practice on Wednesday and is considered day-to-day, the team said.

Like New Jersey, Nashville also is enjoying a pronounced hot streak. The Predators improved to 5-1-1 in their past seven games following a 2-1 overtime victory against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

Captain Roman Josi scored at 3:50 of the extra session and Matt Duchene notched two assists for the Predators, who have ventured past regulation in three of their past four games (2-0-1).

“We probably shouldn’t have (gone to overtime) tonight,” Duchene said. “They got some good goaltending. So did we obviously in the third, but we have to find ways to ramp it up a little bit and put them away earlier … But we got it done, so keep building.”

Josi collected a goal and an assist in both victories against New Jersey last season.

Juuse Saros turned aside 52 of 56 shots to pick up the win in both meetings and improve to 5-0-1 with a 1.77 goals-against average and .939 save percentage in six career meetings with the Devils.

On Tuesday, Nashville played in its first game since having two contests postponed following a water main break that flooded Bridgestone Arena on Friday.

The Predators will open a three-game trek looking to put a stop to their road woes. They are 3-6-0 away from the Music City this season.

–Field Level Media