It was NHL premiere night Monday night, when for the first time in league history, two players reached the 1,000-point plateau on the same night. Claude Giroux first achieved the feat at the start of the evening, then Joe Pavelski imitated him less than an hour later.
Giroux thus became the 96th player in the history of the Bettman circuit to reach this prestigious plateau and the 10th active player, while Pavelski followed as the 97th player in history and 11th player still in the NHL.
The Ottawa Senators forward reached 1,000 NHL points with two goals and an assist against the Carolina Hurricanes in a 3-2 Sens victory.
Giroux first scored his 999th point when he opened the scoring after just under six minutes of play. Then at the end of the period, he was complicit in Tim Stutzle’s goal to amass his 1000th point at his 1099th duel.
Giroux capped off his dream night in the third period by scoring the winning goal midway through the engagement. He accepted a spectacular pass from Shane Pinto between his legs, before scoring with a good backhand shot.
“It’s special, that’s for sure. Especially (to do it) at home, it’s a little bit more special (…) It’s the funhe admitted during an interview with our colleague Alexandre Tourigny during the intermission.
“I told my teammates that I didn’t want them on the ice! But they were pretty much all excited. When you see them like that and they’ve been talking about it for weeks, it’s a special moment, ”added the former Philadelphia Flyers captain.
Number 28 of the Senses achieved the feat in front of his wife and two children, present at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“I was looking for them after I got the 1000th point, but I couldn’t see them. I’m sure they’ll talk about it for a while! ”
Giroux has 328 goals and 673 assists in his career during which he also played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Florida Panthers.
On his first period goal, Giroux accepted a brilliant cross pass from Brady Tkachuk and redirected the puck into the back of the net. He then served a nice pass to Stutzle in the top slot late in the period and Stutzle doubled the lead with a good sharp shot.
In the Hurricanes camp, Brett Pesce and Brent Burns were the scorers.
Senators goaltender Mads Sogaard blocked 27 of 29 shots he faced, while Frederik Andersen allowed three goals on 32 shots.
Pavelski follows Giroux
Pavelski, on the other hand, rode a Dallas Stars offensive spree against the Detroit Red Wings to reach the plateau in an easy 6-1 win.
After watching his team take a comfortable 4-0 lead, Pavelski redirected a Colin Miller shot early in the second period for his 1,000th point in his 1,248th NHL game.
Pavelski has 448 goals and 552 assists in his 17-season career on the Bettman circuit.
The Stars won their fourth straight game to join the Colorado Avalanche at the top of the Central Division. Both teams have 104 points in the standings, but the Avalanche have three games to go to the Stars’ two.
Roope Hintz had a goal and three assists while Jason Robertson had his 46th goal and two assists to bring his total to 106 points.
Esa Lindell, Ty Dellandrea and Jamie Benn were the other Stars scorers, who scored the game’s first six goals.
David Perron scored the Red Wings’ lone goal, his 24th of the season.
Ville Husso was replaced by Magnus Hellberg after allowing three goals in 12:10.
