Harbaugh and Flacco dominate Browns
John Harbaugh improved his record 16–2 (.889) against the Browns, with Joe Flacco starting all but one of those wins. The only head coach in NFL history with a better record against one team than Harbaugh owns against Cleveland (min: 15 G) is Paul Brown, who was 24–2–1 (.923) against the Cardinals.
Flacco owns a 15-2 (.882) career won-lost record against the Browns. That’s the third-best record among active quarterbacks who have made at least 10 starts against one team; Ben Roethlisberger is 19-2 (.905) against the Browns and Tom Brady is 26-3 (.897) against the Bills.
Browns at .500
With their loss on Thursday night, the Browns’ all-time won-lost-tied record stands at 461-461-10. It’s the first time Cleveland has ever been at (or below) .500 at any point in the team’s NFL history. The Browns won their first two games in the NFL, in 1950, lost their third, and had been at least two games over .500 after every game since then, until last Sunday, when they fell back to one game over.
Davis dominates Bucks
Anthony Davis scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Pelicans beat the Bucks for their first win of the season. Davis is sporting per-game averages of 27.8 points and 9.9 rebounds in his nine career games versus the Bucks. The only other active NBA player that has produced career averages of at least 25 points and nine rebounds versus any team he has played at least nine games against is LeBron James who has averaged 28 points and nine rebounds in 23 games against the Trail Blazers.
Whiteside 20/20/100
Hassan Whiteside scored 20 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the Heat’s loss to the Bulls in Dwyane Wade’s homecoming. It was the third 20/20 game in Whiteside’s career. The only Heat player with more 20/20 games than Whiteside was Rony Seikaly, who had twelve.
Whiteside has grabbed 103 rebounds in seven games this season, the fastest any Miami player has reached 100 rebounds in a season. The previous fastest to 100 rebounds in Heat history was eight games by Rony Seikaly in 1991-92 and Brian Grant in 2002-03.
Seven more threes for Curry
Stephen Curry scored 33 points on the strength of seven three-pointers as the Warriors beat the Nuggets. It was the 46th time in his NBA career that Curry made seven or more shots from beyond the arc in a regular-season game, 18 more than any other NBA player. J.R. Smith is next on the list with 28 such games.
Durant streak ends
Kevin Durant scored “only” 18 points in the Warriors’ win over the Nuggets snapping his streak of 72 consecutive games with at least 20 points, the fourth-longest such streak in NBA history. With Durant’s streak snapped the longest current streak of consecutive games scoring at least 20 points belongs to James Harden, who has a streak of 23 consecutive 20-point games.
Price is a perfect nine
Carey Price tied an NHL record when he notched his ninth win in nine games this season with a 4–1 victory over the Kings in Montreal on Thursday. The only goaltender in NHL history to win his first nine games of a season was Felix Potvin for the Maple Leafs in 1993–94. Price is the first NHL goaltender to win his first nine decisions in one season since Ray Emery set the league record by winning 12 in a row with the Blackhawks to begin the lockout-delayed 2012–13 campaign. Emery earned those 12 wins in his first 15 games (getting no decision in three games).
Bruins score four in first
Torey Krug, Matt Beleskey, Austin Czarnik and Tim Schaller each scored a first-period goal for the Bruins in their 5–2 win over the Blue Jackets in Boston on Thursday. Over the last five seasons the only other game in which the Bruins scored as many as four first-period goals was on March 7 this year at Florida, when Boston had a 4–1 lead at the end of 20 minutes of play but needed an overtime goal from Lee Stempniak to escape with a 5–4 victory over the Panthers.
Silverberg is the Ducks’ offense
Jakob Silfverberg had a hand in all of the Ducks’ goals in their 4–2 win at Carolina, scoring two himself and assisting on a pair of goals by Ryan Kesler. It was the second four-point game of his NHL career and the first four-point performance by a Ducks player in a road game since Dec. 21, 2013, when Ryan Getzlaf tallied three goals and one assist in a 5–3 Anaheim win on Long Island. Silfverberg is the first Ducks player to score at least four points in a road game while registering a point on every Anaheim goal since Teemu Selanne did that with two goals and two assists in a 5–4 overtime loss at Washington on Nov. 1, 2011.
Three-point night for Eric Staal
Eric Staal scored one goal and set up two more to help lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4–2 victory in Pittsburgh. It’s the 65th time that Staal has tallied three points or more in one game during his 13-season NHL career but the first time he’s done so for a team other than the Carolina Hurricanes. Staal is the active leader in points scored against the Penguins, with 51 in 50 games, and his total of 22 goals versus Pittsburgh ranks him third among current NHL players, behind Alex Ovechkin (27) and Jaromir Jagr (24).
Howard has been Os-good
Jimmy Howard made 36 saves in his 3–1 win over the Canucks at Joe Louis Arena on Thursday. Howard has a 4–2–0 record and 1.16 goals-against average in his six starts this season, while giving up two or fewer goals in each game. In the NHL’s expansion era the only other the Red Wings goaltender to allow two or fewer goals in each of his first six (or more) starts of a season was Chris Osgood, who did so three times: in his first seven starts in 1994–95, and his first eight starts in both 1998–99 and 2007–08.
Stamkos excels on the PP
Steven Stamkos contributed one goal and two assists to the Lightning’s 4–1 victory over the Islanders in Tampa. The Lightning scored two power play goals in the game and Stamkos had a hand in each, scoring the first one and assisting on the second. This was the first time in Stamkos’ last 55 regular-season games that he tallied more than one power play point. His most recent multi-point game on the power play before Thursday was on December 26 last year when he scored a pair of PPGs and assisted on a third in a Tampa Bay win versus Columbus.
Demers scores twice against former team
Jason Demers, who played for the Sharks in his first six seasons in the NHL, scored both goals for the Florida Panthers in their 4–2 loss to San Jose. Demers is the first former Sharks player to score two goals in a game versus San Jose since Teemu Selanne did that for Anaheim on Oct. 17, 2011, and he’s the first former Sharks defenseman ever to have a multiple-goal game against them.
Rinne is turning it around
Pekka Rinne stopped 23 shots in his 3–1 win against the Blues in Nashville. Rinne was 1–4–1 with a 3.21 goals-against average in his six games in October this season but he’s 3–0–2 with a 1.36 GAA in the five games he’s played since November 1, allowing only one or two goals in each game.
Another multi-goal game for Benn
Jamie Benn ended his nine-game goal drought and doubled his goal total for the season by scoring two goals for the Stars’ in their 4–2 win at Calgary. It was the first multiple-goal game this season for Benn, who produced eight multi-goal games in each of the past two seasons. Benn’s 16 multiple-goal games over the previous two seasons combined ranked him second in the NHL, behind Alex Ovechkin who had 23 (including 15 in the 2014–15 season).