Yes, 140-to-79 was the score
The Hornets defeated the visiting Grizzlies by a score of 140–79. Charlotte is the sixth NBA team to win a game by a margin of 60-or-more points. The first five were the Syracuse Nationals (162–100 on Christmas 1960 vs. New York), Lakers (162–99 on March 19, 1972 vs. Golden State), Warriors (153–91 on Nov. 2, 1991 vs. Sacramento), Cavaliers (148–80 on Dec. 17, 1991 vs. Miami), and Pacers (124–59 on Feb. 27, 1998 vs. Portland).
Hornets would have won without Walker’s 46 points
Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 46 points in their 61-point rout of the Grizzlies. Walker’s point total was the largest in NBA history that was smaller than his team’s margin of victory. The previous record for that sort of thing was set on Jan. 28, 2017, when Stephen Curry scored 43 points for the Warriors in a 46-point win over the Clippers.
New Orleans wins at home for the third straight night
Anthony Davis scored a game-high 33 points in the Pelicans’ 128–125 win over the visiting Lakers Thursday. It was the third home win in as many nights for New Orleans, which defeated the Mavericks on Tuesday and the Pacers in a makeup game on Wednesday. No NBA team had won home games on three consecutive days since the Seattle SuperSonics defeated Portland, New Jersey, and Milwaukee on Jan. 31, Feb. 1, and Feb. 2, 1979.
The Pelicans trailed 44–40 at the end of the first quarter of their win on Thursday night. It was the first NBA game since April 9, 1995 in which each team scored at least 40 points in the opening period. On that date, the Nuggets outscored the Rockets, 41–40 over the first 12 minutes, but Houston rallied to win 123–121 at McNichols Sports Arena.
Four Lakers starters surpass 20-point plateau
Four of the Lakers’ five starters scored more than 20 points in their 128–125 loss at New Orleans (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 28, Brook Lopez 23, Julius Randle 23, Kyle Kuzma 22.) The last time that four Lakers starters surpassed the 20-point plateau was on Jan. 21, 1991. Magic Johnson Scored a game-high 27, and Sam Perkins, Byron Scott, and James Worthy each poured in 23 in a 120–114 victory at Indiana.
Another big road win for Philadelphia
Ersan Ilyasova came off the bench to lead the 76ers with 18 points in their 118–98 win at Orlando. It was the second time in a span of three road games that Philadelphia won by at least 20 points, following a 120–97 win at Brooklyn on March 11. The Sixers hadn’t posted multiple 20-point road wins in one calendar month since December 2011.
Rockets win despite subpar game from the floor
The Rockets shot just 35.4% from the floor (35-for-99) in their 100–96 overtime win over the Pistons. Entering Thursday, NBA teams were 3–61 this season when shooting less than 36% from the field. The other winners were the Celtics (twice, on Nov. 10 vs. Charlotte and Nov. 16 vs. Golden State) and Cavaliers (Jan. 31 vs. Miami).
Rubio fills up the boxscore
Ricky Rubio scored 22 points, grabbed five rebounds, and was credited with five steals in the Jazz’s 119–112 win at Dallas. The last Utah player to finish a game with at least 20 points, five rebounds, and five steals was Paul Millsap (24 pts, 9 reb, 5 stl) in a road win over the Lakers on March 18, 2012.
Kopitar earns a sombrero
Anze Kopitar scored four goals in the Los Angeles Kings’ 7–1 win at Colorado. He’s the first player to score four goals in a game for the Kings since Nov. 25, 1993, when Luc Robitaille tallied four times in an 8–6 loss to the Nordiques in Quebec. Kopitar, a native of Slovenia, is 13th different player to score four goals in a game for the Kings in their 50-season NHL history, but he’s the first Kings player to do so who was born outside North America.
Columbus wins 10th straight
The Blue Jackets extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 4–0 victory against the Panthers. This is the second-longest winning streak in Blue Jackets history, behind the 16-game streak they recorded last season (Nov. 29, 2016 through Jan. 3, 2017) which fell one short of the NHL record of 17 games held by the 1992–93 Penguins. Columbus is the third team in NHL history to register a double-digit winning streak in consecutive seasons. Pittsburgh did that for three straight seasons (2010–11, 2011–12 and 2012–13), and the Flyers had a double-digit winning streak in both 1984–85 and 1985–86. It’s worth noting that the Bruins have twice produced two winning streaks of 10 games in one season. They did that in 1929–30 and 1970–71.
Grubauer works hard to earn 1–0 win
Philipp Grubauer posted his third shutout of the season by making 39 saves in a 1–0 win for the Capitals over the Red Wings in Detroit. This was the fourth time in club history that a Capitals goaltender made at least 39 saves in a 1–0 shutout victory. The other Washington goaltenders to do that are Clint Malarchuk (Jan. 26, 1989 at Philadelphia, 42 saves), Brent Johnson (April 1, 2006 at Ottawa, 46 saves) and Michal Neuvirth (Feb. 21, 2011 at Pittsburgh, 39 saves).
Three Isles score two goals in loss
Ryan Pulock, Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier each tallied two goals for the Islanders in their 7–6 loss to the Lightning in Brooklyn. This was the 18th time in franchise history that the Islanders had three multiple-goal scorers in a regular-season game and the first time since Jan. 12, 1993, when Vladimir Malakhov, Scott Lachance and Iain Fraser each scored two goals for the Isles in an 8–2 win against the Flames at Nassau Coliseum. Before Thursday’s loss to Tampa Bay, the Islanders’ record in regular-season games in which they had three multiple-goal men was 18–0–0.
Pulock’s goals were both power play goals. He’s the first rookie defenseman ever to score two power play goals in one game for the Islanders, and the first rookie defenseman on any NHL team to do that since the 2009–10 season, when Buffalo’s Tyler Myers (Jan. 8) and San Jose’s Jason Demers (Jan. 30) each had a two-PPG game.
Two straight three-assist games for Giroux
Claude Giroux notched three assists for the Flyers in their 4–3 win over the Rangers on Thursday, after doing the same in Philadelphia’s shootout loss to the Red Wings on Tuesday. He’s the fifth NHL player to register at least three assists in each of two consecutive team games this season. The others are Evgeny Kuznetsov (Oct. 5–7), Erik Karlsson (Oct. 19 –21), Blake Wheeler (Dec. 1–3) and Sidney Crosby (Jan. 5–7). Giroux is only the third player to produce two straight three-assist games for the Flyers since the 2000–01 season. Peter Forsberg did that in December 2006 and Jakub Voracek in December 2016.
JVR remains on hot streak
James van Riemsdyk was the first of the five players to score a goal for the Maple Leafs in their 5–2 win at Nashville. Van Riemsdyk has scored a career-high 34 goals this season and he’s tallied eight times in his last five games. Since 1992–93, the only other player to score as many as eight goals for the Maple Leafs over a five-game span within one season is Mats Sundin in 2005–06.
Another four-point game for McDavid
Connor McDavid tallied two goals and two assists in the Edmonton Oilers’ 6–2 win against the Senators in Ottawa. It was McDavid’s fourth game with four or more points in his NHL career and his third such game this season (tying the NHL high). Since 1992–93, the only other players to notch as many as three four-point games in one season for the Oilers are Doug Weight (2000–01), Ryan Smyth (2006–07) and Dustin Penner (2009–10).
Edler scores twice in milestone game
Vancouver defenseman Alexander Edler, playing in the 750th game of his NHL career, scored two goals in the Canucks’ 5–2 win against the Blackhawks. It was only the fourth career two-goal for Edler, who has played 12 seasons in the NHL, all with the Canucks. Seven other active defensemen have played 750 or more NHL games, all for one team: Chicago’s Brent Seabrook (997) and Duncan Keith (988), San Jose’s Marc-Edouard Vlasic (885), Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall (866), New Jersey’s Andy Greene (779), L.A.’s Drew Doughty (763) and the Rangers’ Marc Staal (753).
Canes come back in the third period
Jeff Skinner’s second goal of the game snapped a 5–5 tie with just under two minutes remaining in the third period and that goal earned the Hurricanes a 6–5 win over the Coyotes. Arizona led, 5–4, in the middle of the third period when rookie Valentin Zykov scored his second goal of the night to get Carolina even at five goals per side. The Hurricanes’ victory marked the second time this season that they won a game in regulation time after trailing in the third period. They also did that in their 2–1 win versus Ottawa on January 30, with Sebastian Aho and Victor Rask scoring the goals for the Canes.