Two players reached 1,000 career points mere minutes apart on Monday night as the NHL winds down its regular season.
Forward Claude Giroux tallied two points in the first period of the Ottawa Senators‘ 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes to reach 1,000 for his career. Not long after Giroux got there, Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski joined him during a 6-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
“Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of family here right now,” Giroux said. “So, it’s special and my wife and my two boys are here and my parents and it was really cool.”
It marked the first time two players scored their 1,000th career point on the same night, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Giroux, in his first season with the Senators, scored the game’s opening goal at 5:51 and notched the primary assist on Tim Stutzle‘s goal at the 17:26 mark. Giroux leapfrogged Pavelski, who entered Monday with 999 career points. After Giroux’s feat, he was joined on the ice by the entire team.
“Yeah, just trying to keep my emotions intact and you know, I knew it was going to happen that they were going to come all on the ice, but to actually happen it was definitely a little different, but it was special,” Giroux said.
Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk, a linemate all season who has developed a strong bond with the veteran, assisted on Giroux’s goal.
“For me, for the both of us, just to kind of contribute, just a little part of his unbelievable career. Honestly we’ve talked about it, it’s truly special for the both of us,” Tkachuk said.
In the Stars’ win, Pavelski scored a goal at the 3:37 mark of the second period as playoff-bound Dallas raced to a 5-0 lead over a club that is playing out the string.
“You kind of play it down as it’s happening because you really don’t want to think about it,” Pavelski said. “It takes you off your game a little bit. But when it went in, it was a good moment. You definitely feel that.”
Pavelski is a master at redirecting the puck for goals and reached the feat in typical fashion.
“What an appropriate goal to score for him,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “If you’re going to have a traditional Joe Pavelski goal, that’s what it would look like. It’s appropriate that was his 1,000th point.”
Pavelski’s teammates also spilled off the bench to congratulate him on the milestone.
“As soon as I saw it go in, I was turning … and the boys were already on the ice,” Pavelski said. “It was pretty fun.”
Pavelski didn’t have a point in the Stars’ previous game against Vegas.
“He was sitting on 999 for one game. We were hoping to do it the last game but it was a great night to do it,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn said. “Just a typical Joe Pavelski goal. I don’t think you could have drawn it up any better.”
Giroux and Pavelski became the 10th and 11th active players to reach the 1,000-point plateau. They joined a group featuring Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin, Anze Kopitar, Eric Staal, Steven Stamkos, Patrice Bergeron and Nicklas Backstrom.
Giroux, 35, notched 900 points in 1,000 career games with the Philadelphia Flyers before being traded to the Florida Panthers midway through last season. Giroux has played in all 81 games this season, totaling 33 goals and 77 points, but Ottawa will not be in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Pavelski, 38, spent his first 13 NHL seasons with the San Jose Sharks before joining the Stars in 2019-20, helping his new team to the Stanley Cup Finals that year. Like Giroux, Pavelski has played in all 80 games. He has 27 goals and 76 points for a team that is headed to the Western Conference playoffs next week.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.
Source: www.espn.com