Giannis tops Cavs

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Bucks’ win over the Cavaliers on Tuesday night. Antetokounmpo has scored at least 25 points and grabbed at least nine rebounds in each of his last nine games, the longest such streak by a Bucks player since Kareem-Abdul Jabbar had a 13-game streak in 1972-73. The last NBA player to have nine consecutive games with at least 25 points and nine rebounds was Kevin Love for the Timberwolves in the 2013-14 season (11-game streak).

James scores 39, Cavs lose

LeBron James scored 39 points in the Cavaliers’ loss to the Bucks on Tuesday night. James has scored 39 or more points in a regular season game 22 times over the last eight seasons (since 2010-11), this was only the third loss he suffered in those games. James scored 40 points in a Heat loss at Milwaukee on February 1, 2012, and he scored 41 points in a Cavaliers loss at New Orleans on December 12, 2014.

Beal leads Wizards

Bradley Beal scored 26 points in the Wizards’ 116-106 win over the Pelicans on Tuesday night. The win improved Washington’s record against New Orleans to 10-1 since 2012-13. That matches the best record for any Eastern Conference team against a team from the Western Conference over that span. Miami is 10-1 against Phoenix since 2012-13.

Kings open fourth quarter with 13-0 run

The Kings, who trailed the 76ers, 78-71, after three quarters, opened the fourth quarter with a 13-0 run in their victory over Philadelphia. It’s the second longest run to open a fourth quarter this season that took a team from a deficit to a lead. The Celtics opened quarter four on a 16-0 run at Memphis on December 16. Boston trailed 73-71 entering the quarter and won the game by nine points.

It’s only the second time over the last 17 seasons that the Kings opened the fourth quarter on a 13-0 or better run. They scored the first 17 points of the fourth quarter on March 20, 2011 at Minnesota. They entered that quarter with an 85-75 lead and won the game, 127-95.

Eight is enough for Leafs

Eight different players scored a goal for the Maple Leafs in their 8–1 rout of the Hurricanes in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon. It was the first time that Leafs had as many as eight players score goals in one game since their 8–1 home-ice win against the Islanders on Oct. 11, 2007. Toronto matched the 2017–18 NHL season high for most players on one team scoring goals in a game, set by the Canadiens in their 10–1 win against the Red Wings on December 2. The Maple Leafs are the first NHL team to score at least eight goals in one game with no player on that team tallying more than once since the Flames beat the Ducks by an 8–3 score on Dec. 4, 2016.

Henrik is the King of New York

Henrik Lundqvist extended his winning streak at Madison Square Garden to 11 consecutive decisions with a 4–1 victory against the Ducks. Lundqvist’s home winning streak is the longest by an NHL goaltender this season and the second-longest single-season home-ice win streak in Rangers history. Dave Kerr won 14 in a row for the Rangers at the “old” Madison Square Garden in 1939–40.

Zetterberg assists in Red Wings’ win

Henrik Zetterberg assisted on three goals for the Red Wings in their 6–3 win against the Islanders in Brooklyn. It was Zetterberg’s second three-assist game this season and the 26th game with three or more assists in an NHL career spent entirely with the Red Wings. He ranks fifth in Detroit franchise history in games with three assists or more, behind Steve Yzerman (59), Gordie Howe (40), Alex Delvecchio (36) and Nicklas Lidstrom (27).

Staal scores twice

Eric Staal scored a pair of goals for the Minnesota Wild in its 6–4 win at Ottawa. It was Staal’s third multiple-goal game this season (all since November 30) and team-high eighth multi-goal game during his two seasons with the Wild. Nino Niederreiter is second with seven multiple-goal games for Minnesota over the last two seasons.

36 saves for Khudobin

Bruins backup goaltender Anton Khudobin recorded his first shutout of the season with a 36-save 3–0 win against the Sabres in Buffalo. Khudobin is 5–0–2 in the seven games this season in which he faced 30 or more shots on goal and his career record in such games for the Bruins (covering two separate stints with Boston) is 12–1–3.

Ehlers scores twice off Rinne

Nikolaj Ehlers scored the game-tying goal and the go-ahead goal, both against Pekka Rinne, in the Jets’ 6-4 win over the Predators in Nashville. Ehlers has scored four goals in nine games against Rinne, matching the most goals he has scored against any goaltender in his NHL career. Ehlers has also scored four goals (in four games) against Louis Domingue.

Andre is a giant in Caps win

Andre Burakovsky gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead and scored the game-winning goal in overtime in their win over the Stars. Burakovsky is the fourth player this season to score the opening goal of the game and the final goal in an overtime victory. The others to do this were Sonny Milano for the Blue Jackets, Mattias Janmark for the Stars and Sean Monahan for the Flames.