Westbrook’s triple-double takes down LBJ and the Cavs

Russell Westbrook’s 29 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists highlighted the Thunder’s win over the Cavaliers. It was Westbrook’s second triple-double against Cleveland this season, making him the first player in 45 years with two such games against the defending NBA champion in the same season. John Havlicek had been the last man to that, with a pair of triple-doubles for the Celtics versus the Bucks in the 1971-72 season.

Westbrook is the first player to record two triple-doubles in one season with LeBron James playing for the other team. In fact the only other player with more than one regular-season triple-double in his career against James is Rajon Rondo, who has had three such performances versus James (each in a different season).

Mavericks rally in second half

The Mavericks trailed by 21 points in the third quarter but rallied to defeat the Jazz in overtime. It was the second-largest second-half comeback for a win in the NBA this season, behind the Grizzlies’ stunning upset of the Warriors in which Memphis was behind by 24 points during the third period.

It was the first time that Dallas rallied for a win from a deficit of more than 20 points in the second half since doing so in December 2008 against Minnesota.

Harden stings Charlotte

James Harden’s 30 points and 11 rebounds helped carry the Rockets to a 107–95 win over the Hornets. It was 14th time this season that Harden produced a 30/10 (points with rebounds or assists) game in a win, one shy of Russell Westbrook’s league-leading total. The only other player who has even half as many games of that kind as Harden this season is LeBron James, with eight.

Saric stars off the bench

Dario Saric came off the bench to score 24 points and the 76ers needed every one of them in their 112–111 victory against the Magic. The only non-starter who scored more points for the winning team in a one-point game this season was Tobias Harris, with a 25-point effort against the Hornets last month.

Capitals extend streak

T.J. Oshie scored two goals for the Capitals in their 6–3 win over the Red Wings in Washington. It was the 10th consecutive home game in which the Capitals scored at least five goals. That’s the second-longest such streak by any team in NHL history, behind the 11-game streak posted at Boston Garden by Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and the rest of the Bruins during the 1970–71 season. But the “Big Bad Bruins” of 1970–71 deserve extra credit because they actually scored at least six goals in every one of those 11 games!

Pacioretty and Dvorak each score two goals

Montreal’s Max Pacioretty and Arizona’s Christian Dvorak each scored two goals in the Canadiens’ 5–4 overtime win against the Coyotes. It was the 37th multiple-goal game in the NHL career of the Connecticut-born Pacioretty, but the first for Dvorak, a 21-year-old rookie from Illinois. It was only the second NHL game this season in which each team had a U.S.-born player produce a multi-goal game. The first such game was Colorado’s 5–2 win versus Winnipeg last Saturday, in which Matt Nieto (from Long Beach, CA) scored two goals for the Avs and Adam Lowry (who was born in St. Louis) tallied both goals for the Jets.

Tarasenko is OT hero

Vladimir Tarasenko’s goal at the 20-second mark in overtime earned the Blues a 2–1 win against the Maple Leafs in Toronto. It was Tarasenko’s third overtime goal this season and the seventh regular-season OT goal of his NHL career. With that goal he tied a pair of Blues records: most overtime goals in one season (a mark set by Doug Weight in 2003–04) and most career regular-season overtime goals (the late Pavol Demitra also had seven). Tarasenko’s overtime goal on Thursday was the quickest OT goal by a St. Louis player since defenseman Erik Johnson scored 17 seconds after the puck was dropped to begin overtime in a game against the Coyotes on Nov. 19, 2009.

Bergeron: 7 points over 2 games

Patrice Bergeron tallied one goal and three assists as the Bruins posted a 6–3 win over St. Louis in Boston’s first game under interim head coach Bruce Cassidy. Bergeron scored one goal and assisted on two in the Bruins’ last game under the former head coach, Claude Julien (a 6–5 loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday). This is the first time that any Bruins player has recorded as many as seven points over a two-game span within one season since Bergeron did so on Dec. 16–19, 2006 (with two points versus Florida and five at Ottawa).

Miller’s 10th shutout for Canucks

Ryan Miller made 33 saves as he recorded his third shutout of the season with a 3–0 win for the Canucks in Columbus. It was Miller’s 10th shutout since he signed with Vancouver as a free agent in the summer of 2014, after spending all but the final few weeks of his previous 11 seasons in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, for whom he racked up 28 shutouts. (He had one shutout during his brief stint with the Blues.) Miller is now the fourth active NHL goaltender with at least 10 shutouts for two different teams. The others are Roberto Luongo (Canucks, Panthers), Kari Lehtonen (Thrashers, Stars) and Steve Mason (Blue Jackets, Flyers).

Perry reaches double-figures

Corey Perry finally reached double-figures in goals this season when he scored the first of his two goals for the Ducks in their 5–2 win at Buffalo. Perry, who has played in all 56 games for Anaheim this season, had never before gone this deep into a season before scoring his 10th goal. The longest it took him before this was 43 games in 2005–06, his first season in the NHL. This was also Perry’s first multiple-goal game of the 2016–17 season. He produced 53 multi-goals games over his first 11 NHL seasons, sixth-most by any player over that span.

Miller’s fourth straight multi-point game

J.T. Miller produced two points for the fourth consecutive game by scoring two goals for the Rangers in their 4–3 win over the Predators. Miller, who had two assists in each of the Rangers’ previous three games, is only the second Broadway Blueshirt to register at least two points in each of four straight team games in one of the last 11 seasons. The other Rangers player to do that since 2006–07 was Rick Nash with a four-game streak in 2013 (Feb. 28–March 7).

Chimera scores game-winning goal

Jason Chimera scored the winning goal for the Islanders in their 3–1 victory against the Flyers in Philadelphia. Chimera, who signed with the Islanders as a free agent last summer after tying a career high with 20 goals last season, got off to a slow start this season, scoring five goals in his first 39 games. But he’s tallied seven goals in 13 games since then, second-most on the team over that span (Jan. 13 to date), behind John Tavares with nine goals.

Busy night for Condon

Ottawa goaltender Mike Condon stopped 31 of the 33 shots on goal against him in his 3–2 victory over the Stars on Thursday. Condon has a 9–2–1 record this season in games in which he faced 30 or more shots on goal and a 7–7–4 mark in all other games this season.

Carter ties career high for points

Jeff Carter tied his career high for points in one game when he tallied two goals and two assists in the Kings’ 6–3 win over the Panthers in Florida. It was the first four-point game this season by a Kings player, and only the third four-point game on the road by an L.A. skater over the last six seasons. The others were both last season, by Carter (Oct. 22 at San Jose) and Anze Kopitar (Dec. 28 at Vancouver).

Hornqvist loves facing the Avs

Patric Hornqvist scored two goals for the Penguins in their 4–1 victory over the Avalanche in Denver. Hornqvist has now scored 12 goals in the 26 games he’s played versus Colorado in his NHL career. That’s his highest goal total against any NHL team, one more than the 11 goals he’s scored versus the Ducks. Hornqvist’s three multiple-goal games against the Avs are also a career high versus one team.