THN.com/podcast. From The Hockey News Podcast: What's the Buffalo Sabres' Future in Net? Claude Giroux celebrates his 1,000th NHL point with his teammates in the first period of Monday's game. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk3MTc4NjEyMTc1MDg2Njc1/usatsi_20436224.jpg] Claude Giroux celebrates his 1,000th NHL point with his teammates in the first period of Monday's game. Fewer than 100 players in NHL history have scored 1,000 points in their careers. On Monday night, that club grew by two when Claude Giroux and Joe Pavelski became the first two players to hit the milestone on the same night, according to ESPN Stats and Info [https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1645577593360379906]. They're now the 10th and 11th active NHL players in the club and the 96th and 97th of all-time. Here's how they got there and some intriguing parallels between their careers. CLAUDE GIROUX: EASTERN CONFERENCE Fittingly, Giroux was named the first star in Ottawa's 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. Producing at nearly a point per game this season, the 35-year-old was riding a three-game goal streak going into Monday night and needed two more points to hit 1,000. If he wanted to get it done at home, Monday was his last chance this season. Giroux opened the scoring with his 33rd goal of the year at 5:51 into the first period. He then drew the primary assist on Tim Stutzle's 2-0 marker at 17:26, putting the underdog Sens up 2-0 against the Hurricanes and triggering a mob moment with his teammates. No one was more excited to celebrate than captain Brady Tkachuk. Midway through the third, with the game tied 2-2 and the teams skating 4-on-4, Giroux added No. 1,001. He skated down the slot, corralled a between-the-legs back pass from Shane Pinto, and wired a backhand past Freddy Andersen for what would prove to be the game-winner. Originally from the small town of Hearst in Northern Ontario, Giroux moved down to the Ottawa area at age 14 and played major junior with the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL. He was drafted 21st overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2006, then spent the better part of the next two seasons in junior. In the 2007-08 season, he won a gold medal at the World Junior Championship. Four months later, the Olympiques won the QMJHL championship, and with 51 points in 19 games, Giroux was named playoff MVP. Giroux made his NHL debut for the Flyers that year — in Ottawa on Feb. 19, 2008. He also played a second game against San Jose before being returned to Gatineau. His official rookie season followed, and he posted 27 points in 42 NHL games. His first point was an assist in a 3-2 road win over the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 30, 2008. His first goal came in a losing cause against Tomas Vokoun in Florida on Jan. 27, 2009. Now, Giroux is in his 16th NHL season. He played exactly 1,000 games with the Flyers, then was dealt to the Florida Panthers ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. On the first day of the 2022 free-agency period, he chose to come home, signing a three-year deal with the Senators. Since the beginning of the 2008-09 season, Giroux is tied with Patrick Kane for eighth place in games played, at 1,097. Among players with more than 900 games played during that stretch, he's tied for eighth with Brad Marchand at 0.91 points per game. And always more of a set-up man, Giroux's 673 assists rank him fourth during that span, behind Sidney Crosby (755), Kane (735) and Nicklas Backstrom (705). JOE PAVELSKI: WESTERN CONFERENCE Cross-conference cousins in some ways, Joe Pavelski has played his entire career in the West, while Giroux has stayed exclusively in the East. Both players are right-shot forwards who can play center or wing, are listed at 5-foot-11 and have yet to win a Stanley Cup. Both also served as captains for the teams that drafted them. In Pavelski's case, he wore the 'C' for four seasons with the San Jose Sharks, where he was a draft steal at 205th overall in the famous 2003 draft. On Monday, he became the fourth player from that talent-rich group to hit 1,000 points, following Eric Staal, Patrice Bergeron and Ryan Getzlaf. Now 38, Pavelski went into Detroit for his second-straight game at 999 points. He saw a five-game point streak snapped in the Stars' 2-1 shootout win over Vegas on Saturday. Monday night, the Stars quickly built a 4-0 road lead over the Red Wings, chasing goalie Ville Husso after he gave up three goals on five shots. Pavelski's historic point came at 3:37 into the second period. He tipped a point shot from Miro Heiskanen past the glove of Magnus Hellberg for Dallas's fifth goal of the night. After he was drafted, Pavelski returned to the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL for a second season in 2003-04, and won a Clark Cup. Then, the native of Plower, Wis. stayed local for college. As a sophomore, his University of Wisconsin Badgers won the national championship in 2006. Pavelski turned pro on July 14, 2006 — three days after his 22nd birthday. He started out with the AHL Worcester Sharks, but after posting 26 points in 16 games and being named the AHL's rookie of the month for October, he was quickly called up to San Jose — and never looked back. He posted 28 points in 46 games in his rookie season with the Sharks and scored in four of his first five games. His first career goal came on Nov. 22, 2006, on home ice against the rival Los Angeles Kings. Fittingly, it was the fifth goal in a 6-3 win for San Jose. Since the beginning of the 2006-07 season, Pavelski sits fifth in games played (1,248) and sixth in goals (448). Over his career, he has averaged 0.80 points per game, but one of his most impressive stats is that his production has actually increased since he joined the Stars as a free agent. Since the beginning of the 2019-20 season, Pavelski is producing at a rate of 0.84 points per game. During that time, he has 239 points. And — get this — so does Giroux, although in six fewer games. Pavelski turns 39 in July, but for him, age is just a number. As he demonstrated on Monday, he certainly hasn't lost his scoring touch. On Jan. 1., the first day he was allowed to do so, he signed another one-year contract extension with Dallas which will bring him back for the 2023-24 season. WHO'S NEXT? It's really quite incredible that Giroux and Pavelski hit the 1,000-point benchmark within an hour or so of each other. It's the kind of milestone that usually only gets celebrated a couple of times a year, at most. This season, we also saw Patrice Bergeron (Nov. 21, 2022) and Steven Stamkos (Dec. 1, 2022) get to 1,000 fewer than two weeks apart. Nicklas Backstrom got there just over a year ago, on March 9, 2022. And those five names comprise nearly half of the active players who have reached 1,000. The others: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin, Anze Kopitar and Eric Staal. Barring any history-making late-season scoring outbursts, the next crop of contenders will have to wait till next year, at least, to have their moment. Phil Kessel is closest, at 992 — with an ironman record that's now up to 1,062 games and counting but only 36 points in Vegas this season. After celebrating his 1,000th career game in January, John Tavares will almost certainly hit 1,000 points next year. He's now at 974. Turning 37 in August and going into the last year of his current contract, Blake Wheeler will need to turn back the clock if he wants to hit 1,000 next year — and set himself up for another decent payday at the same time. The Winnipeg Jets' former captain sits at 922 points in 1,117 games, so he needs another 78. As long as he stays healthy, Wheeler wouldn't have to improve on his current rate of production too much: this season, he has 55 points in 71 games. And don't look now, but Connor McDavid could be in the mix to hit that mark by the end of next season. Just 26 years old, McDavid's 848 career points already rank him 19th among active players. He's 152 points away from 1,000. And he has 151 points in 80 games so far this year, with two games remaining. It's a lofty target, but I wouldn't bet against him. Would you?
