Veteran forward Taylor Hall reaches 300 career NHL goals, demonstrating enduring offensive prowess.
Carolina Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall became the 245th player in NHL history to reach the 300 goal milestone, scoring Sunday night in the Canes' 6-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
"It's nice," Hall said on the milestone. "This is the closest arena to my hometown. My dad was here and stuff, so the result excluded team-wise, it's nice to score. I haven't been scoring a ton lately. Our line's been playing well, but... Our line is going to be key going forward here and we all have to chip in. It was nice to do that tonight."
Hall, 34, had been sitting on 299 for quite a while (eight total games), but it wasn't from a lack of trying.
The veteran was all over the offensive zone in that span, racking up 14 shots on goal and five assists and it felt like number 300 should have come way sooner, but now at least he's finally gotten it.
"He's been a great player for a long time obviously," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "I think that kind of goes without saying. But since he's been with us, I don't know if he's reinvented himself, but he's certainly playing like he did maybe 10 years ago. He's been a bright spot for us."
The 2010 first-overall pick has played for seven different organizations across his 16-year career.
He's never been a prolific goal scorer, his career high was 39 in 2017-18, the year he won the Hart Trophy with the New Jersey Devils, but he's been a steady scorer throughout his career.
Despite being on the backside of his career now with Carolina, Hall has still managed to remain an offensive threat and has found good chemistry with the youngsters Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven.
"He's been great," Brind'Amour said. "It's not easy sometimes for anyone to come into a new environment, but a former MVP and I think he's understood and done a great job at it, that just whatever you ask him to do, however many minutes, with whoever and in any situations, he's been really good. This year probably feels a little more comfortable with everything that we're doing and I think his play has been very solid."
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