The drought between goals 399 and 400 wasn’t too long for Corey Perry, at least by number of games. It was just two games ago that he scored against the Arizona Coyotes to put him on the cusp of his milestone. Due to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s lack of playing time of late it did take him twelve long days to get the goal counter to turnover to that magic number.
On Wednesday he hit the mark, deflecting a shot from Mikhail Sergachev (who has 31 career goals) past Mike Smith (1 career goal). It was a typical goal for Perry as he made his way to the front of the net on the power play to redirect the attempt from the Bolts’ defenseman. He’s made a rather handsome living in that area around the net, banging home rebounds or tipping shots past goaltenders, so it’s only fitting that is how he hit the milestone.
It’s also fitting that he scored against the Edmonton Oilers as that was the team he scored his first career goal against waaaaaaaaaay back in 2005. That came in the first period of Perry’s third career game and he beat Jussi Markkanen (0 career goals). Jason Mashall (16 career goals) and Rob Niedermayer (186 goals) assisted.
It was his 27th tally against the Oilers in his 63rd game against them. The only team he’s scored more against is the Arizona Coyotes with 29. Over his 14-year career there are only two teams he hasn’t scored against. One is the Anaheim Ducks, which makes sense since he spent the bulk of his career with them and has only faced off against them twice. The other is the Seattle Kraken, which also makes sense since he’s only played against them once.
The vast majority of his goals (372) came with the Ducks. That is good enough to rank second in the franchise’s history behind Teemu Selanne’s 457, The 14 he has scored this year with the Lightning put him 86th in Tampa Bay franchise history just behind Jassen Cullimore. He’s also tallied 9 goals for the Montreal Canadiens and 5 for the Dallas Stars.
The Ontario native has split his goals pretty evenly on the road (193) and at home (207). Last night’s goal was his 109th on the power play to go along with 285 even-strength goals and 6 shorthanded goals. Four of those shorthanded goals came in the 2010-11 season and his last shorty was the following year. His favorite month to score in is March as he’s beaten goaltenders 89 times in the early spring.
He’s on a goal-scoring tear with the Lightning compared to his past few seasons. This is the most he’s scored in a season since he hit the 17-goal mark with the Ducks back in the 2017-18 season. In fact, he hasn’t hit double digits since then. Not bad for $1 million a year.
Among active players, his 400 goals put him 11th, just behind Jeff Carter’s 412. There are a few players right on his tail as Zach Parise is at 399 and future Lightning depth forward Phil Kessel (yes, I’m trying to manifest this into being) at 397.
Perry, who was selected 28th overall in the 2003 NHL draft is the fourth player in that class to hit the mark. Eric Staal leads the way with 441 followed by Joe Pavelski at 415, and then Carter’s 412. Parise should join them soon while Patrice Bergeron (388) has a chance to join them this season as well. The Lightning’s top pick in the 2003 draft, Mike Egener, never scored a NHL goal because, well, he never played in the NHL. It was a pretty good draft for the Ducks as they also selected Ryan Getzlaf and his 282 career goals in the first round.
The Lightning are one of only two teams that can boast having two 400-goal scorers on the roster at Perry joins Steven Stamkos (463) in the club. The Pittsburgh Penguins actually have three. Carter, Sidney Crosby (501), and Evgeni Malkin (430) have already hit the mark.
Lightning / NHL News
Lightning defeat Edmonton Oilers, 5-3 [Raw Charge]
Congrats to Corey Perry for scoring his 400th career goal. Four other Bolts also scored as the held off a late charge by the topsy-turvy Oilers. Connor McDavid scored twice to boost his season total to 28.
Three things we learned from the victory [Tampa Bay Lightning]
- Corey Perry scored his 400th the way he’s scored a ton of his others, by getting to the front of the net and deflecting a puck.
- After the long break, it would have been understandable if the Bolts had started off slowly. They didn’t as they took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
- Nikita Kucherov has nine multi-point games this season. He’s only played in fifteen games. That seems like a pretty good ratio./
Lightning Recall Andrej Sustr [Raw Charge]
It seems like this was a precautionary move just in case someone couldn’t go. Hopefully he gets to stay up long enough to make the trip to Nashville.
How the equipment staff prepares for the outdoor game [Tampa Bay Times]
Each player is getting four jerseys for the game (one for warmups and then one for each period). How about that?
Sean Avery signs with Orlando Solar Bears [Yahoo News]
The Dancing with the Stars alumni is making his return to professional hockey after not playing since 2011. How come I feel like there will be some sort of reality show/special tied to this?
Filip Forsberg possibly on the trading block [Twitter]
If he is truly available he’s instantly one of the top targets for a team that loses out on the Claude Giroux sweepstakes.
Boston Bruins acquire rights to Michael Callahan [Stanley Cup of Chowder]
Callahan is in his final season at Providence College and has yet to sign an entry-level deal with the team that drafted him, the Arizona Coyotes. When a trade like this happens it’s an indication that the Coyotes probably weren’t going to sign him by the August deadline so they moved him for a little draft capital. In this case a seventh round pick. The defenseman is a Massachusetts native so there is a good chance the Bruins sign him.
