Kessel to tie NHL record tonight against the Leafs
Acquired by the Leafs from Boston after the 2008/09 season for what turned out to be Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton, Phil Kessel has not missed a game since leaving Boston. Kessel spent 6 seasons with the Leafs where he was mocked for being out of shape and "ate hot dogs from a vendor outside the arena." However, Kessel was often the lone bright spot for the Leafs during his tenure scoring 30+ goals in each of his seasons aside from his last which he scored 25.
Kessel has since gone on to win two cups with the Peguins and after 1210 games, finds himself 1 goal shy of 400 for his career. That means he's all but guaranteed to score against the Leafs tonight right? Not only could he hit the 400-goal mark, but tonight Kessel will tie Keith Yandle's Ironman streak of 989 games straight. Ironic that it happens against the team he spent most of his career with.
At 35 years old, Kessel is in the late stages of his career, but finds himself just 43 points away from 1000 and after tonight will only be 11 games shy of playing 1000 straight games in the NHL - something no one has ever done and likely will never do again as the next closest active player is Brent Burns with 684 consecutive games played.
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