Phil Kessel joins select company of iron men with consecutive game streak

Phil Kessel doesn’t easily come to mind when thinking of NHL iron men, but he is now in some rare company with his consecutive game streak.

On Friday night against the San Jose Sharks, Arizona Coyotes winger Phil Kessel scored his 900th career point with his 19th goal of the season as part of a two-point outing. On Saturday against the Sharks, he had another goal and two more assists to further clear 900 career points.

Kessel has been a consistent goal scorer across 15 NHL seasons with four teams. In 12 of the last 13 seasons, with last season the only exception, he has now scored at least 20 goals. He doesn’t seem to be the most amicable personality, but that scoring prowess has helped fuel his value as a trade commodity when he starts to wear out his welcome somewhere.

A couple shortened seasons breaks up what might otherwise stand out on his stat sheet, but Kessel reached another big milestone on Saturday night.

Phil Kessel is no in a rare group of NHL iron men

Kessel played in his 900th straight game Saturday night, joining Doug Jarvis, Keith Yandle, Gary Unger and Patrick Marleau with a consecutive game streak of at least 900. The last time he missed a game was early in the 2009-10 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Starting with 70 games that season, he hasn’t missed a game since.

Along with his scoring prowess, Kessel’s effort in the defensive zone can be questioned. Plus/minus is a broad, catch-all type number that doesn’t always offer the proper context. But Kessel’s career mark of -124 is telling, and he’s a -38 over the last two seasons with the Coyotes. Even during his epic consecutive game streak, he’s a -129.

The next milestone for Kessel is 400 career goals. He’s got 391 after Saturday, but the Coyotes’ season is over so that will have to wait until next season.