Penguins score 6 in third period to rout Canadiens 9-2
MONTREAL (AP) — Bryan Rust scored three goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins scored six times in the third period to rout the Montreal Canadiens 9-2 on Thursday night.
Rust scored twice in the second period and again midway through the third for his sixth career hat trick. Rickard Rakell had two goals and two assists for Pittsburgh.
Kris Letang, Anthony Beauvillier, Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari also scored in the third as fans at Bell Centre booed and left early.
Sidney Crosby had three assists to reach 1,026 in his career and surpass Gordie Howe (1,023) for fifth most with one NHL franchise.
Tristan Jarry stopped 21 shots, bouncing back after allowing five goals in Pittsburgh’s 6-2 loss to Colorado on Tuesday. The Penguins have won six of eight.
Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored for Montreal, which wrapped up a 3-2 homestand.
Sam Montembeault made 20 saves on 26 shots in his fifth straight start before getting the hook after allowing three third-period goals. Cayden Primeau stopped six of nine in relief.
DEVILS 3, KINGS 1
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jack Hughes scored the go-ahead goal and added two assists and New Jersey ended Los Angeles’ six-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory.
Hughes snapped his 12th goal of the season past Kings goaltender David Rittich with 7:02 left in the third period to give the Devils their first lead. Ondrej Palat and Brett Pesce also scored for New Jersey, which won for the first time in three games.
Kings defenseman Jordan Spence opened the scoring when he fired a one-timer past Markstrom with 3:19 left in the second. The goal was assisted by New Jersey native Alex Laferriere and Phillip Danault.
Palat answered — assisted by Hughes and Jesper Bratt — with 1:04 left in the second.
Pesce’s goal was his first as a Devil and came with 2:43 left to cement the win as Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom improved to 14-6-2 this season.
Markstrom stopped 12 shots for New Jersey, and Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.
FLYERS 4, RED WINGS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Scott Laughton scored a career-high four goals to break out of a drought and help Philadelphia beat Detroit.
After scoring just once in his previous 25 games, Laughton had his second career hat trick and became the first Flyers player to score four goals since John LeClair in 2002.
Laughton opened the scoring in the second period with a breakaway goal on a slap shot from the left circle. He added a short-handed goal in the third, tipping a pass from Travis Konecny, and had two empty-net goals.
Aleksei Kolosov made 25 saves for his fourth victory of the season.
Ben Chiarot scored a late goal for Detroit, his first of the season. The Red Wings have lost six of seven games.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, DUCKS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist and Toronto beat Anaheim.
William Nylander also scored and John Tavares had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who have won two straight. Anthony Stolalrz started in goal and stopped seven before leaving due to a lower-body injury. Joseph Woll took over to start the second period and had 19 saves.
Jackson LaCombe had a goal and an assist, Frank Vatrano also scored and Ryan Strome had two assists for the Ducks in their fifth straight loss. Lukas Dostal finished with 30 saves.
Pacioretty and Nylander scored in the first period to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead before Vatrano got the Ducks on the scoreboard with a power-play goal on a shot from the sideboards with 4:04 to go in the period.
Pacioretty’s second goal gave Toronto a 3-1 advantage midway through the second. LaCombe then scored 1:05 later with a shot from the high slot.
CAPITALS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1, OT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Aliaksei Protas scored his second goal of the night 2:23 into overtime to lift Washington to a win over Columbus.
Protas had scored 31 seconds into the third period to tie a game that featured terrific performances from both goaltenders. The OT goal was the 11th of the season for Protas.
Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves for the Capitals, including three during a lengthy possession by Columbus to start the overtime period.
Zach Werenski got the 100th goal of his career with 5:48 left in the second period and Jet Greaves stopped 35 shots in his 11th NHL game and first start this season.
Late in the second period, Werenski picked up a pass from Kent Johnson on a power play and unloaded a long shot from the slot that beat the shielded Lindgren.
The Capitals have won three in a row and seven of the last eight.
ISLANDERS 5, BLACKHAWKS 4
NEW YORK (AP) — Simon Holmstrom had a goal and two assists , Noah Dobson had a goal and an assist, and New York held on to beat Chicago.
Dennis Cholowski, Bo Horvat, and Max Tsyplakov also scored for New York, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau had three assists. Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves as the Islanders improved to 3-2-1 in their last six games.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored twice, Connor Bedard had a goal and an assist, and T.J. Brodie also scored for Chicago, which has lost six of seven. Arvid Soderblom made 14 saves for Chicago before he was replaced by Drew Commesso, making his NHL debut, at 7:58 of the third period. Commesso finished with two saves,
Holmstrom gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead with 5:54 left in the second period, and Dobson, Horvat, and Tsyplakov each scored in a 2:17 span early in the third period to push the lead to 5-1.
Brodie pulled the Blackhawks to 5-2 with just under 9 minutes remaining, and Bertuzzi scored twice a minute apart to make it a one-goal game with 1:10 to go.
SHARKS 4, BLUES 3
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rookie Macklin Celebrini scored twice and had an assist in San Jose’s victory over St. Louis.
Tyler Toffoli and Jake Walman also scored, and Alexandar Georgiev made 17 saves to help the Sharks snap a three-game losing streak in the final game of a six-game, 13-day trip.
Jake Neighbours, Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou scored for St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington made 27 saves. The Blues are 5-2-1 since Jim Montgomery took over as coach.
Kyrou scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season 7:57 into the third period to cut the Sharks’ lead to 4-3
Schenn scored 5:34 into the third period, but Walman replied 27 seconds later to restore San Jose’s two goal lead.
Celebrini, the first overall pick in the June draft, scored his 10th goal of the season and second of the game on a power play with seven seconds remaining in the second period to extend San Jose’s lead to 3-1. He put the Sharks ahead with a goal earlier in the period.
PREDATORS 4, STARS 1
DALLAS (AP) — Ryan O’Reilly scored two of three Nashville goals within a three-minute span midway through the second period as they snapped an eight-game losing streak that tied a franchise record and beat Dallas.
O’Reilly also assisted on Zachary L’Heureux’s empty-net goal. Tommy Novak scored for the Predators, whose eight wins this season are the fewest in the NHL.
Justus Annunen made 37 saves for his first win in two starts with Nashville after being acquired Nov. 30 from the Colorado Avalanche.
Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel scored in his NHL debut for Dallas, which had a four-game home winning streak snapped. Jake Oettinger stopped 22 shots, losing at American Airlines Center for the first time in 11 starts this season.
O’Reilly has scored in three of his last five games. He missed Nashville’s previous three games with a lower-body injury.
OILERS 7, WILD 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored his NHL -leading 21st goal and had three assists, sending Edmonton past Minnesota for their fourth straight victory.
Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Troy Stecher and Derek Ryan also scored for the Oilers, who stopped a six-game losing streak at Minnesota that spanned nearly five years.
Calvin Pickard stopped 27 shots for the Oilers, who handed Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson his first loss in six starts. Gustavsson, who took the NHL’s best goals-against average into the game, gave up five goals in two periods before being pulled for Marc-Andre Fleury.
Freddy Gaudreau had a power-play goal for the Wild, who dropped behind Washington for the league’s best record. Minnesota trails Winnipeg in the Central Division but has played two fewer games.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, JETS 2, OT
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Ivan Barbashev scored at 3:47 of overtime to give Vegas a victory over Winnipeg.
Barbashev beat Connor Hellebuyck on the blocker side after a Winnipeg turnover for his 14th goal of the season. Vegas has won four in a row.
Keegan Kolesar and Victor Olofsson also scored for the Golden Knights. Shea Theodore had two assists, and Adin Hill made 18 saves.
Nikita Chibrikov and Josh Morrissey scored for Winnipeg, and Hellebuyck stopped 33 shots.
UTAH 4, AVALANCHE 1
DENVER (AP) — Dylan Guenther had two goals and an assist and Utah beat Colorado.
Vladislav Kolyachonok and Kevin Stenlund also scored as Utah improved to 3-0-1 in its last four games. Karel Vejmelka stopped 22 shots.
Nathan MacKinnon scored his 11th goal of the season for Colorado, and Scott Wedgewood had 19 saves in his first home start with the Avalanche since coming over in a trade with Nashville on Nov. 30. The Avalanche snapped a three-game win streak.
Guenther opened the scoring at 8:26 of the first period when his centering pass deflected off Artturi Lehknonen’s skate and past Wedgewood. Kolyachonok and Guenther then scored 1:47 apart midway through the second period to put Utah up 3-0.
MacKinnon made it 3-1 with 4:34 left in the third, but Stenlund scored into an empty net 23 seconds later.
LIGHTNING 8, FLAMES 3
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had a goal and five assists, Jake Guentzel scored a hat trick and Tampa Bay beat Calgary.
Brayden Point had a goal and three assists and Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Conor Geekie also scored for Tampa Bay, which was without captain Victor Hedman with a lower-body injury.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri and Connor Zary also scored for Calgary.
Tampa Bay scored four unanswered goals to lead 4-1 with two power-play goals from Cirelli and Point, a breakaway goal from Kucherov and Guentzel’s first goal of the night.
Kadri and Zary countered to pull the Flames within one, but Hagel struck just 43 seconds into the third period to swing the momentum to the Lightning again. Tampa Bay poured it on with two goals by Guentzel and one from Geekie.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, who became the first Lightning goalie to play 500 games, made 19 saves in the win. The 30-year-old holds the record for most wins (306) by an NHL goalie in their first 500 games.
CANUCKS 4, PANTHERS 0
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Carson Soucy and Danton Heinen scored in the first period, Kevin Lankinen stopped 27 shots for his third shutout of the season, and Vancouver beat Florida.
Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser also scored and Max Sasson, Teddy Blueger, Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller each had two assists for the Canucks. Lankinen’s shutout was the sixth of his NHL career.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves for the Panthers, who were 6-0-1 in their last seven games and lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 25. Florida was shut out for the first time this season.
Miller returned to Vancouver’s lineup after missing nearly four weeks for personal reasons.
KRAKEN 5, BRUINS 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice and Philipp Grubauer made 33 saves as Seattle beat Boston.
Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn also scored for the Kraken. Jared McCann had an empty-net goal and an assist, and Shane Wright added two assists.
Brad Marchand scored on a penalty shot for Boston in the second period.
Seattle jumped to a 2-0 lead early in the first. Bjorkstrand scored on a power play 24 seconds into the game, just eight seconds after David Pastrnak took a double minor for high-sticking. Schwartz backhanded the puck over goalie Joonas Korpisalo about five minutes later.
Dunn batted the puck into Boston’s net early in the third period and the goal stood after a replay review. Seattle made it 4-1 when Wright set up Bjorkstrand for his 11th goal at 9:16.
Bjorkstrand has 14 points in his last 11 games.