(The Sports Xchange) – Highlights from National Hockey League games on Thursday:
Panthers 5, Blues 2
Rookie defenseman Ian McCoshen scored his first NHL goal as the Florida Panthers routed the previously undefeated St. Louis Blues 5-2.
The Blues were 4-0-0 for the second time in franchise history but were playing their third road game in four nights. The Panthers (2-1-0) hadn’t played since Saturday.
Roberto Luongo made 37 saves to pick up his first win of the season, Vincent Trocheck scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and Jared McCann, Aaron Ekblad and Nick Bjugstad also tallied for Florida. Ekblad, Bjugstad and McCann added assists.
Lightning 5, Penguins 4
Tampa Bay remained perfect at home, holding on for an impressive win against Pittsburgh.
Steven Stamkos scored his first in 11 months, Victor Hedman scored with 0.1 seconds left in the first period, defenseman Slater Koekkoek scored the first two goals of career, Nikita Kucherov scored a goal and Alex Killorn added four assists in an eventful win for the Lightning.
Predators 4, Stars 1
Rookie Samuel Girard scored his first NHL goal and assisted on the tiebreaking goal by Filip Forsberg less than three minutes later as Nashville stopped Dallas.
Pekka Rinne made 30 saves, and Viktor Arvidsson and P.K. Subban also scored for the Predators.
Wild 5, Blackhawks 2
Chris Stewart scored two goals in the third period, and Minnesota pulled away for a victory over Chicago.
Eric Staal, Jason Zucker and Mikko Koivu also scored for the Wild. Minnesota tallied four goals in the final 9:28 to earn its first victory of the season. Ryan Hartman and Jonathan Toews scored for the Blackhawks, who lost in regulation for the first time this season.
Red Wings 4, Coyotes 2
Luke Glendening scored short-handed with 3:24 remaining, and Detroit rode its penalty kill and timely scoring to beat Arizona.
Seconds after goalie Jimmy Howard made a kick save of Coyotes rookie Clayton Keller’s spin-a-rama shot — denying Arizona (0-3-1) the lead and Keller a hat trick — Glendening worked a two-on-one short-handed break with Dylan Larkin and beat Louis Dominque with a wrist shot.
Jets 4, Canucks 2
Tyler Myers scored a short-handed goal and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves as Winnipeg defeated Vancouver.
Nikolaj Ehlers, Josh Morrissey and Patrik Laine also scored for the Jets, who won their second consecutive game. Bryan Little had two assists.
Sharks 3, Sabres 2
Timo Meier broke a 2-2 tie with his first goal of the season as San Jose broke into the win column with a victory over Buffalo.
Meier knocked home the rebound of Joonas Donskoi’s shot from the slot. Tomas Hertl opened the scoring for the Sharks with his first goal of the season at 2:15 of the first period while Chris Tierney gave San Jose a 2-1 lead later in the frame.
