(The Sports Xchange) – Highlights of Tuesday’s National Hockey League games:
Kings 5, Wild 2
Marian Gaborik scored two third-period goals, the second representing the 400th of his NHL career, and the Los Angeles Kings came from behind to win their sixth consecutive game, 5-2 over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.
Jake Muzzin had a goal and an assist, Drew Doughty had three assists and Jonathan Quick made 19 saves for Los Angeles. Gaborik scored the first goal in Wild history and remains the franchise leader in several categories.
Anze Kopitar recorded an assist — the 500th of his career — and scored an empty-net goal with 56 seconds left.
Charlie Coyle and Tyler Ennis scored and Dubnyk made 23 saves for Minnesota.
Lightning 6, Islanders 2
Yanni Gourde scored twice in 94 seconds to snap a 2-2 tie as Tampa Bay defeated New York in a matchup of the league’s top scoring teams.
Brayden Point, Andrej Sustr, Vladislav Namestnikov and Chris Kunitz also scored for the Lightning, who have 100 goals this season — one more than the Islanders. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves to earn his league-leading 18th victory.
Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle scored, and Thomas Greiss stopped 26 shots for New York.
Rangers 4, Penguins 3
Pavel Buchnevich scored the tiebreaking goal with 8:48 left as New York halted Pittsburgh’s four-game winning streak.
Buchnevich attempted a pass across the slot, but the puck hit the stick of the Penguins’ Kris Letang and sailed over the glove of Tristan Jarry (25 saves) to break a 3-3 tie. Ondrej Pavelec, who was pegged to start in net when Henrik Lundqvist developed a flu-like illness, stopped 41 shots for the Rangers, who have won six of their past seven and 12 of 15.
Patrik Hornqvist scored for the fourth consecutive game for Pittsburgh.
Devils 4, Blue Jackets 1
Taylor Hall and Stefan Noesen scored second-period goals to propel New Jersey over Columbus.
Travis Zajac and Jesper Bratt scored, and Nico Hischier collected two assists for the Devils, who moved into first place in the Metropolitan Division ahead of the Blue Jackets. Cory Schneider stopped 41 shots to earn his 100th victory with New Jersey.
Nick Foligno scored for the Blue Jackets. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Seth Jones picked up assists while Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves for Columbus.
Predators 5, Stars 2
Juuse Saros stopped 43 shots as Nashville crushed Dallas.
Kevin Fiala, Cody McLeod, Pontus Aberg, Kyle Turris and Calle Jarnkrok each scored for the Predators, who jumped out to a 5-0 lead en route to their third consecutive victory. Turris added an assist and Mattias Ekholm had two assists for Nashville.
Stephen Johns and Jamie Oleksiak scored for the Stars, who saw their five-game winning streak snapped. Kari Lehtonen stopped 15 of 17 shots in relief of Ben Bishop.
Red Wings 5, Jets 1
Gustav Nyquist recorded two goals and an assist, and Jimmy Howard made 25 saves as Detroit snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm and David Booth also scored for the Red Wings, who had gone 0-4-3 since a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 17. Detroit came into the Tuesday game off its worst loss in four years, a 10-1 drubbing Saturday in Montreal.
Patrik Laine scored his 14th goal of the season for the Jets, who are 0-2-1 in their last three road games. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots for Winnipeg.
Golden Knights 4, Ducks 3 (SO)
Alex Tuch scored on a backhand for the only goal in the shootout to give Vegas a victory over Anaheim.
James Neal, Oscar Lindberg and Erik Haula scored in regulation for the Golden Knights, who improved to 11-2-0 at home this season. Malcolm Subban stopped 26 shots for Vegas.
Francois Beauchemin, Antoine Vermette and Perry scored for the Ducks. John Gibson made 40 saves for Anaheim.
Blues 4, Canadiens 3
Brayden Schenn scored three goals as St. Louis stopped a three-game slide and ended Montreal’s five-game winning streak.
Scottie Upshall also scored for the Blues and Jake Allen made 22 saves.
Shea Weber scored two goals, including the 500th point of his career, and Jordie Benn scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price made 26 saves. It was Price’s first loss since returning from a lower-body injury six games ago.
Sabres 4, Avalanche 2
Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists, and Jake McCabe and Benoit Pouliot had a goal and assist apiece as Buffalo snapped a four-game losing streak.
Evander Kane scored a tiebreaking goal in the third period and Robin Lehner had 35 saves and for the Sabres.
Nathan MacKinnon scored two power-play goals, Alexander Kerfoot had two assists and Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots for the Avalanche. Colorado has lost three straight and dropped four of five on their homestand.
Canucks 3, Hurricanes 0
Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots for his first career shutout and defenseman Derrick Pouliot scored a goal and added two assists as Vancouver defeated Carolina.
Thomas Vanek and Nikolay Goldobin also scored for the Canucks, who won their third consecutive game. Markstrom’s shutout came in his 129th game and 115th start.
Scott Darling stopped 19 shots for the Hurricanes, who have lost 10 straight in Vancouver and haven’t won there since 1999.
