Frank Vatrano’s rebound goal completed Florida’s wild comeback as the Panthers earned a 5-4 overtime win over the host Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
Aaron Ekblad sent a puck up the boards in overtime, leading to a two-on-one rush led by Jonathan Huberdeau. His shot in close ricocheted over to Vatrano, who notched his ninth goal and second overtime winner this season. Vatrano was playing in his 300th career game.
Ryan Lomberg potted his first NHL goal and Patric Hornqvist, Owen Tippett and Aleksander Barkov scored for Florida. The Panthers scored the final four goals of the game, including three unanswered markers in the third period to force the extra session. Fourteen Panthers scored points, and the club recorded its 12th comeback win.
Oliver Bjorkstrand notched two goals and an assist while Max Domi and Patrik Laine recorded a goal and an assist — the Finnish winger breaking his seven-game streak without a point — but Columbus fell to 2-6-2 in its past 10. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 27 of 32 shots in his first start in nine games.
Hurricanes 5, Predators 1
Morgan Geekie scored his first two goals of the season and Carolina rode a span of three goals in 2 1/2 minutes of the first period to victory over Nashville in Raleigh, N.C.
Brock McGinn, Dougie Hamilton and Martin Necas also scored for the Hurricanes, who won their seventh game in a row. Jake Bean and Andrei Svechnikov both supplied two assists, and Hamilton added an assist. Carolina goalie James Reimer made 15 of his 32 saves in the first period, but he was denied a shutout when Nick Cousins scored with 4:32 remaining.
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne stopped 18 shots while playing in his sixth consecutive game. He was replaced in the third period after allowing the fifth goal. Kasimir Kaskisuo, making his season debut and playing in his second NHL game, made three saves in relief.
Bruins 4, Rangers 0
Patrice Bergeron had a short-handed goal and an assist, Brad Marchand added three helpers and Boston blew out visiting New York.
David Krejci had a goal and an assist, and David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk also scored as the Bruins won for just the fourth time in their past 11 games (4-5-2). Jaroslav Halak stopped 27 shots in his second shutout of the season.
Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 14 shots before being pulled in the second period by the Rangers, who dropped their third straight. Keith Kinkaid made 13 saves in relief.
Penguins 5, Sabres 2
Evgeni Malkin had a goal with an assist as visiting Pittsburgh won its fourth in a row, beating Buffalo.
Malkin has three goals and six assists during a six-game point streak for the Penguins, who are 11-0-2 in their past 13 games at Buffalo. His latest assist came on Jake Guentzel’s tiebreaking, power-play goal with 8:24 left in the second period to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead.
Brandon Tanev, Anthony Angelo and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh, and Tristan Jarry made 21 saves. The Sabres hit iron four times on the night while falling to 0-7-2 since winning at New Jersey on Feb. 23. Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson scored for Buffalo, and Jonas Johansson stopped 22 shots.
Capitals 5, Flyers 3
Nic Dowd scored two goals to lift Washington past host Philadelphia as Alex Ovechkin recorded his 715th career goal, leaving him just two behind Hall of Famer Phil Esposito.
Alex Ovechkin, Conor Sheary and John Carlson each added one goal for the Capitals, who won their third in a row and their seventh in eight games. Washington goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves.
Travis Konecny had one goal and one assist while Ivan Provorov and Scott Laughton added a goal each for the Flyers. Kevin Hayes contributed two assists for the Flyers, who will face the Capitals once again on Saturday.
Islanders 5, Devils 3
Matt Martin scored about three minutes into the game for host New York, who never trailed as it continued its surge with a win over New Jersey in Uniondale, N.Y.
Adam Pelech scored later in the first, Noah Dobson and Josh Bailey scored in the second and Brock Nelson added a goal in the third for the Islanders, who raced out to a 4-0 lead while winning their seventh straight and improving to 9-0-1 in their last 10 games.
Janne Kuokkanen, Mikhail Maltsev and Jack Hughes scored in the third period for the Devils, who have lost 10 of 12 (2-9-1). Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood recorded 28 saves.
Flames 2, Canadiens 1
Josh Leivo equaled a career high with a pair of goals to lead host Calgary to a victory over Montreal in its first game with new head coach Darryl Sutter behind the bench.
Derek Ryan and Sam Bennett assisted both of Leivo’s tallies to earn two-point games while goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 17 saves for the Flames, who staked him to a two-goal edge and hung on for the win.
Jake Allen stopped 27 shots for the Canadiens, who took a road loss in regulation for only the second time this season.
Maple Leafs 4, Jets 3 (OT)
Auston Matthews scored in overtime as host Toronto defeated Winnipeg to end a three-game losing streak.
Matthews, who also had an assist, scored his league-leading 21st goal of the season 59 seconds into OT on a pass from Morgan Rielly. Paul Stastny had tied the game for Winnipeg with the goaltender removed for an extra attacker at 17:34 of the third period.
Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist for Toronto. Ilya Mikheyev and William Nylander also scored, and Rielly finished with two assists. Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen made 24 saves. Nikolaj Ehlers scored two goals and had an assist for the Jets, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 34 shots for Winnipeg.
Red Wings 6, Lightning 4
Host Detroit got goals from Troy Stecher, Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Luke Glendening, Robby Fabbri and Vladislav Namestnikov in a victory over Tampa Bay.
Mantha, Filip Zadina and Filip Hronek logged two assists apiece for the Red Wings. Detroit goalie Jonathan Bernier finished with 40 saves.
Mikhail Sergachev, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat replied for the Lightning, who saw their point streak end at nine games (8-0-1). Palat also had two assists, and Curtis McElhinney stopped 17 shots.
Blackhawks 4, Stars 2
Four Chicago players scored and goaltender Kevin Lankinen made 28 saves as the Blackhawks earned a split of a two-game series at Dallas.
The Blackhawks, who took a 6-1 loss to the Stars on Tuesday, scored on half of their eight shots through two periods in taking a 4-0 lead. Dominik Kubalik, Carl Soderberg, Duncan Keith and Alex DeBrincat scored for Chicago, with Patrick Kane and Adam Boqvist each getting two assists.
Roope Hintz and John Klingberg scored for the Stars. Goaltender Anton Khudobin was replaced by Jake Oettinger after the second period. Oettinger stopped all eight shots he faced.
–Field Level Media
