Pekka Rinne made 29 saves and scored an empty-net goal, making him the first goaltender to score a goal since Mike Smith in 2013, and the Nashville Predators pulled away for a 5-2 win over the host Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Rinne gathered the puck behind his own net and flipped a shot high and down the middle of the ice. It bounced a few times and scurried into the open net with 21.4 seconds left. Rinne hoisted both arms in the air as teammates mobbed him for the rare achievement, which last took place when Smith scored Oct. 19, 2013, for the then-Phoenix Coyotes in a game against the Detroit Red Wings.
Rinne is the 12th goaltender ever credited with a goal, and the eighth to score with his own shot.
Viktor Arvidsson, Colin Blackwell, Matt Duchene and Nick Bonino also scored for the Predators, who earned their first win under new head coach John Hynes. Dominik Kubalik and Alex DeBrincat each scored for Chicago, which fell behind by three goals in the first period before trying to rally back. Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford made 25 saves but fell to 7-13-2.
Blues 5, Sabres 1
Alexander Steen scored his first two goals of the season to lead host St. Louis past Buffalo for the Blues’ seventh straight home win and 10th win in 13 games.
Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak each had a goal and two assists for the Blues, who outshot the Sabres 31-19. David Perron also scored and goaltender Jordan Binnington made 18 saves.
Jack Eichel scored for the Sabres, who lost their sixth consecutive road game. Linus Ullmark, making his eighth consecutive start in goal, made 26 saves.
Rangers 6, Devils 3
Defenseman Tony DeAngelo recorded his first career hat trick and set a career high with five points as New York beat visiting New Jersey at Madison Square Garden.
DeAngelo, who had never had more than two points in a game in 174 career outings, scored his first goal in the opening period and then got two goals in a span 2:54 in the second, getting the hat trick on a power play. He also set up scores by Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider.
DeAngelo tied team records by for points and goals by a defenseman, with the former trying Brian Leetch’s mark (accomplished twice). He was the first Ranger defenseman to get a hat trick since Reijo Ruotsalainen in 1982.
Bruins 5, Jets 4
Jake DeBrusk scored twice — including the go-ahead goal in the third period — David Pastrnak had a hat trick, and host Boston came back to edge Winnipeg.
DeBrusk, who added an assist, and Pastrnak scored 33 seconds apart in the third as the Bruins rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the final nine minutes to win their second straight since a three-game skid. Pastrnak extended his league lead to 35 goals with his third hat trick of the season and stretched his point streak to 12 games.
Kyle Connor, Andrew Copp, Neal Pionk and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, who lost in the final contest of a four-game road trip (2-1-1). Jaroslav Halak stopped 17 shots for Boston. Laurent Brossoit made 31 saves for Winnipeg.
Lightning 4, Coyotes 0
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy posted 25 saves for his first shutout this season as Tampa Bay improved its league-best winning streak to nine games with a victory over visiting Arizona.
The stretch of victories is tied for the second-longest in franchise history. The Lightning are one win away from matching their longest streak ever, achieved last February. Their last loss was a 3-1 defeat in Washington to the Capitals on Dec. 21.
The Lightning also continued their dominance against the Pacific Division by stretching their point streak to nine games (8-0-1). Vasilevskiy won for the 21st time this season. The Vezina Trophy winner has recorded seven consecutive wins and is 12-2-1 since December.
Oilers 4, Canadiens 2
Alex Chiasson scored the go-ahead goal midway into the third period as visiting Edmonton rallied to defeat reeling Montreal.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a power-play goal, Riley Sheahan and Josh Archibald also tallied, and Mike Smith made 35 saves for the Oilers, who improved to 4-0-1 in their last five games.
Phillip Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored and Carey Price turned aside 22 shots for Montreal, which saw its winless streak extend to a season high-tying eight games (0-7-1). The Canadiens also dropped eight in a row (0-5-3) from Nov. 16-Dec. 1.
Panthers 5, Canucks 2
Noel Acciari scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made a triumphant return to the lineup as Florida skated past Vancouver in Sunrise, Fla.
Acciari, a free agent signee after playing for the Boston Bruins the past four seasons, has 17 goals this season and 12 in his past 12 games. Before this season, he had scored just 18 goals in 180 games.
Bobrovsky was bypassed the past two games as Florida went with rookie Chris Driedger. The most recent game for Bobrovsky had been Saturday, when he was pulled after making just four saves and allowing three goals. This time, Bobrovsky made 30 saves to beat Vancouver.
Kings 5, Golden Knights 2
Jack Campbell finished with 44 saves and Adrian Kempe scored two goals as Los Angeles jumped out to a four-goal, first-period lead and held on to win at Las Vegas.
Tyler Toffoli had a goal and an assist, and Alec Martinez and Ben Hutton also scored goals for Los Angeles, which snapped a three-game losing streak despite being outshot 36-5 over the final two periods.
Reilly Smith and Max Pacioretty scored goals for Vegas, which remains tied for first place in the Pacific Division with Arizona. Malcolm Subban had 18 saves for the Golden Knights, who have allowed four goals in four straight games for the first time in franchise history.
Flames 2, Wild 1
Johnny Gaudreau’s goal near the midway point of the game was the winner and goaltender Cam Talbot sparkled in net as host Calgary edged Minnesota for its fourth straight win.
Talbot started consecutive games for only the second time this season, and delivered a 42-save performance to earn first-star honors.
Talbot delivered timely stops such as one on Matt Dumba in the waning seconds of the first period, a cross-crease save on Jonas Brodin shortly after his team took the lead, and then his most important by denying Kevin Fiala with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Talbot made 14 saves in both the second and third periods.
Stars 3, Ducks 0
Denis Gurianov and Alexander Radulov each scored power-play goals and Dallas used stingy defense from there to shut out host Anaheim.
Roope Hintz added an empty-net goal with 3:04 remaining as the Stars ran their winning streak to six games, one off their season-best streak. Stars goalie Ben Bishop made 27 saves while recording his second shutout of the season. He also had a secondary assist on Radulov’s second-period goal.
It was an emotional night in Anaheim as the Ducks offered a pair of video tributes in the first period, one for Corey Perry and the other for Andrew Cogliano. Perry played 14 seasons in Anaheim, while Cogliano played 7 1/2.
Sharks 3, Blue Jackets 1
Joe Thornton scored the winning goal in his 1,612th NHL game, tying Ray Bourque for 11th place on the league’s all-time list, as host San Jose Sharks snapped Columbus’ nine-game road point streak.
Kevin Labanc had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who also got a goal from Brent Burns. Goaltender Aaron Dell made 30 saves.
Sonny Milano scored for the Blue Jackets, who had gone 6-0-3 during their away streak. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 30 of 33 shots in losing for just the second time in six games since taking over for the injured Joonas Korpisalo.
–Field Level Media
