Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere scored goals in the opening two periods as the Los Angeles Kings extended their season-best winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.
Trevor Moore scored two empty-net goals and Anze Kopitar recorded an assist for the Kings in the 1,400th game of his career.
Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves in his 400th career game as the Kings earned their second victory of the season over the Wild, who are tied for the NHL lead in points.
Yakov Trenin scored a goal and Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves for the Wild, who saw their season-best five-game winning streak come to an end on the second night of a back-to-back. Minnesota lost in regulation on the road for just the second time this season.
Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, who started the day as the NHL’s point leader, saw his three-game goal streak and his five-game point streak come to an end.
Utah Hockey Club 5, Sabres 2
Michael Kesselring and Mikhail Sergachev scored 24 seconds apart in the second period to spur Utah past host Buffalo, giving Andre Tourigny his 100th win as an NHL coach.
Alexander Kerfoot had two assists and Nick Schmaltz picked up his fourth goal in three games for Utah.
For the third straight game, the Sabres led after the first period. However, they again failed to maintain that advantage in losing their sixth straight (0-4-2). It’s Buffalo’s longest futility streak since it lost eight in a row from Oct. 25 to Nov. 19, 2022.
Bruins 4, Flyers 3 (OT)
Pavel Zacha scored his second overtime game-winning goal in three games to propel Boston past visiting Philadelphia.
After Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman (23 saves) stopped a Joel Farabee breakaway to extend the extra session, David Pastrnak curled around the net and fed Zacha for the back-door finish to decide the game at the 2:49 mark. Trent Frederic posted his second multi-goal effort of the season before Brad Marchand’s tying goal for Boston, which has won four straight.
Matvei Michkov gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead in the first period, becoming the first NHL rookie to reach the double-digit goal plateau this season. Cam York also scored, Travis Sanheim had two assists and Aleksei Kolosov made 27 stops for Philadelphia, which has lost back-to-back games (0-1-1) following a 4-0-1 run.
Islanders 4, Hurricanes 3
Bo Horvat snapped a lengthy scoring drought to cap a four-goal second period as New York came back to beat Carolina in Elmont, N.Y.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom each collected a tying goal before Maxim Tsyplakov put the Islanders ahead 3-2 with 3:44 left in the second period. Horvat scored the eventual game-winner — his first goal in 14 games — 2:39 later. Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves, including 18 in the third period.
Andrei Svechnikov scored twice and Jesperi Kotkaniemi had an extra-attacker goal in the final minute of the third for the Hurricanes, who have lost four of five (1-4-0). Pyotr Kochetkov recorded 21 saves.
Oilers 4, Blues 2
Connor McDavid scored once and added an assist to lead host Edmonton to a victory over St. Louis.
Corey Perry, Zach Hyman and Troy Stecher also scored while Leon Draisaitl recorded two assists for the Oilers, who have won five of their past six games. Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 29 saves.
Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues, who lost in regulation for the first time in six games, a run that started when Jim Montgomery first took over as coach. Goalie Jordan Binnington stopped 17 shots.
Penguins 5, Maple Leafs 2
Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh in a win against visiting Toronto.
Michael Bunting, Blake Lizotte and Kris Letang also scored and Tristan Jarry made 25 saves for the Penguins, who have won five of six games.
Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist, William Nylander also scored, Auston Matthews had two assists and Joseph Woll made 24 saves for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two in a row following a three-game winning streak.
Senators 3, Predators 1
Linus Ullmark turned aside 37 of 38 shots in host Ottawa’s win over Nashville, which lost its seventh straight game.
Jacob Bernard-Docker, Claude Giroux, and Nick Cousins scored for the Senators and Tim Stutzle picked up a pair of assists.
Fedor Svechkov ended Ullmark’s shutout bid, scoring the Predators’ lone goal with just 1:57 left in the game. Juuse Saros made 27 saves for Nashville.
Jets 4, Blackhawks 2
Mark Scheifele scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Kyle Connor had two assists to boost visiting Winnipeg past slumping Chicago.
Playing under interim coach Anders Sorensen for the first time, the Blackhawks led 1-0 and 2-1 but couldn’t hold off the Jets en route to their season-worst fifth straight defeat.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 12 shots as the Jets won their second in a row on the heels of a four-game skid.
Panthers 3, Sharks 1
Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, leading Florida to a win over San Jose in Sunrise, Fla.
Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers, who have won 11 straight games against the Sharks and have points in six straight overall (5-0-1). Sergei Bobrovsky, who missed Florida’s previous two games due to the birth of his child, made 28 saves for his 14th career win against San Jose.
Tyler Toffoli had the Sharks’ lone goal. San Jose has dropped back-to-back games on the heels of a three-game winning streak. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 49 shots in the loss.
Capitals 4, Canadiens 2
Tom Wilson scored two third-period goals and Washington rallied past Montreal to extend the franchise record with its ninth straight road win.
Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist and Dylan Strome also scored for the Capitals. Aliaksei Protas had two assists, and Logan Thompson made 22 saves.
Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist, and Alex Newhook also scored for the Canadiens, who were looking for their first three-game winning streak. Sam Montembeault made 31 saves. Montreal’s Lane Hutson (assist) extended his point streak to six games and tied the franchise record for longest point streak by a rookie defenseman.
Avalanche 2, Red Wings 1
Alexandar Georgiev bounced back from his worst outing of the season by making 29 saves, and visiting Colorado defeated slumping Detroit.
Georgiev was pulled from his previous start after giving up four goals in less than 12 minutes against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. On Saturday, Valeri Nichushkin scored his third goal in two games for Colorado, which had lost four of its previous six. Cale Makar supplied a power-play marker.
Lucas Raymond scored for the Red Wings, who have lost five straight games. Ville Husso stopped 23 shots. He was making his third consecutive start with Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon sidelined by lower-body injuries.
–Field Level Media