Mattias Ekholm scored at 1:04 of overtime as the Edmonton Oilers completed a two-goal comeback to defeat the visiting Boston Bruins 3-2 on Thursday night.
Ekholm snapped off the deciding goal as the trailer on the rush. He received a feed from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who picked the puck off Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman’s pads and dished a pass back.
The Oilers, who have won six of their last seven games, erased a 2-0 deficit with goals in the second and third periods. Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist, scoring Edmonton’s first before setting up Connor McDavid’s tying tally with 2:21 left. Leon Draisaitl had three assists and Stuart Skinner made 24 saves for the Oilers. Draisaitl and McDavid have seven-game point streaks.
Boston had a 2-0 lead after one period, as Elias Lindholm scored 1:07 in and Mark Kastelic doubled the score with 2:25 left before intermission. Swayman stopped 23 shots for the Bruins, who completed a 2-2-1 road trip against Western Conference teams.
Avalanche 4, Sharks 2
Joel Kiviranta scored two third-period goals to help visiting Colorado come back to beat San Jose.
Valeri Nichushkin scored the first of Colorado’s three goals in the final period. Mikko Rantanen also scored, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar had two assists each and Mackenzie Blackwood made 32 saves for Colorado, which has won five of seven.
Carl Grundstrom and William Eklund scored second-period goals, Luke Kunin assisted on both markers and Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves for the Sharks, who have dropped six of their past seven. Georgiev was traded from the Avalanche to the Sharks on Dec. 9 in exchange for Blackwood.
Penguins 5, Predators 4 (OT)
Bryan Rust scored his second goal of the night 1:07 into overtime to cap a four-point night, Sidney Crosby had a goal with three assists, and Pittsburgh edged host Nashville.
The OT tally gave the Penguins their first lead and their eighth win in 11 games (8-2-1). Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which has played three straight overtime contests, winning twice.
Brady Skjei had a goal and an assist and Filip Forsberg added two assists for Nashville, which has five points in four games following its 0-5-3 slide.
Lightning 3, Blues 1
Nikita Kucherov extended his points streak to nine games, Gage Goncalves scored his first goal and Tampa Bay earned a season-high fourth straight win by beating visiting St. Louis.
Kucherov posted two second-period assists to give him 20 points (three goals, 17 assists) in nine outings. Goncalves notched his first goal in his 20th NHL game. Anthony Cirelli and Nick Perbix tallied as the Lightning won for the sixth time in seven December games (6-1-0). Andrei Vasilevskiy denied 31 shots.
St. Louis’ Pavel Buchnevich scored, giving him points in 10 of his past 11 games (four goals, six assists). Jordan Binnington surrendered three goals on 11 shots before being lifted. Joel Hofer stopped all seven shots in relief.
Kings 7, Flyers 3
Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala each scored twice and Los Angeles tallied four goals in the third period in a victory over host Philadelphia.
Warren Foegele added a goal and an assist for Los Angeles, which improved to 3-1-1 on its season-long seven-game road trip. Tanner Jeannott and Quinton Byfield also scored, and Alex Laferriere, Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence each chipped in a pair of assists.
Tyson Foerster notched two goals and an assist for Philadelphia, which has dropped six of its last eight games (2-5-1). Aleksei Kolosov surrendered six goals on 26 shots for the Flyers, while Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.
Blackhawks 3, Kraken 1
Ilya Mikheyev scored twice and Teuvo Teravainen had two assists to back a 27-save effort from Arvid Soderblom as Chicago topped visiting Seattle for a season-best third win in a row.
Nolan Allan also scored for Chicago. Mikheyev has scored four goals in the past three games after notching just two in the first 28 games.
Ryker Evans scored for Seattle, and Joey Daccord stopped 21 shots. Kaapo Kakko made his Seattle debut after he arrived via a trade Wednesday with the New York Rangers. He had two shots on goal in 13:15 of ice time.
Blue Jackets 4, Devils 2
Elvis Merzlikins made 40 saves as Columbus doubled up visiting New Jersey to snap a five-game losing streak (0-3-2).
Sean Monahan had two goals and an assist, Ivan Provorov and Zach Werenski added goals, and Kirill Marchenko had two assists for the Blue Jackets.
Luke Hughes had a goal and an assist and Timo Meier also scored as the Devils tried to come back from a 3-0 deficit but fell short. Jake Allen made 16 saves for New Jersey, which had won three straight.
Senators 3, Flames 2 (OT)
Brady Tkachuk scored 55 seconds into overtime and visiting Ottawa edged Calgary for its fifth straight win.
The game ended with a series of end-to-end rushes. After Senators goalie Linus Ullmark made a save on Jonathan Huberdeau, he sent an outlet pass to Tim Stutzle. Dan Vladar made the save, but Tkachuk knocked in the rebound for his 16th goal of the season and Ullmark’s first assist of the campaign.
Nick Cousins and Ridly Greig also scored for the Senators, who own the NHL’s longest current winning streak. Ullmark made 29 saves. Blake Coleman and Huberdeau scored for the Flames, who have lost three of four (1-2-2). Matt Coronato had two assists, and Vladar made 26 saves.
Golden Knights 3, Canucks 1
William Karlsson netted the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Vegas scored three consecutive times to pull out the win over Vancouver in Las Vegas.
It was the third game-winning goal of the season for Karlsson. Brett Howden had a goal and an assist and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for Vegas, which improved to 6-1-0 in December and 17-3-2 against Western Conference opponents. Adin Hill made 19 saves.
Teddy Blueger scored for Vancouver, which lost its second straight game (0-1-1) and fell for the fifth time in seven games (2-3-2). Kevin Lankinen, making his first start since Dec. 12 after missing three games with the flu, finished with 18 saves.
–Field Level Media