Playing in his 600th NHL game, Mikko Rantanen recorded his 10th career hat trick and added two assists to help the Colorado Avalanche past the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 on Tuesday.
Rantanen’s five-point night tied a career high set last season, when he had a goal and four assists in a 6-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Jan. 24.
On Tuesday, Rantanen became the 13th player in Nordiques-Avalanche history to skate in at least 600 games.
Nathan MacKinnon contributed a goal and four assists, while Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen also scored for the Avalanche.
Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves to collect his third win in his last four starts. MacKenzie Blackwood, acquired in a deal with San Jose on Monday, was scheduled to start in goal but was scratched due to an illness.
The win wrapped up Colorado’s five-game East Coast road trip with a 4-1-0 record.
Cody Glass and Michael Bunting scored second-period goals for the Penguins.
Kings beat Islanders for 6th straight win
Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala each scored, Darcy Kuemper was solid in goal and the Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Islanders 3-1 for their sixth consecutive win.
Mikey Anderson added an empty-net tally to seal the win for the Kings, their eighth in their last 10 games.
Kuemper made 19 saves in collecting the win, an encore to his 22-save victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Tuesday’s game was the first of a seven-game road trip for the Kings.
Anders Lee scored the only tally for the Islanders, assisted by Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson.
Scheifele stars as Jets rip Bruins 8-1
Mark Scheifele had two goals and an assist, Kyle Conner also had a three-point night and the Winnipeg Jets routed the Boston Bruins 8-1.
The Jets’ balanced attack saw 13 players collect at least one point, with Conner, Nikita Chibrikov, Mason Appleton, Alex Iafallo, Gabriel Vilardi and Vladislav Namestnikov each scoring a goal, all against Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
Scheifele extended his home point streak to 13 games, totalling 12 goals and nine assists in that span.
Winnipeg led 3-0 before Boston’s David Pastrnak scored his 10th goal of the season midway through the second period.
After the Jets went up 6-1 at 7:19 of the third period, a series of fights broke out that included game misconduct penalties for Boston’s Mark Kastelic and Winnipeg’s Logan Stanley.