For the second game in as many nights, the Winnipeg Jets came out flat over the first two periods.
And for the second game in as many nights, the Jets stormed back in the third period to rally for a victory.
Winnipeg erupted for four goals in the final 10 minutes Sunday to beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2.
With their ninth win in 11 games, the Jets (39-16-5) moved into a tie with the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division.
Winnipeg's latest third-period outburst came one night after it tallied all five goals in the final period against the Carolina Hurricanes to rally from a 3-0 deficit to pull out a 5-3 road victory.
Josh Morrissey started the rally with a goal at 10:38 of the third period to tie the score and Morgan Barron put the Jets ahead on a partial breakaway with 6:05 remaining.
Vladislav Namestnikov and Sean Monahan capped the scoring with empty-net goals in the final 81 seconds.
Nino Niederreiter scored the Jets' first goal with six seconds to go in the first period and Laurent Brossoit stopped 17 shots to win his third straight start.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 of the 33 shots as Buffalo (29-29-4) lost for just the second time in seven games.
JJ Peterka opened the scoring for the Sabres with his 20th goal of the season and Eric Robinson also scored.
Canucks end mini skid with win over Ducks to move back atop West
Conor Garland and Nils Hoglander each scored goals to help the Vancouver Canucks beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1.
The Canucks (39-17-7), who arrived in Anaheim having lost back-to-back games and six of seven, moved back into sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.
Both teams scored on their first shot, with Hoglander opening the scoring at 1:37 of the first period and Alex Killorn tying things up at 4:15.
Garland broke the tie at 3:34 of the second period when he redirected a pass from Nikita Zadorov for his first goal in nine games.
Casey DeSmith stopped 17 shots to end a personal four-game losing streak to win for the first time since January 9.
Lukas Dostal turned aside 29 shots for the Ducks (22-36-3), who lost for the first time in three games.
Danault scores three goals as Kings beat Devils
Phillip Danault recorded his second career hat trick to help lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Kevin Fiala assisted on two of Danault's goals, and added a goal of his own, while Alex Laferriere also scored for the Kings (31-19-10), who won for the eighth time in 12 games under interim coach Jim Hiller.
New Jersey's Timo Meier opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the first period and Danault tied it at 7:56 on a breakaway.
Danault finished the scoring with an empty-netter with 2:13 remaining to notch his first hat trick since December 22, 2018, when he played for the Montreal Canadiens.
Meier's goal - his second goal in as many games after scoring two goals in his previous 20 contests - was the only score allowed by Cam Talbot, who finished with 30 saves.
Akira Schmid stopped all nine shots he faced after replacing an ineffective Nico Daws, who was lifted in the second period after giving up four goals on 13 shots.
The Devils (30-27-4) have lost two in a row and five of seven.
Jamaica tops inaugural Ice Hockey Challenger Series
Jamaica’s Ice Hockey team emerged victorious in the final match of the Challenger Series after beating a very strong Lebanon team 12-8 at the College Ice Arena in Toronto on Saturday evening.
In a pulsating match played before hundreds of cheering supporters, Jamaica took the early lead in the first period but fell behind after Lebanon scored three unanswered goals over the next 15 minutes of the first period. During the second of three 20-minute periods, Jamaica regrouped and fought back to take a 6-4 lead, before Lebanon pulled level at 6-6.
Buoyed by the enthusiastic support from the massive crowd, Jamaica asserted their authority on the contest to end the period at 9–6. With victory in sight at the start of the third and final period, the Jamaicans applied pressure on their Lebanese counterparts and extended their lead to 11-7 with four minutes left in the game.
Tight defensive work then ensured Jamaica added to their tally, though they also conceded another goal in the latter stages of the encounter. Reggie Millette and Givani Smith both scored a brace, while Maleek McGowan, Captain Taos Jordan, Amari Sellers, Tyler Drummond, Dante Sheriff, Avery Grant, Josh Mitton, and Marquis Grant-Mentis got the others.
The Challenger Series is a new tournament involving Puerto Rico, Lebanon, and Jamaica, who are all associate members of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The Challenger Series began in Chicago in April, continued in New York in June, and culminated in Toronto on Saturday. At the end of the second leg in New York, Jamaica was in pole position and, as such, earned the automatic right to the final by virtue of the accumulation of points over the first two legs.
Lebanon defeated Puerto Rico 9-3 in the playoff for a spot in the final.
Across the three legs, Jamaica won six of their nine matches and now has an overall tally of 22 matches since it started to play competitively in 2019. Their record currently stands at 16 wins and six losses, with over 100 goals to their tally.
Don Anderson, president of the Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation (JOIHF), said the Federation is now setting its sights on establishing an ice rink in Jamaica as well as building a strong local program that will facilitate the team playing in qualifying tournaments for the Olympics. He added that expert opinion is that this team could be highly ranked globally if it had the opportunity to play at the next level amongst countries with Ice Rinks.
NHL free agency: Predators sign Stamkos, Marchessault, Skjei
The Nashville Predators came out aggressively on the first day of NHL free agency Monday with the additions of forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault along with defenseman Brady Skjei.
Stamkos spent his entire 16-year career with the Tampa Bay Lightning after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft.
The 34-year-old Stamkos won two Stanley Cup titles with Tampa Bay and is the franchise leader in games (1,082), goals (555) and points (1,137).
Marchessault, 33, played the last seven seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights after being an original member of the expansion franchise in 2017-18.
He was the Conn Smyth Trophy winner as play-off MVP in 2023 after leading Vegas to its first Stanley Cup championship.
Marchessault set a career high this past season with 42 goals and leaves the Golden Knights as the club’s all-time leader in games (514), goals (192) and assists (225).
Marchessault and Stamkos were teammates for parts of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Skjei, 30, is also coming off a career season with a personal-best 47 points (13 goals, 34 assists) with the Carolina Hurricanes.
He began his career with the New York Rangers in 2015 and was traded to Carolina in February 2020.
Nashville was eliminated in the first round of the post-season in 2023-24 and has not won a play-off series since advancing to the Western Conference semi-finals in 2018.
Panthers top Oilers in Game 7 to win Stanley Cup
It took 30 years for the Florida Panthers to win their first Stanley Cup.
For Paul Maurice, the wait was nearly as long.
Sam Reinhart's tie-breaking goal late in the second period held up as the Panthers captured the NHL's most coveted trophy for the first time with Monday's 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of a memorable Stanley Cup Final.
Carter Verhaeghe also had a goal and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots - including all nine he faced in the third period - to also give Maurice his first Stanley Cup after nearly 2,000 combined regular-season and play-off games as a head coach.
Maurice is in his 26th season leading an NHL team, the longest wait of any head coach in the four major North American professional sports leagues before winning his first championship.
While Maurice and the Panthers' long streaks came to an end, another continues on as the Oilers' loss marks the 31st consecutive season a Canadian team has not hoisted the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens' win in 1993.
Edmonton was also bidding to become only the second team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup after losing the first three games of the best-of-seven finals, a feat the Toronto Maple Leafs accomplished in 1942.
Oilers' captain Connor McDavid still took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the play-offs after setting an NHL post-season record with 42 points. The superstar centre is just the second skater on a losing team to win the award, joining the Philadelphia Flyers' Reggie Leach in 1976.
McDavid recorded a pair of four-point outings in Games 4 and 5 to help Edmonton extend the series, but the three-time Hart Trophy recipient was kept off the scoresheet by a stout Florida defensive effort for a second straight game in Monday's finale.
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