Anze Kopitar scored two of Los Angeles' four first-period goals as the Kings rolled to a 5-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday to boost their playoff hopes.

Cam Talbot notched his third shutout of the season by stopping all 28 shots he faced from a Chicago team that had scored seven goals in each of its previous two games, both victories.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alex Laferriere and Jordan Spence each contributed a goal and an assist to help the Kings move two points clear of the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Divison.

The Kings dominated the first two periods and wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Dubois rocketed a rebound past Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom on a power play just 3:10 in.

Laferriere redirected a shot from teammate Matt Roy into the net a mere 2:23 later for a 2-0 lead, and Kopitar added his 19th and 20th goals of the season to cause the Blackhawks to pull Soderblom for Petr Mrazek after a little over 14 minutes.

Spence made it 5-0 with his first goal of 2023-24, a shot that trickled by a screened Mrazek 2:31 into the second period.

Soderblom stopped just 10 of 14 shots before being removed, while Mrazek finished with 22 saves.

Toffoli, Brossoit lead Jets' blowout of Ducks

The Winnipeg Jets, meanwhile, created a three-way tie atop the Central Division by cruising to a 6-0 rout of the floundering Anaheim Ducks.

Tyler Toffoli scored two goals to back a 21-save shutout for Laurent Brossoit as Winnipeg joined Colorado and Dallas in first place in the Central. All three teams have 89 points, though the Jets hold a game in hand on the Avalanche and two on the Stars.

Dylan DeMelo added a goal and an assist and Josh Morrissey recorded three assists as the Jets bounced back from Wednesday's 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators.

The Ducks were shut out for a second straight game and now have lost five straight, all in regulation.

Kyle Connor got the Jets on the board with 3:40 left in the first period and Nate Schmidt extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal in the second.

Winnipeg then put the game out of reach with a four-goal third, with DeMelo starting the barrage 4:59 into the period.

Toffoli, playing his third game since being acquired by the Jets from the New Jersey Devils at last week's trade deadline, then netted his first two goals with his new team within a span of less than three minutes to increase the margin to 5-0.

Mason Appleton closed out the scoring with a power-play goal with 5.5 seconds left.

John Gibson made 32 saves for Anaheim, which was outshot by a 38-21 margin.

Sam Reinhart scored two goals and Ryan Lomberg recorded the game-winner in the third period as the Florida Panthers stayed hot with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Monday's showdown between division leaders.

Anton Lundell sealed Florida's fifth consecutive win and 11th in 12 games with an empty-net goal in the final minute, while Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling had two assists in support of Sergei Bobrovsky's 26-save effort.

The win maintained the Panthers' two-point advantage on the Boston Bruins for first place in both the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division, with the Metropolitan-leading Rangers now four points back of Florida.

After the Rangers tied the game at 2-2 on Chris Kreider's power-play goal late in the second period, the Panthers outshot New York by a 12-6 margin while dominating the third.

Lomberg snapped the deadlock 6:11 into the period when his wrist shot got past New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin, and Lundell put the game out of reach by scoring with 59 seconds remaining.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead after one period on Will Cuylle's power-play goal, but Reinhart registered his 43rd and 44th goals of the season within a span of 2:45 in the second to put Florida ahead. His first of the night was his league-leading 25th in power-play situations.

Shesterkin stopped 25 of 28 shots for New York, which has now lost three of four following a franchise-record 10-game winning streak from Jan. 27-Feb. 24.

MacKinnon extends home point streak as Avalanche blank Blackhawks

Nathan MacKinnon increased his home point streak to 30 games with a two-goal, two-assist performance that helped the Colorado Avalanche cruise to a 5-0 rout over the badly struggling Chicago Blackhawks.

Justus Annunen stopped 37 shots to record his second shutout of Chicago in five days and send the Blackhawks to a seventh straight loss. The rookie netminder had 24 saves in Colorado's 5-0 win at Chicago on Thursday.

MacKinnon gave Annunen all the help he would need by blasting a shot past Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek 12:31 in. The Colorado captain's home point streak is the second-longest to start a season in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky's 40-game run with the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89.

MacKinnon then set up Jonathan Drouin's goal later in the first period before adding another assist on Cale Makar's score with 7:22 left in the second that extended the Avs' lead to 3-0.

Zach Parise made it 4-0 when he redirected a drive from Caleb Jones five minutes after Makar's goal, and MacKinnon capped his four-point night with a power-play tally with 4:25 remaining. 

Mrazek finished with 32 saves in Chicago's ninth shutout loss of the season, tied with the San Jose Sharks for the most in the NHL.

Zacha's two goals lead Bruins past Maple Leafs

The Boston Bruins were able to keep pace with the Panthers in the Eastern Conference race by delivering a 4-1 win over the rival Toronto Maple Leafs behind Pavel Zacha's two goals and 32 saves from Jeremy Swayman.

Jake DeBrusk chipped in a goal and an assist and David Pastrnak had three assists to help the Bruins win for the second time in three outings following a three-game losing streak.

Morgan Geekie added a goal that put Boston ahead midway through the first period, and Zacha made it 2-0 by converting a power-play chance just under three minutes later.

Swayman came up with 13 saves during a second period in which DeBrusk produced the only goal, though Toronto's John Tavares scored for a second straight game to end the shutout bid 3:52 into the third.

Zacha completed his first multi-goal outing of the season by knocking in a feed from Pastrnak with 9:25 remaining.

Toronto, which had won nine of 10 coming in, received 23 saves from Joseph Woll.

Matt Boldy scored twice and Filip Gustavsson stopped 41 shots to lead the surging Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.

Jonas Brodin and Mats Zuccarello also scored to help the Wild improve to 6-1-1 in their last eight games.

Boldy has been a key catalyst for Minnesota with six goals and seven assists in his past seven contests.

Leon Draisaitl scored one goal and set up another and Connor McDavid had a pair of assists for the Oilers, who have lost two straight for the first time since a three-game skid from Dec. 14-19.

Edmonton is 4-4-1 since winning a franchise-record 16 straight games.

McDavid has gone eight games without a goal but has 19 assists during that span.

Connor lifts Jets over Blackhawks in OT

Kyle Connor scored 25 seconds into overtime and the Winnipeg Jets recovered after squandering a two-goal lead in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks

Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice for his first goals in 11 games as the Jets won their fifth in six games to pull within one point of Central Division-leading Dallas.

Colin Blackwell scored in the second period and Tyler Johnson netted the equaliser with 43 seconds left in regulation, but the league-worst Blackhawks dropped to 1-9-2 in their last 12 games.

Sabres edge Blue Jackets

Connor Clifton scored his first goal in nearly a year to snap a tie and the Buffalo Sabres held on for a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Clifton’s goal at 3:05 of the third period was his first since March 2, 2023, when he played for Boston.

Zemgus Girgensons had the other goal and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 25 shots as Buffalo won its second straight and fourth in six games.

Dmitri Voronkov tallied for the last-place Blue Jackets, who failed to win consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 22 and 24.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves after he was honoured for a milestone victory and Kirill Kaprizov scored the tiebreaking goal to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.

Fleury, who earned his 553rd career win, was honoured in a pregame ceremony nearly a month after passing Patrick Roy (551) for second place in NHL history.

Fleury beat his former team in his return after missing five games due to an upper-body injury.

Matt Boldy and Jonas Brodin scored for Minnesota before Kaprizov banged home a rebound at 9:34 of the third period to put the Wild ahead 3-2.

Reilly Smith and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins, who dropped to 0-3-1 in their last four road games.

Oilers rally for 17th win in 18 games

Evander Kane had a hat trick and Connor McDavid set up three third-period goals as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for their 17th win in 18 games, 5-3 over the Anaheim Ducks.

Leon Draisaitl added a goal and an assist and Zach Hyman also scored as the Oilers rebounded after their 16-game winning streak – tied for the second-longest in NHL history – was snapped Tuesday at Vegas.

The Ducks had a four-game point streak halted despite getting two goals from Ryan Strome.

Rangers win in overtime after blowing lead

Mika Zibanejad scored at 2:36 of overtime and the New York Rangers topped the league-worst Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 after squandering a two-goal lead.

Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere and Jonny Brodzinski had the other goals for the Rangers, who have won four straight.

Zibanejad’s goal was his franchise-record eighth in OT, breaking a tie with Brian Leetch, Cecil Dillon and Butch Keeling.

Alex Vlasic scored in the first period and Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson had third-period goals as Chicago’s winless streak reached six games (0-5-1).

Calvin Pickard made 27 saves for his first shutout in over five years and the Edmonton Oilers won their 15th straight game, 3-0 over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

Connor McDavid scored twice and set up a goal by Zach Hyman as Edmonton became just the fifth team in NHL history to win 15 or more consecutive games.

The Mario Lemieux-era Pittsburgh Penguins hold the NHL record with a 17-game winning streak set during the 1992-93 season, while the 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets own the second-longest run at 16 games.

The Oilers are 23-3-0 in their last 26 games and have gone a franchise-record 13 straight games allowing two or fewer goals.

Pickard’s shutout was his first since a 4-0 win over the New York Rangers on Nov. 23, 2018, when he was with Philadelphia.

Chicago tied a franchise record with its 19th consecutive road loss (0-18-1), set in 1953-54 and matched in 2003-04.

Lightning’s Kucherov adds 3 more points

Red-hot Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists and Steven Stamkos recorded his 1,100th career point to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes.

Kucherov, coming off a four-point game in a victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday, raised his season total to a league-leading 83 points, one ahead of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. Kucherov also reached 50 assists in fewer than 50 games for the third time in his career, one of only nine players to accomplish that.

Brayden Point scored one goal and set up another to help Tampa Bay win its fifth straight at home. The Lightning have won seven of eight overall.

Stamkos notched his milestone point with an assist on Kucherov’s goal and scored a power-play goal of his own in the second period.

Hurricanes beat Devils to stay hot

Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen each scored one goal and set up another and Antti Raanta stopped 23 shots in the Carolina Hurricanes’ 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes, who won a night earlier at East-leading Boston and improved to 10-2-1 since Christmas.

Justin Dowling and Jesper Bratt scored third-period goals for New Jersey, which has lost four of its last six games.

Charlie Coyle had a goal and an assist to back 20 saves from Jeremy Swayman as the Boston Bruins remained hot with Monday's 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets in a clash of division leaders.

Jake DeBrusk scored short-handed in the third period to help Boston to a fifth consecutive victory, while Brad Marchand and Jakub Lauko added goals for the Atlantic leaders. 

The Central-leading Jets lost for just the second time in 12 games and had a streak of 34 straight games allowing three goals or fewer halted. The run was one short of an NHL record in a single season during the expansion era, as the Minnesota Wild did so in 35 in a row from Jan.-April 2005.

After Lauko and Winnipeg's Vladislav Namestnikov traded early goals, Coyle put the Bruins back ahead by redirecting Hampus Lindholm's shot past Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with 1:34 left in the first period. 

DeBrusk fired a loose puck by Hellebuyck with the Jets on a power play to increase the lead to 3-1 with 5:25 left to play, and Marchand sealed the win with an empty-net goal inside the final minute.

Hellebuyck stopped 17 of 20 shots for Winnipeg.

Devils' Toffoli has hat trick, overtime winner against Golden Knights

Tyler Toffoli scored with 2:25 left in overtime to cap his second hat trick of the season and give the New Jersey Devils a thrilling 6-5 comeback win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

New Jersey trailed 5-3 late in the second period before getting two unanswered goals from Toffoli and another from Curtis Lazar to halt the defending Stanley Cup champions' three-game winning streak.

Lazar also scored in the first period and Nico Hischier added a goal to help the Devils avoid a fourth loss in five games.

Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist for Vegas, which also received a goal and two assists from Nicolas Roy and one goal and one assist from Chandler Stephenson.

Toffoli started New Jersey's rally by ripping a shot past Knights goaltender Logan Thompson with 15.8 seconds left in the second period. Lazar's second of the night created a 5-5 tie midway through the third, and Toffoli completed his three-goal outing by converting a feed from Luke Hughes with the Devils on a 3-on-2 rush in overtime.

Hischier and Lazar each struck in the first period after Pavel Dorofeyev gave Vegas a 1-0 lead 6:12 in. Toffoli extended the margin to 3-1 with just 1:37 elapsed in the second, but the Knights scored four times before the end of the period to move ahead.

Marchessault tied the game at 3-3 with a pair of goals 2:21 apart, and Stephenson scored just 48 seconds after Marchessault's second before Roy gave Vegas a 5-3 edge in the final minute of the period.

Thompson finished with 32 saves while Vitek Vanecek stopped 27 shots for the Devils. 

Canucks' Demko blanks Blackhawks for fifth shutout

Thatcher Demko turned aside 31 shots to record his fifth shutout of the season and lead the red-hot Vancouver Canucks to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

The All-Star goaltender tied Arizona's Connor Ingram and Pittsburgh's Tristan Jarry for the NHL's lead in shutouts while sparking Vancouver to its third straight win. The Pacific Division-leading Canucks are now 8-0-1 over a nine-game point streak.

Vancouver got all its scoring in the opening period, as Pius Suter knocked in a feed from Andrei Kuzmenko 1:47 in and Quinn Hughes blasted a shot over the shoulder of Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek less than five minutes later. Kuzmenko was credited with an assist on that goal as well. 

Demko stopped 10 shots in the second period and 12 more in the third to keep the Canucks' lead intact.

The Blackhawks, who had won two of their last three games, were shut out for the fifth time this season. Mrazek finished with 27 saves. 

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper became the third-fastest to 500 wins as Nick Perbix scored 2:02 into overtime in a 3-2 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Scotty Bowman (825) and Bruce Boudreau (837) were the only coaches to reach the milestone faster than Cooper’s 839 games. Cooper is the fastest to do it with one franchise, and 29th overall to get to 500.

Tyler Motte and Brandon Hagel also scored for the Lightning, who have traded wins and losses in their past six games.

Perbix ended a 40-game drought with his OT goal and completed Tampa Bay’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the third period.

Phillip Danault and Matt Roy had goals as the Kings lost their sixth straight (0-3-3).

Tkachuk has hat trick to power streaking Panthers

Matthew Tkachuk scored three straight goals in the third period and Anthony Stolarz stopped 28 shots to propel the Florida Panthers to their eighth consecutive win, 5-1 over the St. Louis Blues.

Tkachuk extended Florida’s lead to 3-1 2:18 into the third period and scored again at 5:57 before completing his fifth career hat trick with an empty-net goal.

Sam Reinhart added his team-leading 29th goal for the Panthers, who have outscored opponents 36-15 during the eight-game streak.

Oilers edge Blackhawks for eighth straight win

Connor McDavid snapped a second-period tie and Stuart Skinner turned aside 25 shots as the Edmonton Oilers won their eighth in a row, 2-1 over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Leon Draisaitl had the other goal to give Edmonton its second eight-game winning streak under coach Kris Knoblauch. The Oilers are 16-3-0 in their last 19 games.

Jason Dickinson scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost six of seven overall and five straight to the Oilers.

Sam Reinhart had two goals and Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner with 6:23 remaining to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 win over the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers on Friday.

Aleksander Barkov recorded three assists to tie a franchise all-time record in that category and help the Panthers to a third straight victory. The Florida captain now has 415 career assists, matching former teammate Jonathan Huberdeau for the most in club history.

The Rangers rallied from an early two-goal deficit to draw even at 3-3 when Mika Zibanejad scored short-handed with 7:45 left to play. The deadlock was short-lived, however, as Verhaeghe whipped a wrist shot past New York goaltender Jonathan Quick just 1:22 later to put the Panthers back in front. 

Florida's Evan Rodrigues had the lone goal of the first period, and Reinhart increased the lead to 2-0 with just over seven minutes elapsed in the second before the Rangers got goals from Artemi Panarin and Will Cuylle less than 90 seconds apart.

Reinhart sent the Panthers back ahead before the end of the second, however, by redirecting a shot from Barkov past Quick with Florida on a power play. 

Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves for Florida, while Quick stopped 28 shots in just New York's second loss in its last seven games.

Stars' Hintz completes hat trick with overtime winner

Roope Hintz finished off a hat trick by scoring with 7.9 seconds left in overtime to give the Dallas Stars a thrilling 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Dallas bounced back from blowing a two-goal third-period lead when Hintz knocked home a feed from Jason Robertson with time winding down in overtime. The hat trick was the fifth of the standout centre's career.

Robertson finished with two assists, while Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski each had a goal and an assist as the Stars improved to 6-1-1 over their last eight games.

Tyler Johnson had two goals for Chicago, including a power-play tally with 2:36 remaining in regulation that tied the game at 4-4.

Johnson also scored the game's first goal, three minutes before teammate Cole Guttman converted a pass from Lukas Reichel midway through the first period for a 2-0 Blackhawks' lead.

Dallas then recorded the next four goals, beginning with Hintz's first of the night that came under a minute after Guttman's tally. Hintz and Pavelski both scored in the second period to put the Stars ahead before Benn extended the lead to 4-2 with just over two minutes elapsed in the third.

Jason Dickinson later brought the Blackhawks back within one by beating Dallas goaltender Scott Wedgewood with 11:02 left in the third.

Petr Mrazek had 30 saves for Chicago, which has now dropped seven of its last nine games (2-6-1). Wedgewood recorded 25 saves for the Stars.

Kraken edge Flyers in OT to extend point streak

Justin Schultz's goal with 2:25 left in overtime extended the surging Seattle Kraken's winning streak to four games with Friday's 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Schultz slid a pass from Oliver Bjorkstrand past Flyers goaltender Carter Hart in extra time shortly after Seattle secured an eighth consecutive game with at least one point (6-0-2), which ties a franchise record. 

Joey Daccord allowed a short-handed goal to Philadelphia's Travis Konecny in the first period, but kept the Flyers off the board thereafter in a 27-save effort.

Hart, who also finished with 27 saves, had a shutout going until Vince Dunn scored on a power play 5:45 into the third period to tie the game at 1-1.

Philadelphia has now lost three of its last four games but is now 6-0-3 over a nine-game point streak on the road.

Stuart Skinner turned aside 22 shots and Connor McDavid had a pair of assists to lead the Edmonton Oilers to their NHL season-high eighth consecutive win, 4-1 over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Gagner, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman scored to help the Oilers notch their longest winning streak since their franchise record-tying nine-game run to close out last season.

Defenseman Evan Bouchard set up two goals to extend his point streak to 12 games. He has five goals and 13 assists during the streak, the second longest by a defenseman in Oilers history, trailing Paul Coffey’s 28-game run in 1985-86.

Rookie Connor Bedard scored his team-leading 12th goal as the Blackhawks lost their seventh in a row on the road.

Boeser has hat trick in Canucks’ win

Brock Boeser scored three straight goals for his second hat trick of the season to power the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.

Boeser scored twice in the second period and completed his fifth career hat trick in the third. His 21 goals tied him for the league lead with Toronto’s Auston Matthews.

Thatcher Demko made 28 saves and Andrei Kuzmenko had the other goal for Vancouver.

Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who had won three of four.

Matthews’ big game propels Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews scored two goals and set up two others and Martin Jones won his first start for Toronto in the Maple Leafs’ 7-3 victory over the New York Rangers.

Conor Timmins, Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf also scored for the Maple Leafs, who have points in seven straight games (5-0-2).

Matthews’ two goals gave him 21 on the season, tied with Vancouver’s Brock Boeser for the NHL lead.

Blake Wheeler had a pair of goals and Mika Zibanejad scored a power-play goal as New York lost for the third time in four games.

Jones, signed as a free agent last summer, stopped 28 shots in his second appearance of the season.

Sam Reinhart had two goals and two assists and the Florida Panthers withstood another standout performance by rookie sensation Connor Bedard in Sunday's 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Reinhart assisted on Carter Verhaeghe's power-play goal that snapped a 3-3 tie early in the third period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 13 of his 23 saves in the final frame to help seal Florida's fourth straight win.

Bedard followed up Thursday's two-goal, two-assist effort at Tampa Bay with two more goals, giving the 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick seven in his last six games. 

Reinhart's second goal of the night gave Florida a 3-2 lead seven minutes into the second period, but Bedard answered just 1:18 later and the game remained deadlocked at 3-3 into the second intermission.

Verhaeghe put the Panthers up for good 2:44 into the third period, and Bobrovsky made the lead hold up despite the Panthers being outshot by a 13-6 margin in the final 20 minutes.

Reinhart and Oliver Ekman-Larsson had first-period goals for Florida, while Bedard and Jason Dickinson both scored for Chicago in the opening session.

Arvid Soderblom finished with 28 saves for the Blackhawks.

Stars score five power-play goals in 8-3 rout of Wild

Jason Robertson had two of five Dallas power-play goals as the Stars rolled to an 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild to complete a perfect three-game road trip.

Wyatt Johnston also scored twice, including a short-handed goal in the final minutes, in Dallas' first meeting with Minnesota since ousting the Wild in six games in the first round of last season's playoffs.

Both Robertson and Johnston added an assist for the Stars, whose five power-play goals tied a franchise single-game record. Dallas also received goals from Joe Pavelski, Radek Faksa, Matt Duchene and Evgenii Dadonov, while Miro Heiskanen finished with three assists to back Jake Oettinger's 23 saves.

Dallas took a 3-2 lead after one period, highlighted by Pavelski's power-play goal just 57 seconds in and a short-handed tally by Faksa, and both Johnston and Dadonov scored on the power play in the second to extend the margin to three.

Robertson's two goals came just 2:07 apart and gave Dallas a 7-3 advantage early in the third.

Brandon Duhaime, Vinni Lettieri and Mats Zuccarello had goals in the Wild's third straight loss. Marc Andre-Fleury surrendered all eight Dallas goals on 37 shots. 

Lafreniere stars in Rangers' shootout win over Blue Jackets

Alexis Lafreniere scored twice in regulation before recording the deciding goal in the shootout as the New York Rangers rallied for a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Lafreniere's second goal of the game came with just 11 seconds left in regulation and forged a 3-3 tie. The former No. 1 overall pick then registered the lone goal during the shootout phase to extend the Rangers' point streak to 10 games, a stretch in which they've gone 9-0-1.

Chris Kreider delivered his 10th goal of the season and added an assist for New York, while Jonathan Quick made 25 saves before stopping all three Columbus skaters in the shootout.

Lafreniere's first of the night gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with 8:43 left in the second period, but Adam Fantilli and Sean Kuraly scored 19 seconds apart later in the period to put the Blue Jackets back ahead.

Justin Danforth put Columbus up 1-0 with 3:34 remaining in the first period before Kreider answered less than 2 1/2 minutes later.

Elvis Merzlikins finished with 37 saves for Columbus, which fell to 0-3-2 over its last five games.

Connor Bedard tallied two goals and two assists for his first multipoint game and the Chicago Blackhawks stopped an eight-game losing streak against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 5-3 victory on Thursday.

Bedard has five goals in his last five games and has taken over the rookie scoring lead with 11 points this season.

Rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski and ex-Lightning forwards Tyler Johnson and Corey Perry also scored for the Blackhawks, who hadn’t beaten Tampa Bay since a shootout win on March 5, 2021.

Anthony Cirelli, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay, which lost in regulation for the first time in seven home games (4-1-2).

Pettersson leads Canucks to 5th straight win

Red-hot Elias Pettersson scored one goal and set up two others as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 for their fifth consecutive win.

Ilya Mikheyev scored twice and Brock Boeser and J.T Miller also had goals to help Vancouver extend its point streak to nine games (8-0-1).

Pettersson has five goals and nine assists during a seven-game point streak and leads the NHL with 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists).

Drake Batherson and Artem Zub scored for the Senators, who have allowed 25 goals during a five-game home skid.

Lafreniere keeps Rangers surging

Alexis Lafreniere snapped a tie early in the third period and added two assists as the New York Rangers extended their point streak with a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Vincent Trocheck also had a goal and two assists and Louis Domingue made 25 saves in his first NHL game in nearly 18 months as New York improved to 8-0-1 in its last nine games.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist for the Rangers to push his season-starting point streak to 13 games, one shy of the franchise record set by Rod Gilbert in 1972-73.

Brock Boeser became the first Vancouver Canuck to score four goals in nearly two decades as part of an 8-1 season-opening rout of the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.

J.T. Miller had a goal and four assists, Elias Pettersson added a goal and three assists and Quinn Hughes set up three scores for Vancouver.

Boeser’s first goal of the game midway through the opening period gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead. He scored twice 3 ½ minutes apart in the second period and tallied his fourth of the night at 5:43 of the third.

The last Canucks player to score four goals was Daniel Sedin against Detroit on Feb. 24, 2004.

Bedard scores first NHL goal but Bruins win

Connor Bedard scored his first NHL goal, but David Pastrnak snapped a second-period tie to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Trent Frederic also scored and Pastrnak added an empty-net goal to give the Bruins a win in their season opener a year after setting NHL records for wins and points.

Reigning Vezina Trophy-winner Linus Ullmark stopped 20 shots and counterpart Arvid Soderblom made 32 saves for Chicago, which opened its season with a win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Bedard, who had an assist in his NHL debut, scored at 5:37 of the first period on a wraparound.

Matthews has trick in Maple Leafs’ shootout win

Auston Matthews completed a hat trick with two late goals and Mitch Marner had the lone tally in the shootout as the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied for a season-opening 6-5 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Toronto fell behind 2-0 and 5-3 but Matthews scored the 300th, 301st and 302nd goals of his career for his eighth hat trick.

John Tavares had three assists, setting up power-play goals by Matthews and William Nylander in the second period before drawing another on Matthews’ second tally with 4:32 left in regulation.

Matthews netted the equaliser with 67 seconds left in the third period.

Alex Newhook scored twice in his Canadiens debut.

Connor Bedard notched a point in his NHL debut and the Chicago Blackhawks scored three times in the third period to rally for a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

The 18-year-old Bedard – the top pick in the 2023 draft - assisted on Ryan Donato’s goal late in the second period to cut Chicago’s deficit to 2-1.

Bedard registered five of the Blackhawks’ 35 shots and dazzled occasionally with his skating.

His arrival in the NHL has been anticipated for years, much like Sidney Crosby’s when the Penguins made him the first overall selection in 2005, all of 13 days after Bedard was born.

Cole Guttman netted the tying goal midway through the third period and Jason Dickinson snapped the tie with 4:33 remaining.

Petr Mrazek gave up goals to Bryan Rust and Crosby but finished with 38 saves against the Penguins, the league’s oldest team.

Golden Knights raise banner, beat Kraken

Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault scored in the first period and Adin Hill made 27 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights began defense of their Stanley Cup title with a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken.

Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel also tallied for Vegas, which raised its championship banner in a lavish pregame ceremony.

Jared McCann provided Seattle’s lone goal in the second period.

Paul leads Lightning past Predators

Nicholas Paul scored a pair of third-period power-play goals and Jonas Johansson stopped 28 shots to win his Lightning debut as Tampa Bay opened the season with a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators.

Brandon Hagel scored on a penalty shot, Nikita Kucherov added a pair of goals and Brayden Point had three assists for the Lightning.

With five-time All-Star Andrei Vasilevskiy expected to miss another six weeks after back surgery, Johansson has been thrust into a starting role.

He gave up Tommy Novak’s tying goal 8:48 into the third period, but Paul scored just over two minutes later and Kucherov’s empty-net goal closed the scoring.

Ryan O’Reilly and Juuso Parssinen also scored as Nashville lost in Andrew Brunette’s debut as coach.

Patrick Kane described making his debut for the New York Rangers as "pretty cool" but saw considerable room for improvement after a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Kane's trade this week from the Blackhawks marked the end of an era, with his 16-season stint in Chicago having included three Stanley Cup triumphs.

The first overall pick in the 2007 draft has still been performing at a high level in this campaign, ranking second at Chicago this season in goals (16) and points (45).

He has left a team at the foot of the Central Division for the Rangers, who sit third in the Metropolitan Division, and Kane received a warm welcome at Madison Square Garden.

"It was awesome. The crowd and coming out for warm-ups and the pre-game introduction, just the first game as a Ranger, it was a pretty cool experience," Kane said.

"Obviously I would have liked to play a little bit better and come out with a win, but hopefully it will come.

"I haven't played in a little bit, so I'm maybe a little bit rusty, but excited to get feeling good with this team.

"I'm excited to be here and excited to get better and play better for my teammates."

It was his first game since February 22, with Kane unable to prevent the Rangers (35-18-9) sliding to a loss to the Senators (31-26-4).

Rangers coach Gerard Gallant, quoted on the NHL website, said: "There was some good and there was a lot of bad, but there was some real good stuff too.

"They were good five-on-five for the most part, but I thought the power play hurt us, just trying to be too pretty and too many passes. Bottom line is you have to put the puck in the net, and we didn't do that."

Kane is hoping for better against the Boston Bruins on Saturday and over coming games as he begins to find his way.

"It'll be nice to settle in, get a couple of practices and kind of understand the way they want to play systematically, with the puck, offensive zone, things like that," he said. "They haven't given me too much yet, just telling me to go out there and play."

It is the end of an era in Chicago with the Blackhawks sending superstar Patrick Kane to the New York Rangers.

The trade, which had been expected for days, was reported by several media outlets on Tuesday.

In return for the three-time Stanley Cup winner, the Rangers are sending the Blackhawks a 2023 second-round draft pick and a fourth-round pick. The second-round selection will become a first-rounder in either 2024 or 2025 if the Rangers reach this year's Eastern Conference Finals.

Kane leaves the Blackhawks as one of the greatest players in franchise history.

He was instrumental to their dynasty in the 2010s, helping the club to Stanley Cup titles in 2010, 2013 and 2015. He scored the championship-clinching goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime of Game 6 of the 2010 Finals, while winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs in 2013.

The 34-year-old Kane had spent his entire 16-season NHL career with the Blackhawks after being selected first overall in the 2007 draft.

The nine-time All-Star ranks second all-time in franchise history with 1,225 points, while his 446 goals are third-most by a Blackhawk. He also ranks third in franchise history in games played (1,161) and fourth in power-play goals (122).

As a 19-year-old rookie in 2007-08, Kane made an immediate impact in the NHL, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top first-year player.

Eight years later in 2015-16, Kane won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP as well as the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion.

He is still performing at a high level, ranking second on Chicago this season in goals (16) and points (45), but the Blackhawks have the second-fewest points in the Western Conference and are in full rebuild mode.

Kane is in the final year of an eight-year, $84million contract he signed in 2014 and had a no-trade clause, so he had a choice in where he could be traded.

With the Rangers, who are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, he will be reunited with Artemi Panarin, who leads New York with 67 points.

Kane and Panarin were team-mates in Chicago for two seasons – including Kane's MVP and scoring champion season of 2015-16.