Auston Matthews continued a sizzling stretch with two more goals and an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-1 victory Saturday over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Matthews has goals in seven straight games, with 12 goals and 16 points during that span. He leads the NHL with 28 goals.

He is the first player with 27 or more goals through the first 30 games of a season since Jaromir Jagr did it for Pittsburgh in 1996-97.

William Nylander had a short-handed goal and two assists to extend his point streak to 11 games, while John Tavares also scored and Mitch Marner added two assists.

Justin Danforth had the lone goal for the last-place Blue Jackets, who dropped their fourth straight at home.

Stars score 2 in final 15 seconds to stun Predators

Craig Smith and Jani Hakanpaa scored goals in the final 15 seconds to rally the Dallas Stars to a shocking 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators.

With goalie Scott Wedgewood pulled for an extra skater and Dallas trailing 2-1, Smith scored off a goalmouth scramble with 15 seconds to play.

Hakanpaa then scored his first goal of the season with four seconds left to make it 3-2.

The Stars improved to 5-0-1 in their last six games, and became the first team in NHL history to secure a victory after scoring a tying and go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation.

MacKinnon extends point streak as Avalanche win

Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his point streak to 18 games and Alexander Georgiev made 24 saves to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes.

MacKinnon assisted on Valeri Nichushkin’s second-period goal to give him the second-longest point streak by a Colorado player, trailing only Paul Stastny’s 20-game run in 2006-07.

It was also MacKinnon’s 25th point in December. He’s three away from matching the franchise record for a single month set by Peter Stastny in February 1981 with the Quebec Nordiques.

Patrick Kane scored twice in Detroit’s five-goal first period and had the clinching shootout tally as the Red Wings squandered a four-goal lead before pulling out a wild 7-6 victory Friday over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Kane scored the game’s first two goals and Daniel Sprong, J.T. Compher and Shayne Gostisbehere also tallied to give the Red Wings a 5-1 lead after one period.

The Flyers, though, scored twice in the second period before Garnet Hathaway, Scott Laughton and Owen Tippett netted third-period goals for a 6-5 lead. Dylan Larkin’s bad-angle goal came just 37 seconds after Tippett’s and made it 6-6.

 Detroit snapped a four-game skid while Philadelphia moved to 7-1-2 in its last 10 games.

Niederreiter, Hellebuyck keep Jets surging

Nino Niederreiter had two goals and an assist and Connor Hellebuyck carried a shutout late into the third period in the Winnipeg Jets’ 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

Josh Morrissey, Gabriel Vilardi and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets, who moved back atop the Central Division with their eighth win in 10 games (8-1-1).

Vilardi has goals in five straight games with six goals and six assists during that span. 

Hellebuyck kept the Bruins scoreless until Brandon Carlo’s goal with 5:38 remaining. He is 6-0-1 with a 1.86 goals-against average in his past seven starts.

Boston is winless in three straight games (0-1-2).

Oilers score 4 in 3rd period to beat Rangers

Zach Hyman triggered a four-goal outburst in the third period and the visiting Edmonton Oilers held on for a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers.

Blake Wheeler’s first-period goal stood up until Hyman scored the equaliser at 3:07 of the third. Evander Kane tallied 70 seconds later, and Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod added goals to put the Oilers up 4-1.

Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuyle scored late goals for the Rangers, who are 4-4-0 in their last eight games but still lead the Eastern Conference with 45 points.

Nathan MacKinnon notched the first four-goal game in Avalanche history and extended his point streak to 17 games Thursday as Colorado rallied for a 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators.

MacKinnon opened the scoring 2:43 into the game and tallied again with 1:32 left in the first period for his 300th career goal. 

He completed his hat trick at 6:16 of the third period to lift the Avs into a 4-4 tie and scored into an empty net with 23 seconds left.

MacKinnon has 12 goals and 21 assists during his 17-game streak, the longest of his career.

Mikko Rantanen had a pair of power-play goals and Cale Makar had two assists in his return from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for three games.

Drake Batherson had a goal and an assist as the Senators lost their sixth in a row, the last two coming under interim coach Jacques Martin, who replaced the fired D.J. Smith on Monday.

Sabres respond with rout of Maple Leafs

Jeff Skinner returned from a three-game absence with two goals and an assist and the Buffalo Sabres responded to their worst loss of the season with a 9-3 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists and captain Kyle Okposo scored twice for the Sabres, who were coming off a 9-4 loss to Columbus on Tuesday, when the team was booed off the ice.

Rookie Devon Levi shook off allowing Auston Matthews’ league-leading 26th goal in the first period from a bad angle to stop 25 shots. He improved to 4-1-1 in his past six appearances.

Ilya Samsonov surrendered five goals on 19 shots before he was replaced in the second period by Martin Jones, who allowed four goals on 16 shots.

Toronto has allowed 14 goals in consecutive losses following a nine-game point streak.

Ovechkin ends drought in Capitals’ win

Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal in 15 games on a power play with 53 seconds left in overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ovechkin’s sixth goal of the season and 828th of his career was his first since Nov. 18 and his 26th in overtime, extending his NHL record. It was also his 125th game-winner overall, second in league history behind Jaromir Jagr’s 135.

Anthony Mantha scored twice and John Carlson had three assists as Washington won its third straight.

 

Gabe Vilardi continued his hot hand with a goal and two assists and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 on Wednesday to take over sole possession of the Central Division lead.

Axel Jonnson-Fjallby and Nikolaj Ehlers each had a goal and an assist to help the Jets win for the seventh time in nine games (7-1-1).

Vilardi has goals in four straight games with five goals and five assists during that span.

Patrick Kane and Olli Maata scored for the Red Wings, losers of a season-high four straight and six of seven.

 

Strome lifts Capitals over Islanders in OT

Dylan Strome scored his team-leading 13th goal on a power play 1:41 into overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 win over the visiting New York Islanders.

Hendrix Lapierre scored and assisted on Joel Edmundson’s first goal of the season to give the Capitals a second straight victory.

Hudson Fasching and captain Anders Lee had goals for New York, which moved to 10-2-6 in its last 18 games.

 

Daccord stars as Kraken edge Kings

Joey Daccord made 21 of his career-high 43 saves in the first period and the Seattle Kraken held on for a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Daccord was perfect until allowing Blake Lizotte's goal 8 minutes into the third period. He surpassed his previous career-high save total of 42, set on Oct. 26 at Carolina. 

Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle, which has points in five straight (3-0-2) following an eight-game losing streak.

Cam Talbot made 28 saves as the Kings dropped to 5-6-3 at home compared to a league-best 13-1-1 road record.

Owen Tippett scored with 1:35 remaining in overtime to lead the surging Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Ryan Poeling, who entered with two goals in 25 games this season, had the other two goals and Samuel Ersson stopped 24 shots as the Flyers improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine games.

Philadelphia already has 39 points in 31 games this season after it had 75 all last season and missed the playoffs.

Michael McLeod and Jesper Bratt tallied for New Jersey, which has points in nine of its last 12 games (8-3-1).

Rangers snap Maple Leafs’ point streak

Mika Zibanejad scored two goals and Igor Shesterkin turned aside 31 shots as the New York Rangers ended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ nine-game point streak, 5-2.

Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin also had goals to help the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers win their third straight.

Auston Matthews scored two more goals for Toronto, giving him 11 in his last seven games and a league-high 25.

The Leafs had been 6-0-3 in their last nine games.

Marchenko has hat trick as Blue Jackets roll

Kirill Marchenko had a natural hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 9-4 rout of the reeling Buffalo Sabres.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, who had the second-highest scoring game in franchise history.

Columbus set the record in a 10-0 win over Montreal on Nov. 4, 2016.

Casey Mittelstadt had three assists as the Sabres dropped to 3-7-1 in their past 11 games. The nine goals were the most allowed by Buffalo since a 10-4 loss to Dallas in March.

Devon Levi was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots and was replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 11 of 16 shots the rest of the way.

Sidney Crosby scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and moved further up the NHL's all-time points list in the Pittsburgh Penguins' 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Monday.

Crosby also assisted on Jake Guentzel's power-play goal in the second period and now has 1,535 career points, two more than former teammate Mark Recchi for 13th in league history.

Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin also had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which won for the third time in four games despite blowing an early 3-0 lead. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for the Penguins.

After Pittsburgh's Reilly Smith scored the lone goal of the first period, Guentzel redirected Erik Karlsson's one-timer 36 seconds into the second to give the Penguins a 2-0 advantage before Malkin extended the margin nearly three minutes later. 

The WIld responded, however, as Ryan Hartman and Jake Middleton scored 2:24 apart late in the second to cut the deficit to 3-2 before Minnesota tied the game on Vinni Lettieri's tip-in 5:33 into the third.

Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov was sent off for high-sticking just 12 seconds after Lettieri's goal, though, and Crosby converted on the ensuing power play to send the Penguins back ahead.

Filip Gustavsson finished with 26 saves for the Wild, who had a three-game winning streak halted.

 

Markstrom helps Flames down Panthers in return

Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves in a sharp return from a fractured finger to help the Calgary Flames to a 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman both had short-handed goals in the third period to back Markstrom in the goaltender's first appearance since Dec. 2. Martin Pospisil also had a goal as Calgary improved to 2-0-2 over its last four games.

Backlund's goal with the Panthers on a power play snapped a 1-1 tie 3:31 into the third period. Markstrom made 10 saves in the final stanza, which Coleman capped with an empty-net tally with 1:33 remaining to thwart Florida's comeback hopes.

Pospisil put Calgary ahead 8:45 into the opening period before Sam Reinhart's 18th goal of the season, a power-play score, tied the contest 31 seconds before the first intermission.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 of 24 shots in the Panthers' third loss in four games.

 

Duchene sparks Stars' overtime win over Kraken

Matt Duchene scored twice before assisting on Thomas Harley's goal 2:16 into overtime that lifted the Dallas Stars to a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken.

The Stars stretched their point streak to four games (3-0-1) behind Duchene's big night and a 35-save performance from Scott Wedgewood filling in for regular goaltender Jake Oettinger, who is week-to-week with a lower-body injury he sustained Friday against the Ottawa Senators.

Wedgewood did allow Eeli Tolvanen's goal with 21.8 seconds left in regulation that enabled the Kraken to also extend their point streak to four games (2-0-2).

Dallas built a 2-0 lead after one period on goals by Duchene and Jason Robertson, but Seattle's Tomas Tatar scored just 32 seconds into the second. Duchene struck again later in the period, though Matty Beniers scored off a Jordan Eberle feed with 6:12 left in the second to bring the Kraken within 3-2.

Beniers and Tatar also added assists for Seattle, which received 24 saves from Joey Daccord.

 

 

 

Nathan MacKinnon stayed hot and the Colorado Avalanche bounced back from a lacklustre loss to beat the San Jose Sharks 6-2 on Sunday.

MacKinnon tallied a season-best four points, recording two goals and two assists to extend his point streak to 15 games one night after the Avalanche fell behind 3-0 and 5-1 in a 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

MacKinnon now has eight goals and 19 assists during his point streak, which ties the longest point streak of his career from the 2020-2021 season. He also has 38 points in his last 21 games and has at least one point in all 16 home games this season.

His 47 points on the season are second only to Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, who has 52.

 

Mikko Rantanen, Ryan Johansen, Valeri Nichushkin and Miles Wood also had goals for Colorado, while Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 27 shots.

It marked the third win in four games for the Avalanche (19-10-2), who scored at least five goals in all of those victories.

The Sharks (9-19-3), meanwhile, lost their second in a row following a 3-0-1 stretch.

Tomas Hertl scored both of San Jose's goals, while MacKenzie Blackwood stopped 23 of 28 shots.

 

Boeser moves into NHL-lead for goals scored as Canucks top Blackhawks

The Vancouver Canucks didn't look quite awake for the start of their early afternoon game in Chicago.

They suddenly woke up in the second period and pulled out a 4-3 win over the Blackhawks.

After managing just one shot on goal in the first 10 minutes and five shots in the opening period, the Canucks found themselves trailing 2-1 on Nick Foligno's second goal of the game 35 seconds into the second period.

Vancouver then came alive, trying things up on Dakota Joshua's goal and took the lead 41 seconds later on Brock Boeser's score. Ilya Mikheyev also scored in the second period for the Canucks (21-9-2), who improved to 5-0-1 since a 6-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils on December 5.

 

Boeser's goal was his 10th in the last 11 games and 23rd of the season to move him into a tie with Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews for the most in the NHL.

Elias Pettersson also scored for the Canucks and Thatcher Demko made 25 saves to win his fourth consecutive start.

Petr Mrazek stopped 22 shots and rookie sensation Connor Bedard notched two assists to give him 14 on the season for the Blackhawks (9-20-1), who lost their fourth straight game and fell to 4-13-1 since November 12.

 

Eichel helps Golden Knights beat Senators

Jack Eichel scored 1:37 into the game and the Vegas Golden Knights went on to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Eichel's goal was his 14th of the season and extended his point streak to a franchise-record 10 games.

 

Eichel also added an assist, and Ivan Barbashev had a goal and an assist as well for the NHL-best Golden Knights (21-6-5), who bounced back from their first regulation loss since November 25.

Logan Thompson came off the bench to make 20 saves for Vegas after Adin Hill was forced out only 6:25 into the game.

The Golden Knights extended their win streak over the Senators to nine games and improved to 10-1-0 all-time against them.

Ottawa (11-15-0) lost its fourth in a row overall, allowing at least four goals in each of those defeats.

Vincent Trocheck scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lift the New York Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday in a matchup of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 shots for the Rangers, who moved up to 43 points, tied with the Bruins for best in the East.

Trent Frederic had Boston’s lone goal and Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves as the Bruins picked up a point for the seventh time in eight games (5-1-2).

Boston leading scorer David Pastrnak was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Ryan Lingren in the second period.

 

Maple Leafs pound Penguins

Martin Jones made 38 saves and Max Domi had a goal and two assists to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-0 drubbing of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Matthew Knies each had a goal and an assist and Tyler Bertuzzi set up three goals as Toronto extended its point streak to nine games (6-0-3).

Tristan Jarry was pulled early in the second period after allowing four goals on 14 shots. Alec Nedeljkovic stopped 18 of 21 shots the rest of the way.

 

Ersson shuts out Red Wings, keeps Flyers hot

Sameul Ersson turned aside 33 shots and Cam York scored the only goal to give the surprising Philadelphia Flyers a 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

Ersson stopped seven shots in the first period, 11 in the second and 15 more in the third for his third career shutout. He improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven games.

Philadelphia finished with just 75 points last season, but already has 37 in 30 games and has at least one in eight straight contests (6-0-2).

Detroit has lost five of its last six games (1-4-1).

Casey Mittelstadt scored twice in a four-goal third period to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.

Zach Benson and former Golden Knight Alex Tuch also scored in the third and Dylan Cozens had a first-period goal and added two assists to help Buffalo improve to 3-1-1 in its last five games.

Devon Levi turned aside 32 shots and is 3-0-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average since he was recalled from the AHL earlier this month.

Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel had goals for Vegas, which had a nine-game point streak stopped (6-1-3).

Pastrnak lifts Bruins over Islanders in shootout

David Pastrnak scored the deciding shootout goal to lift the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins to a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders.

Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, James van Reimsdyk and Mason Lohrie scored in regulation, with Lohrei netting the equaliser with 3:09 left in regulation on a bank shot from behind the goal line.

Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat, Alexander Romanov and Simon Holmstrom had goals for the Islanders, who had won four straight but moved to 6-0-2 in their last eight games.

Stars rally past Senators after Oettinger injured

Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene scored 44 seconds apart in the third period to rally the Dallas Stars to a 5-4 win over the Ottawa Senators after losing goalie Jake Oettinger to an early injury.

Oettinger left eight minutes into the game with a lower-body injury after allowing goals on the Senators’ first two shots on net. Scott Wedgewood entered and stopped 25 of 27 shots for the win.

Joe Pavelski, Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley also had goals for Dallas, which won its second straight.

Drake Batherson scored twice for Ottawa and Jake Chychrun had three assists in the Senators’ third consecutive loss.

Steven Stamkos notched his first career four-goal game and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 53 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped the Edmonton Oilers’ eight-game winning streak, 7-4 on Thursday.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists to increase his league-leading points total to 50. Tyler Motte and Anthony Cirelli also scored as the Lightning improved to 2-2 on a five-game road trip.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and two assists for the Oilers, who fell a win shy of matching the longest win streak in franchise history.

Vasilevskiy’s 53 saves were one short of his career high, set in a 5-4 win at Washington on March 20, 2019.

Evan Bouchard had two assists to extend his point streak to 13 games, the second-longest by an Oilers defenseman behind only current assistant coach Paul Coffey’s 28-game run in 1985-86.   

Tampa Bay scored the only two goals in the first period before Edmonton answered with three goals of its own in the second.

Stamkos tallied the equaliser with his second of the game at 6:48 of the third and Kucherov made it 4-3 six minutes later. Stamkos struck again with 5:58 remaining before Nugent-Hopkins made it a one-goal game with 2:22 to play.

Cirelli and Stamkos added empty-net goals to officially end the Oilers’ run.

 

Blue Jackets blow 5-goal lead in 3rd but win in OT

Kent Johnson scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the Columbus Blue Jackets came away with a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs after blowing a 5-goal lead in the third period.

William Nylander started Toronto’s comeback just 38 seconds into the third period and Mitch Marner made it 5-2 three minutes later.

Jake McCabe scored a power-play goal with 5:39 left in regulation and Auston Matthews scored twice in 30 seconds, his second coming with 45 seconds to go in the third period.

Matthews’ two goals gave him a league-leading 23 this season.

Toronto has points in eight straight games (5-0-3).

 

Canucks’ Demko shuts out Panthers

Thatcher Demko made 36 saves and Dakota Joshua scored twice to lead the Vancouver Canucks to their fourth straight win, 4-0 over the Florida Panthers.

Demko turned away 15 shots in the first period, six in the second and 15 more in the third for this third shutout of the season.

Brock Boeser and Andrei Kuzmenko also had goals and the Canucks joined Vegas as the only teams to reach 20 victories this season.

Florida suffered a second consecutive 4-0 loss following Tuesday’s defeat at Seattle.

c scored his league-leading fourth short-handed goal with 1:33 remaining and the red-hot New York Islanders rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.

Mathew Barzal, Kyle Palmieri and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders, who won their fourth straight and improved to 6-0-1 in their last seven games.

Troy Terry, Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick tallied for Anaheim, which dropped its fourth in a row and 12th in 13 games.

Carrick scored the Ducks’ third straight goal at 5:07 of the third period for a 3-2 lead, but Barzal tied it on the power play 2 ½ minutes later.

Holmstrom has scored half of his eight goals this season while short-handed.

 

Penguins beat Canadiens in lengthy shootout

Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist and Jansen Harkins scored in the 12th round of the shootout to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Crosby’s three points moved him past Paul Coffey and into a tie with former teammate Mark Recchi for 13th place on the NHL scoring list with 1,533.

Montreal’s Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield and Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and Crosby all scored on the first four attempts of the shootout. The next eight skaters failed to convert until Sean Monahan scored for the Canadiens and Lars Eller for the Penguins in the seventh round.

Another nine skaters went before Harkins, who had only 4 ½ minutes of ice time during the game, ended it.

 

Jack Hughes keeps Devils surging

Jack Hughes scored midway through overtime and the New Jersey Devils rallied for a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

Dawson Mercer scored the tying goal early in the third period and Vitek Vanecek stopped 24 shots to help New Jersey win for the seventh time in nine games.

Morgan Geekie had the lone tally for the Bruins, who have at least a point in five of six (4-1-1).

The St. Louis Blues fired coach Craig Berube on Tuesday night, parting ways with the coach who led the team to its only Stanley Cup title.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong announced the move hours after a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

The defeat was the season-worst fourth straight for the Blues, who are off to a 13-14-1 start to the season.

Drew Bannister, coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League, was named interim coach.

He will be behind the bench on Thursday night, when the Blues host the Ottawa Senators.

The 57-year-old Berube was in his sixth season with the Blues and had a 206-131-44 record. His win total ranks third in team history.

He guided the Blues to the Stanley Cup championship in 2019 after replacing Mike Yeo as coach on Nov. 20, 2018, as the interim coach and leading a remarkable turnaround.

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.

Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Ross Colton all had goals within a span of just over four minutes in the third period to rally the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-5 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday.

Rantanen scored with 6:29 left to play to tie the game, then earned his second assist of the night when MacKinnon recorded the eventual winning goal on a breakaway with 4:30 remaining.

Colton started Colorado's comeback by knocking in a rebound with 8:40 left that cut the Flames' lead to 5-4.

Calgary had gone ahead on late second-period goals from Connor Zary and Yegor Sharangovich, with the latter prompting Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar to replace goaltender Alexandar Georgiev after the second intermission.

Ivan Prosvetov stopped all 11 shots he faced in relief of Georgiev, who allowed five goals on 22 shots.

Former Colorado center Nazem Kadri put Calgary ahead in the first period before the Avalanche's Tomas Tatar tied it later in the frame. Colorado then took a 2-1 lead when Cale Makar scored on a power play 1:43 into the second.

Goals by Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman sent the Flames back in front, but Ben Meyers scored off a feed from Andrew Cogliano with 5:03 left in the second to briefly draw the Avalanche even at 3-3.

Colorado snapped a two-game losing streak, while Calgary has now lost four of five. Dan Vladar finished with 31 saves for the Flames. 

Islanders blow late, recover to defeat Maple Leafs in overtime

Bo Horvat scored 46 seconds into overtime as the New York Islanders recovered from blowing a late lead to come through with a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto rallied from a two-goal deficit to force overtime when Morgan Rielly scored with seven seconds remaining in regulation. Horvat sent a feed from Mathew Barzal past Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov early in the extra session, however, to give New York its third consecutive win.

Rielly's goal did enable Toronto to extend its point streak to six games, a stretch in which it's gone 4-0-2. The Islanders are now 5-0-1 over their past six.

The Islanders took a 3-1 lead early in the second period on Kyle Palmieri's goal, but John Tavares scored on a redirection 7:43 into the frame to cut the Leafs' deficit to one.

Tavares, the former Islanders' captain, later recorded his 1,000th career point on Rielly's game-tying goal.

Auston Matthews' 19th goal of the season, a power-play score 5:50 into the contest, gave Toronto an early 1-0 edge before the Islanders forged ahead later in the period on goals from Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas. 

Noah Dobson finished with three assists for New York, while Ilya Sorokin made 14 of his 37 saves in the third period and had two more in overtime.

Samsonov stopped 25 shots for Toronto.

Benn hits assist milestone as Stars down short-handed Red Wings

Miro Heiskanen had two goals and an assist to lead the way as the Dallas Stars rolled to a 6-3 victory over the depleted Detroit Red Wings. 

The Stars scored twice in all three periods, including four straight goals between the first and second, to get back on track after losing three of their four previous games. Esa Lindell and Jason Robertson each delivered a goal and an assist to support a 27-save effort from Jake Oettinger.

Jamie Benn assisted on Heiskanen's first goal, the 500th of the Dallas captain's career.

Detroit was dealt a third consecutive loss while playing without both captain Dylan Larkin and forward David Perron. Larkin is out with an upper-body injury he sustained from a cross-check by Ottawa's Mathieu Joseph in Saturday's loss to the Senators, while Perron began serving a six-game suspension for cross-checking Ottawa's Artem Zub in retaliation.

The Red Wings did take a 1-0 lead when Daniel Sprong scored 5:20 in, but goals by Heiskanen and Lindell later in the first period put Dallas ahead. Robertson and Matt Duchene then scored 2:14 apart in the second to extend the Stars' advantage to 4-1.

Jonatan Berggren quickly answered Duchene's goal to trim Detroit's deficit, and the Red Wings cut the lead to 4-3 when Joe Veleno scored on a power play with 6:39 remaining.

Joe Pavelski countered with a power-play goal 30 seconds after Veleno's strike, however, before Heiskanen sealed the win with an empty-netter inside the final minute.

James Reimer stopped 29 of 34 shots for Detroit.

Calvin Pickard made 26 saves to earn his first NHL victory in nearly two years, and the Edmonton Oilers extended their winning streak to seven games with a 4-1 decision over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.

Connor McDavid and Evander Kane each had a goal and an assist to help Pickard to his first win since Jan. 28, 2022, while with the Detroit Red Wings. The 31-year-old journeyman goaltender spent last season in the minors before being called up by the Oilers in November.

Edmonton is 9-3-0 since Kris Knoublach replaced Jay Woodcroft as head coach last month. The Oilers fired Woodcroft on Nov. 12 following a 3-9-1 start.

Pickard stopped all 12 shots he faced through the first two periods as Edmonton built a 2-0 lead on Derek Ryan's first-period goal and a power-play tally from Evan Bouchard in the second, the defenseman's third goal in two games.

McDavid stretched the margin to 3-0 when he scored off a feed from Kane 4:23 into the third period. Jesper Bratt answered for New Jersey 30 seconds later, but Pickard protected the two-goal margin until Kane's empty-net score with 3:08 left.

Akira Schmid stopped 26 of 29 shots for the Devils, who had won three straight and six of seven coming in.

 

Gustavsson posts shutout as Wild extend Kraken's slide

The Seattle Kraken, meanwhile, have now lost eight consecutive games after a 3-0 defeat to the Minnesota Wild behind Filip Gustavsson's 24 saves.

Minnesota got goals from Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi and Joel Eriksson Ek to snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 5-2-0 since John Hynes replaced Dean Evason as head coach on Nov. 27.

Boldy put the Wild ahead 7:14 into the first period and Minnesota maintained a 1-0 lead until Rossi scored with 7:26 left in the third. Gustavsson then finished off his second shutout of the season, which Eriksson Ek capped with an empty-net goal with 3.9 seconds remaining.

Joey Daccord stopped 23 of 25 shots for the Kraken. Seattle is now 0-6-2 since Nov. 24.

 

Quick beats former team, helps Rangers to win over Kings

Jonathan Quick came up with 25 saves to defeat his former team and help the New York Rangers get back on track with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

The veteran goaltender improved to 8-0-1 this season by winning his first-ever matchup against the Kings, the team Quick spent 16 seasons with until being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in March. The 37-year-old is the franchise's all-time leader with 370 wins and was part of two Stanley Cup champion teams.

Jonny Brodzinski had a goal and an assist and Vincent Trocheck added three assists as the Rangers ended their first two-game losing streak of the season.

The Kings, meanwhile, have now dropped back-to-back away games after setting an NHL record with an 11-game road winning streak to start the season. Los Angeles was coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

After a scoreless first period, the Rangers moved ahead on goals by Mika Zibanejad and Jimmy Vesey in the second.

Phillip Danault's power-play goal 6:37 into the third brought Los Angeles within 2-1, but Brodzinski converted a power-play chance less than five minutes later before Will Cuylle's goal with 4:36 remaining put the Rangers up 4-1. 

Pheonix Copley finished with 23 saves for the Kings.

 

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