Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 23 shots and Nikita Kucherov scored to take over the NHL scoring lead as the surging Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins, 3-1, on Wednesday.

Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point also had goals for the Lightning, who improved to 7-0-1 in their last eight games to move within two points of Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Point, who has six goals and two assists in the last four games, and defenseman Victor Hedman both returned after missing one game with lower-body injuries.

Danton Heinen had the lone goal for Boston, which lost its third in four games and missed an opportunity to jump over the Rangers and take over the league lead in points.

Kucherov’s empty-net goal capped the scoring and gave him a league-leading 124 points, one more than Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

Senators score 5 in 1st in win over Sabres

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 34 shots as the Ottawa Senators rolled to a 6-2 rout of the Buffalo Sabres.

The Senators scored five times in the first period to chase starter Ukko-Pekka Luukonen, who allowed the first four goals on nine shots. Devon Levi stopped 31 of 32 shots the rest of the way.

Artem Zub, Boris Katchouk, Drake Batherson, Jakob Chychrun and Brady Tkachuk all scored in the opening period to help Ottawa win its third straight.

JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton had second-period goals for the Sabres, who have lost three of four and remained eight points behind the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Brayden Point had three goals and three assists to match a team record in points and the Tampa Bay Lightning picked up a key 6-3 win over the New York Rangers on Thursday.

Point scored Tampa Bay’s first goal of the game with 7:19 left in the second period and forged a 3-3 tie at 3:41 of the third. He completed his fourth career hat trick 2:03 later before assisting on Nikita Kucherov’s empty-netter with 3:38 left for a personal-best six points.

Kucherov finished with a goal and four assists to give him 112 points, three behind Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead.

Steven Stamkos and Anthony Duclair also scored for the Lightning, who have won three of four to move four points ahead of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Jack Roslovic had a goal and an assist for the Rangers, who fell to 14-3-1 in their last 18 games.

Andersen shuts out Panthers

Frederik Andersen stopped 21 shots for his first shutout in more than a year and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Florida Panthers, 4-0.

Andersen notched his third win in as many starts after missing over four months with a blood clotting issue. He has stopped 63 of 66 shots in those games and is 7-1-0 this season.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal as a member of the Hurricanes and Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov also scored as Carolina won its fourth in five games.

The loss was just the second in 10 games for league-leading Florida, which is one point ahead of Boston for the Atlantic Division lead.

Matthews scores 55th in Maple Leafs’ win

Auston Matthews extended his NHL lead with his 55th goal and the Toronto Maple Leafs scored three times in the first period in a 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Matthews became the first Toronto player to score 55 goals twice in his career and is within five of matching his career-high 60 goals set in 2021-22.

Tyler Bertuzzi, Pontus Holmberg, Timothy Liljegren and William Nylander each had a goal and an assist for the Leafs, who have won eight of 10 on the road to tighten their grip on third place in the Atlantic Division.

Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster had goals for the Flyers, who remained four points ahead of the Islanders in the race for third place in the Metropolitan Division.  

Jimmy Vesey scored twice and Jonathan Quick stopped 19 shots to lead the New York Rangers to a 3-1 win on Wednesday over the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to a leg injury.

Jonny Brodzinski had the other goal to help the Rangers win their third straight and second in three days after the All-Star break.

Quick has won his last three starts with a .952 save percentage and is 12-4-2 this season with a 2.27 goals-against average.

Sergachev had to leave the ice on a stretcher after his leg bent at an awkward angle on a play along the boards in the second period. He became tangled with Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere and his left skate appeared to stick in the ice as his knee twisted unnaturally.

Maple Leafs hold off Stars

William Nylander had two goals and an assist and Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 41st goal in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.

John Tavares added a goal and two assists and Mitchell Marner also scored as the Leafs won their fourth in five games.

Marner and Nylander scored 20 seconds apart midway through the third period to give Toronto a 5-3 lead with 8:03 remaining.

Evgenii Dadonov had a pair of goals for Dallas, which had a four-game win streak stopped.

Wild beat Blackhawks again

Marcus Foligno scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves as the Minnesota Wild made it 11 straight wins over the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1.

Jacob Lucchini scored his first goal of the season for Minnesota, which has limited Chicago to 16 goals during an 11-0-0 run in the series since a 5-3 loss on Dec. 15, 2019.

Nick Foligno had the lone goal as the league-worst Blackhawks lost their fifth in a row.

Evander Kane and Connor McDavid scored 55 seconds apart in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers extended their franchise-record winning streak to 14 games with a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Warren Foegele and Dylan Holloway also scored and Stuart Skinner made 27 saves as Edmonton became the seventh team in NHL history to win 14 in a row.

Edmonton improved to 22-3 in its last 25 games and is nearing the NHL record for longest winning streak of 17, set by Pittsburgh in 1992-93.

Skinner won his 11th straight game, passing Grant Fuhr for the longest single-season winning streak in franchise history.

Dmitri Voronkov had the lone goal for the Blue Jackets, who dropped to 1-4-1 in their last six games.

Kucherov powers Lightning

Nikita Kucherov had a hat trick and set up another goal as the surging Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3.

With his four points, Kucherov moved into the NHL lead with 80 points, three ahead of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist to help Tampa Bay win for the sixth time in seven games.

Jamie Drysdale, Cam York and Cam Atkinson had goals for the Flyers, who dropped their third straight following a five-game winning streak.

Hill sharp in return as Knights win

Adin Hill turned away 40 shots in his return from injury and the Vegas Golden Knights held on for a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.

Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy had a goal and an assist apiece for Vegas, which has point in five straight games (4-0-1).

Hill made his first start since Dec. 17 after missing 22 of the previous 23 games with a lower-body injury.

Brock Nelson notched his 500th career point with a first-period goal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau had a short-handed tally for the Islanders, who fell to 1-1 under new coach Patrick Roy.

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.

Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists to reach 900 points for his career and the Edmonton Oilers won their sixth straight game, 5-2 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

McDavid’s milestone point came on an assist on Zach Hyman’s goal in the second period. The 900th point came in his 602nd game, making McDavid the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to reach that total, trailing only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Peter Stastny.

McDavid had five points in a game for the 10th time. He had a career-high six points on Nov. 14, 2019 against Colorado.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and an assist for the Oilers, who are 14-3-0 in their past 17 games.

Surging Jets handle Lightning

Nikolaj Ehlers and Morgan Barron scored third-period goals as the Winnipeg Jets extended their point streak to nine games with a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Neal Pionk and Alex Iafallo also scored and Vladimir Namestnikov had three assists as the Jets won their third straight and improved to 7-0-2 in their past nine games.

Connor Hellebuyck, named the NHL’s third star of the month of December, stopped 33 shots. He is 7-0-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average in his last nine starts.

Red-hot Hurricanes roll past Rangers

Andrei Svechnikov scored a pair of goals and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 28 shots to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-1 rout of the New York Rangers.

Brady Skjei had three assists against his former team and Jack Drury had a goal and an assist to help the Hurricanes win their fourth straight and improve to 7-1-3 in their last 11 games.

Svechnikov has points in five consecutive games, including six goals, while Sebastian Aho has points in his last five games with three goals and 10 assists.

Chris Kreider scored for New York, which has lost seven times this season by three or more goals.

Zach Hyman scored two of his three goals in the Oilers’ four-goal first period and surging Edmonton cruised to a 6-1 rout of the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.

Connor McDavid and Mattias Janmark each had three assists and Ryan McLeod and Mattias Ekholm also scored to help the Oilers win their fifth straight game.

McLeod scored 28 seconds into the game and Ekholm extended the lead just 13 seconds later. Hyman netted his first of the game at 5:46 and Pyotr Kochetkov was replaced by Antti Raanta after allowing three goals on six shots.

Jordan Staal spoiled Stuart Skinner’s shutout bid midway through the third period as Carolina dropped its second in a row following a 3-0-1 stretch.

Skinner finished with 38 saves and has been in net for all five wins during the streak, posting a 1.58 goals-against average.

Kucherov extends streak in Lightning’s win

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 11 games and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1.

Anthony Cirelli and Tanner Jeannot also scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves as Tampa Bay won its second in a row following a four-game skid.

Kucherov, the NHL scoring leader with 44 points, has six goals and 15 assists during his streak.

Jake Guentzel had the lone goal for Pittsburgh, which had a five-game point streak snapped (2-1-3).

Marchessault, Eichel lead Knights over Blues

Jonathan Marchessault scored the 200th goal of his career and JacK Eichel had a goal and an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the St. Louis Blues, 6-3.

The Golden Knights had six different goal scorers with Eichel, Marchesault, Keegan Kolesar and Michael Amadio tallying in the second period, when Vegas turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead.

Vegas is 3-0-3 in its last six games and leads the NHL with 39 points.

Jordan Binnington made a season-high 43 saves for the Blues, who have alternated wins and losses in their last eight games.

Ryan Johansen scored two goals to back 37 saves from Alexandar Georgiev as the Colorado Avalanche extended their winning streak to four games with Monday's 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cale Makar added a goal and an assist for the Central Division-leading Avalanche, who also received an empty-net goal from Valeri Nichushkin and two assists from Nathan MacKinnon to stop the Lightning's five-game point streak. Tampa Bay came in 4-0-1 over its last five outings.

Georgiev had 13 saves in the first period and Johansen scored unassisted 7:12 in to put Colorado in front. Johansen struck again 1:48 into the second before Makar made it a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal less than two minutes later.

Anthony Cirelli scored the Lightning's lone goal in the final minute of the second period, but Georgiev stopped all 12 Tampa Bay attempts in the third before Nichuskin scored into an empty net with 3:14 left.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 of 22 shots in the Lightning goaltender's second game back from offseason back surgery.

Blue Jackets send skidding Bruins to third straight loss

Spencer Martin made 31 saves and Yegor Chinakhov had a goal and an assist as the surging Columbus Blue Jackets dealt the suddenly slumping Boston Bruins a 5-2 loss.

Dmitri Voronkov, Ivan Provorov, Kirill Marchenko and Justin Danforth also had goals as Columbus won for the third time in four games following a 4-11-4 start to the season.

The Bruins, meanwhile, have suffered three straight regulation losses following a sizzling 14-1-3 start. 

Voronkov scored the lone goal in the first period before the Blue Jackets extended the lead to 3-0 on goals by Provorov and Chinakhov in the second. Marchenko pushed the margin further with a power-play goal 4:51 into the third.

Matthew Poitras and John Beecher had third-period goals for Boston, which pulled starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman after Provorov scored 5:38 into the second.

Swayman stopped 17 of 19 shots before departing, while Linus Ullmark turned back 18 of 20 chances in relief.

Tuch scores twice as Sabres pull away from Rangers

Alex Tuch had a pair of goals and the Buffalo Sabres scored three times late in the third period to pull away for a 5-1 win over the New York Rangers.

Tuch, Casey Mittelstadt and Kyle Okposo all scored in the final 4:29 of the game after New York cut its deficit to 2-1 on Mika Zibanejad's goal with just over eight minutes elapsed in the third period.

Mittelstadt, Victor Olofsson and Owen Power each had two assists to help Buffalo move to 3-1-1 over its last five games. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished with 25 saves for the Sabres.

Buffalo had taken a 2-0 lead on JJ Peterka's goal in the first period and Tuch's first of the night, which came with 27 seconds left in the second.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 of 38 shots for the Rangers, who had a three-game winning streak snapped and sustained just their fourth regulation loss of the season. 

Andrei Vasilevskiy received plenty of support in his season debut, as Brayden Point had a hat trick and two assists in an 8-2 drubbing of the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Vasilevskiy, a winner of the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy, appeared in his first game since April following offseason surgery. He stopped 22 shots and improved to 13-5-3 all-time against Carolina.

Nikita Kucherov had two goals and four assists and Brandon Hagel added a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who are 4-0-1 in their past five games.

Tampa Bay scored three power-play goals in the first six minutes of the second period for a 3-1 lead.

Carolina made it a one-goal game later in the frame, but the Lightning scored five times in the third period, two by Point.

Stefan Noesen and Michael Bunting had goals for the Hurricanes, who lost for just the second time in eight home games this season.

Surging Kings stay unbeaten on road

Kevin Fiala scored twice and Anze Kopitar added a goal and an assist as the Los Angeles Kings remained perfect on the road with a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Arthur Kaliyev and Quinton Byfield also scored for the Kings, who won their fourth straight overall and improved to 9-0-0 on the road this season.

That’s the second-longest such streak in NHL history, trailing only the Buffalo Sabres’ 10 consecutive wins to open the 2006-07 season.

Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas had goals for Anaheim, which has lost five straight after winning eight of its previous 10.

Red Wings notch second win over NHL-best Bruins

Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher each scored one goal and set up another and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the NHL-leading Boston Bruins for the second time this season, 5-2.

Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen tallied for the Bruins, who had been 5-0-2 since losing at Detroit on Nov. 4.

Both of Boston’s regulation losses (14-2-3) have come against Detroit.

Robby Fabbri, Dylan Larkin and David Perron had the other goals as the Red Wings won their second straight following a 0-1-1 trip to Sweden.

Steven Stamkos recorded the tying goal with 4.8 seconds left in regulation, and Brandon Hagel scored on a breakaway 1:19 into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a stunning 5-4 win over the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins on Monday.

Both Stamkos and Hagel added assists as the Lightning won a season-high third consecutive game. Tampa Bay also received goals from Tanner Jeannot, Nicholas Paul and Austin Watson to back 23 saves from Jonas Johansson.

Stamkos' dramatic goal capped a wild third period in which the Bruins scored three times to erase a 2-1 deficit. David Pastrnak and John Beecher scored 1:21 apart to put Boston ahead, though Watson's first of the season forged a 3-3 tie with just over 11 minutes left.

Charlie Coyle briefly sent the Bruins back in front by putting home a feed from James van Riemsdyk with 3:51 left in regulation.

Boston, which got 41 saves from Jeremy Swayman, still managed to extend its point streak to six games (4-0-2). Pastrnak added an assist on Pavel Zacha's goal midway through the first period that tied the game at 1-1.

Stars score five third-period goals to end Rangers' point streak

The Dallas Stars erupted for five third-period goals to end the New York Rangers' 11-game point streak with a 6-3 come-from-behind victory.

Mason Marchment scored the go-ahead goal 7:06 into the third period, and Sam Steel and Roope Hintz each scored short-handed to help the Stars pull away and win for the fifth time in six games.

Hintz added two assists and both Marchment and Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist to support 30 saves from Scott Wedgewood. 

Pavelski started the third-period barrage by registering his eighth of the season just 1:01 into the period, tying the game at 2-2. Six minutes later, Marchment poked the puck past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin on a play that was originally ruled a no-goal before being overturned by a coaches' challenge.

Tyler Seguin later extended Dallas' lead to 4-2 before Steel and Hintz both scored just 1:30 apart with the Rangers having pulled Shesterkin for an extra skater while on a power play.

New York, which came in having won four straight and on a 10-0-1 run, opened the scoring on Vincent Trocheck's power-play goal in the first period. Kaapo Kakko increased the margin in the second before Jamie Benn's goal brought Dallas within 2-1 with 5:37 left in the period.

Shesterkin stopped 30 of 34 shots in the loss. 

Predators shock Avalanche with two goals in final minute

Filip Forsberg and Yakov Trenin each scored in the final minute of regulation to give the Nashville Predators an improbable 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avalanche were well on the way towards a fourth straight victory when carrying a 3-2 lead into the late stages of the third period. However, Forsberg scored his second goal of the night with 37.7 seconds remaining, and Trenin knocked a rebound past Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev with 21.6 seconds left to complete the comeback.

Jeremy Lauzon added a goal and Gustav Nyquist recorded two assists to help Nashville to a second straight win following a four-game losing streak. Juuse Saros finished with 25 saves.

Lauzon scored less than four minutes into the second period to give the Predators a 2-1 lead, but Colorado's Devon Toews tied it later in the frame before the Avalanche went ahead on Valeri Nichushkin's power-play goal with 6:27 left in the second.

Colorado's Andrew Cogliano opened the scoring with a short-handed goal in the first period.

Cale Makar ended with three assists for the Avalanche, who also got two assists from Nathan MacKinnon and 26 saves from Georgiev.

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.

Calle Jarnkrok's goal 46 seconds into overtime capped a furious rally for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who overcame an early three-goal deficit to hand the Tampa Bay Lightning a 6-5 loss on Monday.

Both Jarnkrok and Auston Matthews scored two goals for Toronto, which trailed by a 4-1 margin after one period and bounced back after allowing Tampa Bay's Brandon Hagel to tie the game late in the third. Matthews added an assist, while Mitchell Marner finished with four points on a goal and three assists.

After the Leafs' Matthew Knies recorded the game's first goal, the Lightning struck four times against Toronto starting goaltender Ilya Samsonov before the first intermission. Nikita Kucherov scored twice with Victor Hedman and Brayden Point also beating Samsonov to stake Tampa Bay to a 4-1 lead.

Toronto cut its deficit to one on two second-period goals by Matthews, then took a 5-4 advantage when Jarnkrok and Marner scored just eight seconds apart early in the third. The lead lasted late into regulation before Hagel found the back of the net with 2:26 left in regulation.

Joseph Woll stopped 18 of 19 shots in relief of Samsonov, who was pulled late in the first period after allowing four goals on 12 shots. Jonas Johansson made 26 saves for Tampa Bay.

Two rookies get first NHL goals in Bruins' win

John Beecher and Mason Lohrei each scored the first goals of their NHL careers to help the Boston Bruins continue their sizzling start with Monday's 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars.

Brad Marchand added a goal and Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves as the Bruins improved to 10-1-1 and bounced back from their first regulation loss of the season, a 5-4 defeat at Detroit on Saturday.

Beecher opened the scoring just past the midway mark of the first period and Lohrei made it 2-0 less than four minutes later when he converted a feed from Danton Heinen past Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger. 

Swayman kept the Stars off the scoreboard until Wyatt Johnson's goal 5:09 into the third period. Marchand later scored on the power play to restore Boston's two-goal advantage before Dallas' Joe Pavelski cut the lead to 3-2 with just 28 seconds remaining.

Oettinger finished with 26 saves for the Stars, who have now lost two straight following a 7-1-1 start to the season.

Canucks rout sputtering Oilers to extend win streak

Quinn Hughes had one of three Vancouver goals in the first period and added three assists as the Canucks rolled to a 6-2 victory over the slumping Edmonton Oilers to extend their winning streak to four games.

Hughes, Pius Suter and Brock Boeser scored within a span of 3:22 in the opening period to help surprising Vancouver move to 9-2-1 on the season. The Canucks have missed the playoffs in each of the previous three seasons.

Boeser finished with two goals and J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist to support a 40-save performance from Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko.

Mattias Ekholm scored on a power play to give Edmonton a short-lived 1-0 lead less than seven minutes in. Following Vancouver's three-goal barrage later in the period, Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers within 3-2 in the second before Nils Hoglander restored the Canucks' two-goal advantage with just over nine minutes remaining before the second intermission.

Stuart Skinner recorded 30 saves for Edmonton, which has now lost three straight and fell to 2-8-1.

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper made it clear this is not his side's first rodeo after an overpowering 7-3 road win against the Toronto Maple Leafs to open their first-round series on Tuesday.

The Lightning are coming off three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearances – including championships in 2020 and 2021 – and are trying to become the first team to reach four in a row since the New York Islanders' five from the 1979-80 season through 1983-84.

Against the Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay opening the scoring 78 seconds into the action through Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, before Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov added first-period goals to reach the intermission at 3-0.

Toronto clawed it back to 3-2 thanks to goals from Ryan O'Really and William Nylander, but that would be as close as they would get as the Lightning struck quickly with three goals of their own before the end of the second period to put the game away.

Brayden Point scored twice, Kucherov and Corey Perry collected a goal and two assists each, while Cirelli and Ross Colton also both scored and assisted in a stat-stuffing night for the Lightning.

Cooper said he knew his squad would be energised by the playoff atmosphere, even in a road environment.

"We've been there before," he said. "We've been down this road. 

"To be honest, you embrace these moments, and the atmosphere at the beginning of the game, the anthems and the crowd going nuts, it's a wonderful experience. It's not something you should shy away from, and we talked to the guys about that.

"I will never question the guys in that [locker] room, and as the coach, you always want the best, but deep down inside you know there’s a whole bunch of gamers in that room… we knew they would come out to play."

Goal scorer Colton said he was hoping the Lightning would be able to "flick the switch" now that the important games have arrived.

"I think we were excited for it," he said. "I think for a while there we weren't playing the way that we wanted to play. 

"We kept saying that we were going to flick the switch, and at some point we had to stop talking about it and start doing it. 

"So the playoffs, against the Leafs, in this building – it was obviously electric."

Perry agreed, adding: "We had a tough March, a tough end of the season, but it's about the playoffs, and that's what we were doing. We're trying to get our game into shape to come in here and play."

Game 2 will remain in Toronto, before the series heads to Tampa Bay for Games 3 and 4.

Jonathan Marchessault was relieved to snap his 13-game goal drought as the Vegas Golden Knights continued on their winning ways since the break with a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Marchessault scored two first-period goals as the Golden Knights raced to a 4-2 lead in an entertaining start to the contest.

The center is the latest VGK player to end a goal drought, but he was keen to move on, with the side improving to 34-18-4 amid a five-game win streak.

"Yeah, that's probably the longest I have went but you just have to move on," Marchessault told reporters.

"You know, it's on to the next game. We're gonna enjoy this one until midnight tonight and try to get better tomorrow."

The Golden Knights have found form since the All-Star break, holding the lead in the Pacific Division.

"I think we got a bit more resilient," Marchessault said. "I think we've played a full 60 minutes instead of a sloppy area of our games, sometimes half a period.

"Our effort and support has been better as a unit of five out there. We just have to keep it going."

The Lightning suffered their second straight loss, falling to 35-16-4. It marked Tampa Bay's first regulation loss of their four-game trip.

Marchessault's two-goal performance brought him within five points of 400 career points.

VGK head coach Bruce Cassidy added: "I loved our third period. We didn't give up anything and tried to extend our lead.

"First period, getting around the front of the net, scored a couple of goals. I like that part of our game."

Jonathan Marchessault was relieved to snap his 13-game goal drought as the Vegas Golden Knights continued on their winning ways since the break with a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Marchessault scored two first-period goals as the Golden Knights raced to a 4-2 lead in an entertaining start to the contest.

The center is the latest VGK player to end a goal drought, but he was keen to move on, with the side improving to 34-18-4 amid a five-game win streak.

"Yeah, that's probably the longest I have went but you just have to move on," Marchessault told reporters.

"You know, it's on to the next game. We're gonna enjoy this one until midnight tonight and try to get better tomorrow."

The Golden Knights have found form since the All-Star break, holding the lead in the Pacific Division.

"I think we got a bit more resilient," Marchessault said. "I think we've played a full 60 minutes instead of a sloppy area of our games, sometimes half a period.

"Our effort and support has been better as a unit of five out there. We just have to keep it going."

The Lightning suffered their second straight loss, falling to 35-16-4. It marked Tampa Bay's first regulation loss of their four-game trip.

Marchessault's two-goal performance brought him within five points of 400 career points.

GVK head coach Bruce Cassidy added: "I loved our third period. We didn't give up anything and tried to extend our lead.

"First period, getting around the front of the net, scored a couple of goals. I like that part of our game."