Auston Matthews added to his NHL-leading goal total and the Toronto Maple Leafs added to Arizona's misery, pulling away for a 4-2 win on Thursday to deal the Coyotes a 14th straight loss.

Matthews scored at 13:12 of the second period for his 53rd goal of the season - 12 more than the Florida Panthers' Sam Reinhart for the most in the league.

Matthews entered having gone back-to-back games without lighting the lamp following a five-game stretch in which he scored 10 goals.

The Maple Leafs (34-17-8) went ahead 3-0 on Matthews' goal and got back in the win column after their seven-game winning streak ended with a 6-2 home loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, their first defeat since February 10.

The Coyotes (23-31-5), meanwhile, are 0-12-2 since January 22, when they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2.

Arizona's losing streak is the longest in franchise history, and the longest by any team in a single season since the Buffalo Sabres dropped 18 in a row in 2020-21.

Matthew Knies opened the scoring for Toronto with his 11th goal of the season at 13:04 in the first period. 

Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for the Leafs, while William Nylander tallied an empty-netter for his 32nd goal of the season and added two assists.

Joseph Woll turned aside 30 shots in his return after missing 35 games with a high ankle sprain sustained on December 7.

His counterpart, Connor Ingram, stopped 22-of-25 shots, and fell to 0-6-2 with a 4.23 goals-against average in his last eight starts.

Alex Kerfoot and Logan Cooley each scored for Arizona, which has been outscored 64-33 during its losing streak.

Stankoven scores again as Stars move atop Central Division

Rookie Logan Stankoven scored in his third straight game as the Dallas Stars beat Winnipeg 4-1 on Thursday to move two points ahead of the Jets for first place in the Central Division.

The 21-year-old Stankoven didn't score in his NHL debut last Saturday, but has scored in each game since.

Stankoven's goal against the Jets capped a three-goal first period for the Stars (36-17-9).

Jason Robinson opened the scoring at 6:52 of the opening period with his 20th goal off an assist by Joe Pavelski, who 10 minutes later added his 21st goal of the season.

Roope Hintz ended the scoring with an empty-netter for his 24th of the season, while Jake Oettinger had 25 saves for his 100th win.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 32-of-35 shots for the Jets (37-16-5), whose four-game winning streak was snapped.

Winnipeg's lone goal came from Vladislav Namestnikov on the power play at 13:24 of the second period.

Predators rout Wild 6-1 for seventh straight win

The Nashville Predators extended their season high winning streak to seven games with a 6-1 rout of the Minnesota Wild.

Roman Josi had a goal and two assists, and Yakov Trenin, Cole Smith, Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Ryan McDonagh also scored for the Predators, who are outscoring their opponents 32-12 during their winning streak.

Minnesota's Connor Dewar opened the scoring at 9:51 of the first period, but Trenin was able to tie it up just 49 seconds later, scoring off a backhanded pass from Josi.

Just eight seconds later, the Predators (34-25-2) pulled ahead on an unassisted goal by Smith.

Nashville took a 3-1 lead in the second period on Forsberg's team-leading 29th goal on the power play.

Juuse Saros finished with 33 saves for the Predators, who had lost seven of nine (2-6-1) prior to their current winning streak.

Filip Gustavsson stopped 25-of-31 shots for Minnesota (28-26-6), which has lost two straight after losing just two of its previous nine games (7-1-1).

Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season to become the fastest to 50 in 28 years and the Toronto Maple Leafs won their fifth straight, 6-3 over the reeling Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.

Matthews, from nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, reached the milestone in his 54th game of the season to become the fastest to 50 goals since Mario Lemieux accomplished it in 50 games with Pittsburgh in 1995-96.

Wayne Gretzky holds the record, scoring his 50th in his 39th game for Edmonton in 1981-82 on his way to a record 92 goals. Matthews is the fastest to 50 among U.S.-born players.

Matthews, who added his 51st of the season in the second period, is on pace to surpass 70 goals, which hasn’t been done since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each had 76 in 1992-93.

William Nylander also scored twice and Mitch Marner had three assists as the Maple Leafs won for the ninth time in 11 games (9-0-2).

The Coyotes lost their 11th in a row and have allowed at least five goals in five of their last seven contests.

Bruins edge Oilers in overtime

Charlie McAvoy scored in overtime and the Boston Bruins snapped the Edmonton Oilers’ eight-game home winning streak, 6-5.

McAvoy was the sixth different goal scorer for the Bruins, who got three assists from Mason Lohrei to extend their road point streak to 10 games (7-0-3).

Warren Foegele had a pair of goals for the Oilers, who hadn’t lost at home since a 5-1 defeat to Florida on Dec. 16.

Flyers beat lowly Blackhawks

Samuel Ersson stopped 22 shots and Travis Konecny and Garnet Hathaway scored third-period goals to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-1 win over the league-worst Chicago Blackhawks.

Travis Sanheim had the other goal as the Flyers improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven games.

Colin Blackwell scored the lone goal for Chicago, which has lost 10 of 11.

Arvid Soderblom made 30 saves to lose his 12th consecutive start. He is 0-11-1 since defeating Toronto on Nov. 24.

Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek each recorded three goals and three assists to lead a record-setting day for the Minnesota Wild, who set a franchise single-game high for goals in Monday's frantic 10-7 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello delivered a goal and three assists each for Minnesota, which overcame a three-goal second-period deficit by lighting the lamp seven times during the third to set a team record for goals in a period as well.

The Wild's offensive outburst also overshadowed a three-goal, one-assist performance from Vancouver's J.T. Miller. The game was the first to have three players record hat tricks since the Los Angeles Kings accomplished the feat in an 11-4 win over the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 8, 1992.

After Zuccarello's power-play goal with 33 seconds left in the second period cut the Canucks' lead to 5-3, the Wild scored five straight times in the first 5:12 of the third. Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each struck twice during the flurry, which also included a goal from Marco Rossi.

The six goals in a span of 5:45 made the Wild the first team to score six times in that short a time frame since the Washington Capitals did so in a 4:47 stretch in a 10-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 3, 1999.

The Pacific Division-leading Canucks fought back, though, as goals from Nikita Zadorov and Brock Boeser got them within 8-7 with 2:08 left to play. Minnesota's Jonas Brodin scored into an empty net 61 seconds later, however, before Kaprizov completed his fourth career hat trick and second this season with an empty-netter in the final stages.

Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek matched the @mnwild record for points in a game while combining for a feat not witnessed in more than three decades.#NHLStats: https://t.co/wuATxuTB8f pic.twitter.com/Ga6OXyAPpY

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 19, 2024

Marc-Andre Fleury was credited with the victory after the Wild veteran stopped six of eight shots after replacing starter Filip Gustavsson to begin the third period. Minnesota extended its point streak to six games (5-0-1) despite Gustavsson yielding five goals on 16 shots.

The Canucks, meanwhile, have dropped two straight following a forgettable afternoon for netminder Casey DeSmith, who let in eight goals on just 25 shots.

Matthews' 49th goal helps Maple Leafs top Blues

Auston Matthews continued his recent goal-scoring tear by recording his league-leading 49th of the season, which helped the Toronto Maple Leafs stay hot as well with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Matthews' seventh goal in three games snapped a 1–1 tie 45 seconds into the third period, and the 2021-22 Hart Trophy recipient had an assist earlier to spark Toronto to a fourth consecutive win.

Mitchell Marner had three assists for Toronto, which also got a key short-handed goal from William Nylander that extended the Leafs' lead to 3-1 with 12:31 left to play.

After a scoreless first period, the Maple Leafs struck quickly in the second as Matthews set up Matthew Knies for a close-range shot that the rookie rocketed past St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer just 22 seconds into the period.

Brandon Saad's power-play goal late in the second drew the Blues even, though the tie was short-lived as Matthews deposited a feed from Marner into the Blues' net in the opening minute of the third.

The Blues cut the deficit to 3-2 on Pavel Buchnevich's goal with 1:08 to play, but Bobby McMann sealed the win for Toronto with an empty-net score with 38 seconds left.

Hofer stopped 25 of 28 shots for St. Louis, which has lost two straight following an 8-2-0 stretch from Jan. 20-Feb. 15. Ilya Samsonov finished with 19 saves for Toronto.

Bruins stop four-game slide with shootout win over Stars

Charlie McAvoy scored in the ninth round of the shootout as the Boston Bruins rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars to halt their four-game losing streak.

McAvoy added two assists in regulation for Boston, which forced overtime on David Pastrnak's goal with 1:45 left in the third period. 

The Bruins later extended the game further when Brad Marchand beat Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger in the third round of the shootout to tie the deciding phase at 1-1.

Both Oettinger and Boston's Jeremy Swayman turned aside the next five skaters each faced before McAvoy converted his chance. Swayman then denied Craig Smith to end the game and hand Dallas a second straight defeat, though the Western Conference contenders did extend their point streak to five games (3-0-2).

Swayman finished with a career-high 43 saves before stopping eight of nine opponents in the shootout.

Goals from Boston's Jesper Boqvist and Dallas' Wyatt Johnston sent the teams into the first intermission tied at 1-1, and the Stars' Ryan Suter and the Bruins' Justin Brazeau scored 28 seconds apart less than two minutes into the second period.

Dallas went back ahead when Esa Lindell scored on a 2-on-1 rush with 9:16 left in the third, but Pastrnak later one-timed a feed from McAvoy past Oettinger with Swayman pulled for an extra attacker to tie the game at 3-3.

Oettinger finished with 27 saves.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Auston Matthews notched his second straight hat trick to open the season and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Saturday.

Matthews became the fifth player in NHL history to start a season with consecutive hat tricks, joining Alex Ovechkin (2017-18), Cy Denneny (1917-18), Joe Malone (1917-18) and Reg Noble (1917-18).

William Nylander added two goals and an assist for Toronto, which has scored 12 goals in winning its first two games of the season.

Jenner’s 3 goals help Vincent earn first win

Boone Jenner registered his second career hat trick to give Pascal Vincent his first coaching victory with a 5-3 win over the New York Rangers.

Jenner’s first goal of the game forged a 1-1 tie, and his second with 2:15 left in the opening period put the Blue Jackets on top for good.

He completed his natural hat trick with 7 ½ minutes remaining in the second period for a 3-1 lead.

Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves before leaving with flu-like symptoms after the second period. He was replaced by Spencer Martin, who stopped 15 of 17 shots in the third in his Columbus debut.

Golden Knights beat Ducks to stay perfect

Chandler Stephenson, Shea Theodore and Jack Eichel each had a goal and an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights continued their unbeaten start with another 4-1 victory, this one over the Anaheim Ducks.

Jonas Rondjberg had the other goal and Adin Hill stopped 22 shots to help defending champion Vegas begin a season with three straight wins for the second straight year.

The Golden Knights’ three wins have all come by 4-1 scores.

Mason McTavish had the lone goal as Anaheim lost in Greg Cronin’s coaching debut.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and superstar center Auston Matthews agreed on a four-year, $53 million contract extension on Wednesday, making him the NHL’s highest-paid player.

Matthews has one year remaining on the five-year, $58.2 million pact he signed in February 2019, and he could have become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

With an average annual value of $13.25 million, Matthews will become the NHL’s highest-paid player beginning in 2024-25, surpassing Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 million annual average value.

The 25-year-old Matthews has been one of the game’s elite players since he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2016 draft.

He led the league in goals twice (2020-21 and 2021-22) and has totaled 299 goals and 542 points in 481 regular season games.

Matthews’ best season came in 2021-22, when he set career highs with 60 goals and 106 points in 73 games, earning him the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP.

He dipped to 40 goals last season but still tallied 85 points in 74 games.

The native of Scottsdale, Arizona leads all players in goals since the start of the 2016-17 season and ranks 11th in points during that span.

The Maple Leafs have reached the playoffs in every full season since Matthews entered the league but have advanced past the first round only once – defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in a six-game series last spring.