Kochetkov, Slavin power Hurricanes to 3-1 victory over Panthers

It was the last matchup of the regular season between the two teams. Florida swept a home-and-home set earlier this season, beating the Hurricanes 6-3 on Nov. 29 and 6-0 on Nov. 30.

WILD 4, CAPITALS 3, SO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marco Rossi tied it in the third period, Matt Boldy scored the shootout winner and Minnesota rallied to beat Washington after Alex Ovechkin moved one step closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record.

Rossi scored with 8:41 left in regulation, 15 seconds after a would-be goal by Washington’s Tom Wilson was disallowed for directing the puck into the net with a high stick. Boldy had the lone shootout goal.

The Wild won their first game without injured captain Jared Spurgeon, who is expected to miss 2-3 weeks after getting slew-footed earlier in the week. Yakov Trenin scored short-handed, Ryan Hartman had his first goal since Nov. 19 and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in regulation and overtime to help Minnesota improve to 3-1 without leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov.

Ovechkin beat Fleury for his 871st career goal, scoring on him for a 28th time in 47 games against him over the past two decades in the NHL. Wilson and Martin Fehervary had the other goals for the Capitals, while Lindgren made 30 saves but misplayed the puck to allow Trenin to score.

RANGERS 2, BRUINS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Mika Zibanejad and Brett Berard scored in the first period, and Jonathan Quick made 32 saves as New York beat Boston to snap a four-game losing streak.

The Rangers won at home for the first time since Dec. 6 as Quick was steady in place of injured starter Igor Shesterkin to get his 399th career victory.

Elias Lindholm scored for Boston, and Jeremy Swayman had 25 saves. The Bruins have lost three of four.

Zibanejad tapped a loose puck past Swayman at 9:48 of the first for his seventh goal of the season and second since Nov. 30.

Berard made it 2-0 with 7:07 remaining in the period with his third.

Lindholm scored at 7:57 of the second to get the Bruins on the scoreboard.

RED WINGS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jonatan Berggren scored with 36 seconds left in the third period and Detroit extended their winning streak to three games with a win over Columbus.

Alex DeBrincat scored and had two assists, Dylan Larkin and Patrick Kane each had a goal and an assist, and Erik Gustafsson added a goal for Detroit. Cam Talbot made 21 saves.

James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist, Zach Werenski added a goal and two assists, and Sean Monahan also scored for Columbus, which was 4-1-1 in its previous six games. Elvis Merzlikins made 21 saves.

Van Riemsdyk scored his second of the game at 17:19 of third, pulling Columbus into a 4-all tie after Larkin scored on the power play at 4:54 of the period to give Detroit a 4-3 lead.

MAPLE LEAFS 2, ISLANDERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Bobby McMann scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, and Toronto beat New York.

Joseph Woll stopped 32 shots as the Maple Leafs topped the Islanders for the second time this week and won for the third time in four games.

Scott Mayfield scored for New York and Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves in the Islanders’ third straight loss.

Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech was called for a tripping penalty which set up the power play that McMann and Toronto capitalized on to get the winning goal with 2:59 remaining.

The Islanders poured on the pressure in the final minutes but Woll preserved the Maple Leafs’ win.

McMann opened the scoring at 10:43 of the second, and Mayfield tied it with 1:45 remaining in the period.

STARS 4, SENATORS 2

DALLAS (AP) — Roope Hintz scored two goals for the second time in the last eight games giving him a team-high 18 goals as Dallas beat Ottawa.

Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene also scored, and Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston had two assists each for the Stars, who have points in five consecutive games for the first time this season. Jake Oettinger made 11 saves.

Benn and Hintz scored 1:08 apart midway through the second period putting Dallas ahead 3-2.

Brady Tkachuk and Ridly Greig scored 24 seconds apart for a 2-1 Senators lead midway through the first period. Leevi Merilainen stopped 21 shots.

Ottawa is 4-3-0 with two games left in a franchise-long nine road games on both sides of the NHL Christmas break.

DUCKS 4, JETS 3, OT

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Troy Terry scored his second goal of the game at 3:34 of overtime to give Anaheim a victory over Winnipeg.

Terry added an assist in a three-point night, Radko Gudas and Leo Carlsson also scored and John Gibson stopped 27 shots for Anaheim. The Ducks improved to 16-17-4.

Gudas forced overtime when his screened shot from the point beat Connor Hellebuyck with 1:10 left in regulation and the Gibson off for an extra attacker.

Alex Iafallo gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead with a wraparound with 2:44 left.

Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele also scored for Winnipeg. The Jets have lost two in a row to fall to 27-11-2.

UTAH 5, FLAMES 3

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Lawson Crouse scored twice and Utah rallied to beat Calgary to end a five-game winless streak.

Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, and Kevin Stenlund — into an empty net — also scored to help Utah improve to 17-15-6. Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves.

Blake Coleman, Connor Zary, and Brayden Pachal scored for Calgary, and Dan Vladar made 21 saves.

Down 3-2 after 40 minutes, Utah scored twice early in the third with goals less than two minutes apart. Keller steered in Olli Maatta’s point shot to tie it at 47 seconds. Crouse gave Utah the lead at 2:35 when he took a pass from Nick Bjugstad and beat Vladar.

AVALANCHE 6, SABRES 5, OT

DENVER (AP) — Devon Toews scored 48 seconds into overtime and Colorado overcame a three-goal deficit to beat Buffalo and extend their winning streak to six games.

After trailing 3-0 in the second period, the Avalanche regrouped and tied it with 6.8 seconds remaining on a shot from Jonathan Drouin. That set the stage for Toews, who stole the puck and scored on a breakaway.

It was the second time this season the Sabres blew a multi-goal lead against Colorado. The Avalanche came back from a 4-0 deficit for a 5-4 victory Dec. 3 in Buffalo.

Cale Makar had two goals, while Ross Colton and Mikko Rantanen also scored.

Jason Zucker scored three times for Buffalo and Bowen Byram added a goal against his former team. Zach Benson knocked in a contentious goal in the third period after being pushed into Scott Wedgewood and landing on the goaltender’s right leg. Benson got back up, gained possession of the puck and scored as Wedgewood remained down on the ice. It gave the Sabres a 4-2 lead.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, FLYERS 2

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Stone, Nicolas Hague and Pavel Dorofeyev scored in Vegas’ three-goal second period and they beat Philadelphia.

Alexander Holtz and Tanner Pearson also scored for Vegas, which has won 11 of 13. Ilya Samsonov stopped 23 shots.

Tyson Foester and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers, who have lost six of their last nine. Aleksei Kolosov finished with 22 saves.

Stone tied the score 1-1 by redirecting a pass from Jack Eichel past Kolosov 51 seconds into the second. Hague skated around the back of the goal and beat Kolosov with a wraparound less than 90 seconds later. Dorofeyev scored his 14th goal of the season with 1:39 left in the second to make it 3-1.

Holtz added to Vegas’ lead at 2:46 of the third, and Konecny pulled Philadelphia back within two at 4:56. Pearson added an empty-net goal with 36 seconds left to seal the win.

SHARKS 2, LIGHTNING 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Tyler Toffoli and Mario Ferraro scored and San Jose snapped an eight-game winless streak by beating Tampa Bay.

Toffoli used a nifty toe drag to score his 15th goal of the season midway through the first and Ferraro added a goal in the second to give the Sharks their first home win since Nov. 29.

Yaroslav Askarov made 24 saves.

San Jose was 0-7-1 in its last eight games and had just one win in 12 games in a stretch that started with an 8-1 loss at Tampa on Dec. 5.

Anthony Cirelli scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves.

CANUCKS 4, KRAKEN 3, SO

SEATTLE (AP) — J.T. Miller scored in the shootout and Vancouver beat Seattle.

Connor Garland, Tyler Myers and Max Sasson scored in regulation for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko started and stopped 11 of 12 shots before leaving with back spasms in the second period. Kevin Lankinen came on and finished with 13 saves.

Vince Dunn and Matty Beniers each had a goal and an assist, and Chandler Stephenson also scored for Seattle. Philipp Grubauer finished with 19 saves.

In the tiebreaker, Miller snuck one past Grubauer in the first round. Lankinen denied Oliver Bjorkstrand, Kaapo Kakko and Benioers to secure the win.

The victory evened the Canucks’ crushing 5-4 overtime loss to the Kraken on Saturday. In that one, Seattle tied it with three goals in the final five minutes of regulation, before winning on Dunn’s goal in OT.

Dunn tied this game with 53 seconds left in regulation.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Kochetkov, Slavin power Hurricanes to 3-1 victory over Panthers

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