TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Playing in front of their home fans for the first time this season, the Tampa Bay Lightning raised their 2020 Stanley Cup banner and beat the Nashville Predators 6-3 on Saturday night.
Tyler Johnson and Blake Coleman each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning. Alex Killorn, Brayden Point, Mathieu Joseph and Anthony Cirelli also scored. Erik Cernak and Ondrej Palat had two assists apiece.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots to earn his NHL-leading 17th win.
Erik Haula, Alexandre Carrier and Yakov Trenin scored for the Predators, who fell to 1-5-1 in their past seven games. Pekka Rinne made 21 saves.
With a maximum crowd of 3,800 in attendance, the Lightning hoisted their 2020 championship banner to the rafters and jumped to a three-goal lead.
RANGERS 4, BRUINS 0
BOSTON (AP) — Chris Kreider scored his team-leading 14th goal, Artemi Panarin had an assist in his first game back since leaving the team, and the Rangers halted a three-game losing streak.
Panarin left Feb. 22 after a Russian tabloid printed allegations from a former coach that he attacked a woman in Latvia almost a decade ago, which he denies. His return clearly provided a lift for New York.
Keith Kinkaid stopped 18 shots for his first shutout since 2018. Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich and K’Andre Miller also scored for New York, which lost 4-0 in Boston on Thursday.
Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves for the Bruins, who have dropped eight of their last 12 games.
CAPITALS 5, FLYERS 4
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored and Carl Hagelin had a goal and an assist, leading the Capitals to their fourth straight win.
Nick Jensen, Daniel Sprong and Nic Dowd also scored for Washington, which has won eight of nine.
Nolan Patrick, James van Riemsdyk, Shayne Gostisbehere and Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers, who have lost four of five and were swept in three home games against Washington this week.
Ovechkin pulled within one of tying Phil Esposito for sixth on the NHL’s career goals list when he scored on the power play to make it 4-2 with 6:50 left in the second. It was the 716th goal for Ovechkin.
ISLANDERS 3, DEVILS 2
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Kieffer Bellows scored his first two goals of the season early in the third period, and the Islanders earned their eighth straight victory.
Oliver Wahlstrom also scored and Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves to help the East-leading Islanders extend their points streak to 11 games at 10-0-1.
The winning streak is the longest for the Islanders since they won 10 in a row last season. The team record is 15 in early 1982.
Pavel Zacha and Janne Kuokkanen scored for the Devils, who have lost 10 straight at home. Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves.
PANTHERS 4, BLACKHAWKS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov had two goals and an assist, and Florida earned its third straight win.
Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist for the Panthers. Frank Vatrano also scored, and Anthony Duclair had two assists in his first game since Feb. 27.
Brandon Hagel and Adam Boqvist scored for the Blackhawks, which lost to the Panthers for the third time this season. Kevin Lankinen had 31 saves.
Florida grabbed control with three goals in a scoring burst in the second period.
PENGUINS 3, SABRES 0
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Casey DeSmith stopped 24 shots, and Pittsburgh handed Buffalo its 10th straight loss.
Jake Guentzel scored the go-ahead goal by batting in his own rebound with 3:23 remaining in the second period. The power-play goal was set up by Evgeni Malkin, who has three goals and seven assists in a seven-game point streak.
The Sabres dropped to 0-8-2 in their past 10. The winless streak matches the fourth-worst in team history.
It was DeSmith’s second shutout against Buffalo and No. 5 for his career.
Carter Hutton stopped 31 shots for Buffalo, which was shut out for the fifth time this season.
BLUE JACKETS 4, STARS 3, OT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Zach Werenski scored 4:55 into overtime and Elvis Merzlikins made 27 saves, leading Columbus to the victory.
Werenski scored his first goal since Jan. 23. Max Domi added a goal and an assist as Columbus snapped a three-game losing streak. Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno also scored, and Jack Roslovic finished with three assists.
Andrew Cogliano, Andrej Sekera and Denis Gurianov scored for Dallas.
Jake Oettinger had 22 saves for the Stars, who have lost two straight and seven of nine.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, BLUES 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Mark Stone scored twice for Vegas, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves.
Shea Theodore, Max Pacioretty and Alex Tuch also scored for Vegas, which had not beaten St. Louis in regulation in their previous 11 meetings dating to 2017.
Fleury made his 15th start in Vegas’ last 16 games.
Ville Husso made 21 saves for the Blues and took his first regulation loss since Feb. 6 against Arizona. He is 0-2 on home ice.
JETS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Adam Lowry broke a tie at 7:39 of the third period, leading Winnipeg to the win.
Lowry added an assist, and Mark Scheifele and Mason Appleton also each had a goal and an assist to help the Jets take the three-game series 2-1. Paul Stastny and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored, and Laurent Brossoit made 20 saves.
William Nylander and Jake Muzzin scored for North-leading Toronto, and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves.
Toronto beat Winnipeg 4-3 in overtime Thursday after dropping three straight.
FLAMES 3, CANADIENS 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Sean Monahan scored twice, Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves and the Flames beat the Canadiens to sweep the two-game series.
Darryl Sutter coached his second game for the Flames after returning to the team when Geoff Ward was fired March 4.
Monahan scored his 200th and 201st goals. Mikael Backlund also scored for Calgary. The Flames improved to 13-12-3, winning consecutive games for the first time in a month.
Jeff Petry scored for Montreal, and Carey Price stopped 33 shots. The Canadiens are 12-8-7, going 3-3-3 since Dominique Ducharme took over for the fired Claude Julien.
The Flames won the opener 2-1 on Thursday night.
SHARKS 3, DUCKS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Evander Kane scored for the third straight game, Martin Jones stopped 26 shots and San Jose won its third straight for the first time this season,
Kevin Labanc and Dylan Gambrell also scored for the Sharks. Their win streak includes victories on consecutive nights during which they have outscored the Ducks 9-1.
Martin Jones had Anaheim’s lone goal and Ryan Miller made 30 saves. The Ducks, who are in last place in the West Division, have dropped three straight and are 2-5-3 in their last 10 games.
CANUCKS 2, OILERS 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Tyler Myers scored midway through the third period, leading Vancouver to its fifth win in seven games.
Bo Horvat also scored for the Canucks, shoveling the puck in on a power play in the second period. Thatcher Demko stopped 34 shots.
Leon Draisaitl scored for the for the Oilers for his 16th goal of the season. Mikko Koskinen had 26 saves for Edmonton, which snapped a four-game winning streak and slipped to third place in the North Division.
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