NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Olympic golden goal-scorer Jack Hughes extended his points streak to four games since returning from Milan, and the New Jersey Devils dealt the Florida Panthers’ playoff hopes another blow by beating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions 5-1 on Tuesday night.
Hughes’ shot that went wide banked right to Dougie Hamilton for his goal. Hughes has four assists — one in each game — since the NHL season resumed.
Hamilton, whose name has been involved in trade buzz for several months, also had an assist. It’s unclear if the Devils will be able to move the defenseman before the deadline Friday, given that Hamilton has two years remaining on his contract beyond this season at a $9 million salary cap hit and is owed a $7.4 million roster bonus on July 1.
If New Jersey, which looks out of the race, sells elsewhere, depth forward Cody Glass may have boosted his value by scoring his 14th goal of the season. Arseny Gritsyuk also scored, looking off Hughes on a 2 on 1 before beating Sergei Bobrovsky, who was excellent early and finished with 28 saves on 31 shots.
Florida is in danger of becoming the first Cup-winning team to miss the playoffs the following season since the Los Angeles Kings in 2014-15. The Panthers have lost three of four games since the Olympics ended, all of those coming in regulation.
MAMMOTH 3, CAPITALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — JJ Peterka scored in the second period on a bizarre bounce, and Utah beat Washington.
Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev scored for the Mammoth, who took an early 2-0 lead and held off the Capitals in a matchup of teams near the playoff cutoff lines. Utah entered the night tied with Edmonton for the top wild card in the Western Conference.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ryan Leonard scored for Washington, which fell to four points behind Boston for the second wild card in the East. The Bruins also have three more games left than the Caps.
The Capitals have been hoping to add a forward before Friday’s trade deadline, and with Aliaksei Protas out for personal reasons Tuesday, they struggled to apply consistent pressure in the Utah zone until they were down two in the third. It’s not clear if Washington’s position in the standings — and losses to Montreal and the Mammoth in its last two games — will alter the team’s approach to the deadline.
SABRES 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tage Thompson scored after being honored for helping the U.S. win an Olympic gold medal in hockey, and Buffalo won its fourth straight game by beating Vegas.
Owen Power and Jason Zucker also scored for the surging Sabres. Buffalo improved to 25-5-2 in its past 32, and its 35 wins through 61 games are the team’s most since having 41 over the same span in 2006-07.
Alex Lyon made 29 saves to improve to 13-2 in his past 15 starts.
Pavel Dorofeyev, with his team-leading 29th goal, and Ivan Barbashev scored and Vegas matched a season-low by losing three straight in regulation. The slumping Golden Knights also dropped to 4-8-2 in their past 14.
Akira Schmid stopped 25 shots.
BRUINS 2, PENGUINS 1
BOSTON (AP) — Marat Khusnutdinov and Casey Mittelstadt scored less than a minute apart early in the first period and Boston held on for a victory over Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh’s Erik Karlsson scored just 42 seconds into the game, but Khusnutdinov tied it at 1-1 when he snapped the puck high inside the far post past Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner for his 13th goal of the season at 5:10 of the first.
Mittelstadt added his 13th of the season 50 seconds later when he gathered in the rebound of Nikita Zadorov’s shot and fired past a diving Skinner and into an open net. Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.
Karlsson scored on the Penguins’ first shot on goal after the Bruins had two excellent scoring chances in the first few seconds requiring solid saves by Skinner. The Bruins challenged for goalie interference but the goal was upheld. Skinner finished with 26 saves.
BLUE JACKETS 3, PREDATORS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Damon Severson broke a tie with a snap shot from the point through traffic at 6:07 of the third period and Columbus beat Nashville to open a four-game homestand.
Both teams played Monday night, with Columbus beating the Rangers 5-4 in overtime in New York, and Nashville falling 4-2 at home to Detroit.
Adam Fantilli and Sean Monahan also scored for Columbus, with Monahan tying it at 2 at 1:52 of the third with a short-handed goal. He also had a short-handed goal Monday in New York.
Jet Greaves made 20 saves for Columbus in 51:44, missing an 8:16 stretch of the first period because of concussion protocol after Nick Blankenburg caught him with an elbow on the side of the head on a rush. Elvis Merzlikins stopped both shots on faced before Greaves returned.
Filip Forsberg had a power-play goal for Nashville, and Ryan O’Reilly was credited with a goal in the second that a Columbus player put in. O’Reilly was cut below the eye taking a faceoff midway through the third.
Justus Annunen stopped 24 shots for the Predators.
JETS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, OT
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mark Scheifele scored at 2:06 of overtime to lift Winnipeg to a victory over Chicago.
Cole Perfetti forced the extra frame for Winnipeg, tying the game 2-2 with just 38.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Dylan Samberg, who assisted on Scheifele’s winner, also scored in the first period for the Jets, who went to overtime for the fourth consecutive game.
Teuvo Teravainen and Ryan Greene scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard picked up two assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves for the victory. Spencer Knight stopped 29 shots for the Blackhawks.
The Jets pulled Hellebuyck for the extra attacker and netted the equalizer when Perfetti buried the late chance. The goal validated a second-period line shuffle that had Perfetti placed on a line with Adam Lowry and Gabriel Vilardi.
By forcing the extra frame, the Jets went to overtime for the fourth consecutive game. It was a crucial late push to grab two points as they kicked off a critical eight-game homestand.
STARS 6, FLAMES 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Sam Steel scored twice and added an assist and Dallas extended its franchise-record winning streak to 10 games with a romp over Calgary.
Jamie Benn, Mavrik Bourque, Nathan Bastian and Wyatt Johnston also scored to help Dallas improve to 38-14-9. Matt Duchene had four assists giving him a team-best 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) during the winning streak.
Steel and Duchene tied career highs for points in a game, and Steel tied a career high with 10 goals. He also had 10 times for Minnesota in 2022-23.
Casey DeSmith made 20 saves to improve to 13-4-5.
Flames starter Dustin Wolf was pulled after giving up four goals on 17 shots. Devin Cooley made 16 saves in relief.
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