ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 26 seconds into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 Wednesday night for their seventh straight win since Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench.
Boudreau is the third coach in NHL history to start 7-0 with a new team, matching Geoff Ward in 2019-20 with Calgary and Jacques Lemaire in 1993-94 with New Jersey.
Miller assisted on Tanner Pearson’s tying goal early in the third period then got a breakaway chance in overtime. He put a wrist shot past John Gibson for his 11th goal of the season, extending his point streak to seven games. He has three goals and 11 points in that span.
Boudreau took over Dec. 3 following a leadership purge in which two Canucks executives, coach Travis Green and an assistant coach were fired.
CAPITALS 5, PREDATORS 3
WASHINGTON (AP) — Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a late short-handed goal in his return from an 18-day absence to put Washington ahead for good against Nashville.
Kuznetsov’s crafty wrist shot from a tight angle helped the Capitals beat the Predators for the first time in nine games, a streak dating to 2017.
It was his 10th of the season and his first since he was reactivated from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols earlier Wednesday.
John Carlson also scored and had three assists for Washington, which stormed to a 3-0 lead in the first period before giving it all back inside the opening eight minutes of the second.
Lars Eller and Nic Dowd added early goals as the Capitals moved two points in front of Carolina into sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
PANTHERS 4, RANGERS 3
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — MacKenzie Weegar, Carter Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair scored in the third period to rally Florida past New York as both teams returned from an extended holiday break.
Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad each had a goal and an assist for the Rangers. Chris Kreider also scored and Igor Shesterkin, back in net after missing eight games with a lower-body injury, made 28 saves.
Anton Lundell also scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots.
DEVILS 4, SABRES 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt each had a goal and two assists to help New Jersey end its six-game losing streak.
Hughes’ sixth goal of the season gave New Jersey a 3-2 lead in the third period after a failed Sabres clearing attempt led to a rebound from a shot by Yegor Sharangovich, who scored 2:22 later to make it 4-2.
Bratt’s goal gave the Devils a 2-0 edge in the first after a power-play goal from Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring.
BLUES 4, OILERS 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists as St. Louis beat Edmonton.
Brandon Saad, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou also scored in St. Louis’ first game since a 4-2 loss at Winnipeg on Dec. 19.
Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard scored for Edmonton in its first game since a 5-3 win at Seattle on Dec. 18.
Jordan Binnington made 26 saves in his second start since being activated off the COVID-19 list.
Mike Smith stopped 29 shots for the Oilers.
FLYERS 3, KRAKEN 2
SEATTLE (AP) — Ivan Provorov scored 2:14 into overtime and Philadelphia beat Seattle as both teams returned to the ice after more than a week off.
James van Riemsdyk’s second goal of the game with 5:13 left in regulation pulled the Flyers even at 2. He scored 15 seconds after Seattle’s Jeremy Lauzon scored his first of the season after having a goal disallowed by goaltender interference earlier in the period.
But the lead was gone in a blink as van Riemsdyk beat Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer for the second time in the game.
Martin Jones made 34 saves and the Flyers improved to 5-0-1 in their last six.
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