NHL roundup: Oilers end skid, Devils shock Canes, Kreider hat trick revives Rangers, Leafs beat Isles, and more
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL docket was jammed packed on Saturday night with 11 contests. It was accentuated with high scoring games and some jockeying for the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer.
Chris Kreider recorded a hat trick to help revive the New York Rangers from their early doldrums. He took the lead twice over Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals during the course of the evening for top goal scorer. The Great 8 evened the race up with a late tally to help beat the Senators.
Leon Draisaitl scored twice, including the game winning goal to end the Oilers slide. It put him right behind Kreider and Ovechkin in the goal scoring race.
Let’s begin the recaps.
Oilers 5, Flames 3
Leon Draisaitl scored the game-winning goal as part of his four-point game and led the host Edmonton Oilers to a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night, snapping their seven-game skid.
Evan Bouchard scored twice, Brendan Perlini also scored and Connor McDavid collected two assists for the Oilers. Goaltender Mikko Koskinen made 44 saves, including all 17 he faced in the third period, during which he made several clutch saves while the game was tied.
Despite the Flames holding all of the momentum in the final frame, Draisaitl netted the go-ahead goal with 5:31 left in regulation. He zipped around the defender and waited for the Calgary goalie to go down before lifting a forehand into the net. Draisaitl buried an empty net goal just before the buzzer — his 28th goal of the season — to round out the scoring.
Noah Hanifin collected one goal and two assists, Matthew Tkachuk scored once in a two-point night and Milan Lucic also tallied for the Flames, who have one win in their last six games. Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 shots.
“I think it is my top save in the NHL,” said Koskinen, who has received the brunt of criticism for the Oilers skid. “When you think about the situation and where we are, we really needed the win and we got it so we have to be happy for that.”
Sabres 6, Flyers 3
Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson each scored two goals with an assist, while Peyton Krebs added two goals, to lift Buffalo past visiting Philadelphia.
Krebs’ two goals were the first two in his career, while Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin contributed two assists each for the Sabres, who snapped a nine-game losing streak at home. Buffalo’s six goals were a season-high.
Claude Giroux scored two goals and Rasmus Ristolainen added one goal for the reeling Flyers, who have dropped 11 consecutive games. The Flyers lost 10 straight earlier this season from Nov. 18-Dec. 8.
Lightning 7, Sharks 1
Steven Stamkos scored one of Tampa Bay’s four goals in the game’s opening 12:32 in what turned into a 7-1 hammering of host San Jose.
Stamkos also recorded an assist. Alex Killorn found the net and posted a helper, giving him 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) over the past 15 games. Ross Colton potted a pair, and Mathieu Joseph, Corey Perry and Brayden Point scored. Ryan McDonagh, Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev dished out two assists apiece.
Brian Elliott (4-2-2) turned aside 27 of 28 shots for Tampa Bay, while counterpart James Reimer made nine saves in 13 shots before being replaced by Adin Hill (15 saves). Jaycob Megna netted his first goal of the season for the Sharks.
Devils 7, Hurricanes 4
Nathan Bastian scored twice in the first period and his teammates cranked up the offense after that as New Jersey defeated Carolina at Newark, N.J.
“We’re a confident group playing in front of him, and we trust him when he’s in the net,” Bastian said. “It was nice to see him get his first one tonight, on his birthday. That’s pretty exciting.”
Michael McLeod, Andreas Johnsson, Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes and Pavel Zacha also scored for New Jersey. Ryan Graves had three assists while Dawson Mercer and Johnsson both provided two assists.
Andrei Svechnikov, Ian Cole, Josh Leivo and Brady Skjei scored for the Hurricanes, who held an early 2-0 lead. It was the first professional start for Carolina goalie Jack LaFontaine, who played in one previous NHL game. He made 31 saves.
Bruins 3, Jets 2
David Pastrnak scored a power-play goal early in the third period to break a tie and lead Boston over visiting Winnipeg.
It was Pastrnak’s 19th goal of the season and an NHL-leading 11th for the month of January. Charlie Coyle had a goal and an assist and Oskar Steen also scored for Boston, which won for the 10th time in the last 12 games. Tuukka Rask, making just his third start of the season after undergoing hip surgery in July, finished with 22 saves.
Jansen Harkins and Andrew Copp scored goals for Winnipeg, while Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves.
Avalanche 3, Canadiens 2 (OT)
Gabriel Landeskog scored at 1:16 into overtime, Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist, and Colorado beat Montreal in Denver.
Alex Newhook also scored, Devon Toews had three assists, Sam Girard had two assists and Darcy Kuemper stopped 28 shots for the Avalanche. Colorado has won 15 straight home games.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and Cayden Primeau had 43 saves for the Canadiens. Montreal is 1-4-4 in its current 10-game road trip that wraps up Monday in Minnesota.
Maple Leafs 3, Islanders 1
Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist as Toronto defeated New York at Elmont, N.Y.
Mitchell Marner and Pierre Engvall also scored for the Maple Leafs, who completed a six-game road trip with a 3-2-1 record. Backup goaltender Petr Mrazek made 27 saves for Toronto.
Zach Parise scored for the Islanders, who had a three-game winning streak end that included a 4-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Friday.
“I liked a lot of what we did, what our whole lineup did,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Each line, I thought, gave us good shifts, gave us good efforts. I loved our second period. We took the 3-1 lead, and I thought we were really good and in full control of the second half of that second period.”
Capitals 3, Senators 2 (OT)
Nicklas Backstrom scored on a breakaway 1:13 into overtime as Washington rallied to defeat visiting Ottawa.
Alex Ovechkin scored two third-period goals, his 28th and 29th of the season to tie for the league lead, as the Capitals bounced back from a 2-0 deficit. Goaltender Vitek Vanecek made 20 saves.
Thomas Chabot and Zach Sanford scored for the Senators, who suffered their third consecutive defeat. Matt Murray, who returned to the net after missing two games with a non-COVID-19 illness, stopped 30 of 33 shots.
Predators 4, Red Wings 1
Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist and Nashville defeated visiting Detroit.
Filip Forsberg added a goal and an assist as the Predators won their second straight after a four-game losing streak. Nick Cousins also scored for the Predators, who have won the last six meetings with the Red Wings. Juuse Saros made 28 saves.
Adam Erne scored for the Red Wings, who lost for the second time in as many nights. They lost at home to Dallas in overtime on Friday.
Rangers 7, Coyotes 3
Chris Kreider scored twice during a four-goal second period and recorded his fifth career hat trick midway through the third as New York recovered from a sluggish start and rallied for a victory over visiting Arizona.
After arriving home from Friday’s 6-3 loss in Carolina at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, the Rangers were outshot 16-4 in the first period and faced a 3-1 gap seven minutes into the second period before storming back with four goals in the final 8 1/2 minutes of the period as coach Gerard Gallant put Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin together on the top line.
“Wild 48 hours for us,” said Jacob Trouba, who scored twice himself. “It took a little bit to get our legs and our momentum going, but we had good composure in between periods. We didn’t like our game. We stuck with it. We know we have a team that is capable of turning it on. You don’t want to rely on turning it on and off, but a unique 48 hours for us and it’s good to be able to do that.”
The Rangers pulled off their second straight comeback on home ice after rallying for a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Julian Gauthier netted the tying goal, and Panarin scored the tiebreaking goal on a power play as the Rangers won for the fifth time in their last seven games. Liam O’Brien and Andrew Ladd scored in the first for the Coyotes, and Clayton Keller tallied early in the second as Arizona lost a second straight game.
Wild 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT)
Marcus Foligno scored with 38 seconds remaining in overtime and Minnesota stormed back for a win over Chicago in St. Paul.
Foligno scored his 16th goal of the season and 102nd goal of his career off a pass from Jordan Greenway, who finished with two assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala also scored for Minnesota, which completed a home-and-home sweep over the Blackhawks in consecutive nights.
Henrik Borgstrom scored two goals to lead the Blackhawks. Alex DeBrincat also scored for Chicago.
–Field Level Media contributed to this report