TAMPA, Fla. (AP) —
Brayden Point had three goals and three assists, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and four assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers 6-3 on Thursday night.
Steven Stamkos and Anthony Duclair also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 25 saves as the Lightning came back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2. Tampa Bay holds the top wild card in the Eastern Conference — four points ahead of the New York Islanders and Detroit, who are tied for the second wild card.
Point’s nifty backhand pass to Stamkos during a power-play made it 4-3 with 7:15 left in the third, and Point completed his fourth hat trick 2:03 later before assisting on Kucherov’s empty-netter with 3:38 left for a career-high six points that also tied the team record.
Kucherov, second in the NHL with 112 points, joined Edmonton’s Connor McDavid as the only active players with three or more 70-assist seasons.
Jack Roslovic had a goal and an assist, and Artemi Panarin and Braden Schneider also scored for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin had 22 saves as New York fell to 14-3-1 in its last 18 games.
HURRICANES 4, PANTHERS 0
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Evgeny Kuznetsov had his first goal as a member of the Hurricanes and Frederik Anderson recorded his first shutout in more than a year as Carolina beat Florida.
Kuznetsov, playing in his fourth game since last week’s trade from the Washington Capitals, also had an assist. Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for Carolina. Jaccob Slavin had two assists.
Andersen stopped 21 shots for his third victory in three outings in an eight-night span since being sidelined since early November. It was his first shutout since March 5, 2023, in his ninth game this season. He has 25 career shutouts.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves as the Panthers lost for just the second time in 10 games. Florida was shut out for the fifth time this season.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, FLYERS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi scored the first of three first-period goals for Toronto that helped chase goalie Samuel Ersson, and scored three more in the third in a win over Philadelphia.
The Maple Leafs returned from a four-day break to win their second straight road game — thanks to six players with goals — and put some distance between them and a Flyers team also jostling for a better playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Maple Leafs are up to 84 points while the Flyers remained stuck at 76. With 15 games left for the Flyers this season, a team that was considered in the preseason destined for the lottery is instead in the midst of an improbable playoff push.
The Flyers — who at one point had three players without sticks in the dying moments of a penalty kill — played for the second straight game without suspended head coach John Tortorella.
BRUINS 2, MONTREAL 1, OT
MONTREAL (AP) — Jake DeBrusk scored 25 seconds into overtime, and Boston beat Montreal.
DeBrusk was set up by Bruins captain Brad Marchand, ending a high-energy night at the Bell Centre. It was DeBrusk’s 16th goal of the season.
Danton Heinen scored in the first period for Boston (39-14-15), which was coming off a 5-1 loss to St. Louis on Monday. Linus Ullmark made 18 saves in his second straight win.
Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal (25-30-11). Sam Montembeault stopped 22 shots.
The historic rivalry drew both “Let’s Go Bruins!” and “Go Habs Go!” chants at the Bell Centre — and jeers for Marchand every time he touched the puck. The matchup has overwhelmingly favored Boston in recent years, with the Bruins winning 13 of 14 meetings.
DEVILS 6, STARS 2
DALLAS (AP) — Dawson Mercer, Timo Meier and Tomas Nosek all scored within 2 1/2 minutes early in the second period and New Jersey broke open a close game for a win over Dallas.
Jake Allen allowed two goals on Dallas’ first three shots on goal but went unscathed afterward to finish with 35 saves, some from point-blank range, in his first start for New Jersey since being acquired from Montreal last week.
Mercer broke a 2-2 tie following a spinning move at the crease at 1:30 of the middle period, and Meier’s score at 3:52 chased Stars starter Jake Oettinger, who made only six saves. Nosek greeted replacement Scott Wedgewood by scoring from beyond the left faceoff circle at 5:12 for his first goal this season. Wedgewood stopped eight shots in a little more than 38 minutes.
Meier and Chris Tierney each had a goal and an assist and Erik Haula and Alexander Holtz also scored for the Devils, who were outshot 39-20.
SABRES 4, ISLANDERS 0
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Ukko-Pekko Luukkonen stopped 21 shots for his fifth shutout of the season, and Buffalo beat the New York Islanders to match a season high with their third straight win.
Victor Olofsson, Dylan Cozens and Zach Benson scored 5:13 apart during a second-period surge as Buffalo outshot the Islanders 29-11 through two periods and 37-21 overall. Benson added an empty-net goal with 4:54 remaining.
Buffalo improved to 8-3-1 in its past 12 and continued inching back into contention. The Sabres pulled three points behind the Islanders and Red Wings who were tied for the second wild card.
The Sabres took advantage of an Islanders team closing a four-game road trip, with the first three games played on the West Coast. The challenge for Buffalo now is opening a five-game road swing that begins at Detroit on Saturday.
The Islanders, coming off a 3-0 loss at Los Angeles on Monday, were blanked for the sixth time this season, and haven’t scored in a span of 121:48, dating the final minutes of a 6-1 win at Anaheim on Sunday.
WILD 2, DUCKS 0
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury made 16 saves in his 75th career shutout, and Minnesota beat Anaheim.
Fleury is 11th on the NHL shutouts list, one behind Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito. The 39-year-old goaltender got plenty of help from his teammates, who were credited with 16 blocked shots.
Kirill Kaprizov and Zach Bogosian scored for the Wild, who improved to 5-0-1 in their last six games. Minnesota entered the night six points behind Vegas for the final wild card in the Western Conference.
Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots for the Ducks, who have dropped four in a row.
COYOTES 4, RED WINGS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Rookie Logan Cooley had a short-handed goal in the first period, Michael Carcone broke a tie midway through the second and the Arizona beat Detroit.
Connor Ingram made 28 stops for Arizona, which also beat Detroit 4-0 last week.
Nick Bjugstad put the Coyotes up 3-1 in the third, and Clayton Keller added an empty-netter with 3:04 left.
The suddenly slumping Red Wings have slipped out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, losing seven straight games in regulation for the first time since early in the 2019-20 season and getting booed off the ice following the latest setback.
Detroit had won a season-high six games before its current slide, putting the franchise in a position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Arizona won for just the fourth time in 22 games.
PENGUINS 6, SHARKS 3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — John Ludvig and Rickard Rakell scored two minutes apart in the third period and Pittsburgh pulled away from San Jose for win.
Ludvig scored his second goal of the season on a shot from the left point at 2:38 of the third period to make it a 4-3 game. Rakell stuck out his leg to deflect P.O. Joseph’s shot across the line at 4:48, as Pittsburgh snapped a four-game losing streak.
Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Jeff Carter Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh, which won for the first time since dealing star winger Jake Guentzel to the Hurricanes at the trade deadline last week. Tristan Jarry made 30 saves for the Penguins, who were outscored 17-2 during their losing streak.
Fabian Zetterlund, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Klim Kostin scored for San Jose, which lost for the 11th time in 12 games. Magnus Chrona stopped 25 shots.
BLUE JACKETS 3, SENATORS 2, SO
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Claude Giroux scored in regulation and the shootout, leading Ottawa to a come-from-behind victory over Columbus.
Giroux beat goalie Elvis Merzlikins with a slap shot in the third round of the shootout as Ottawa rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win its second straight game following a seven-game skid.
Giroux scored at 7:25 of the third period to cut the Senators’ deficit to a goal. Tim Stützle tied the game at 2 with 8:03 left in regulation.
Anton Forsberg stopped 35 shots for Ottawa.
Boone Jenner scored 15 seconds into the game and Alex Nylander added a goal in the third period for the Blue Jackets, who have lost three in a row. Merzlikins made 34 saves.
