Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the NHL with 24 goals this season, scored his second goal of the game on a backhander with 2:14 left in overtime as the visiting Colorado Avalanche beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Saturday afternoon after losing a late lead.
MacKinnon started the game-winner — which became his eighth multi-goal game of the season and second against the Rangers — by getting the puck from Cale Makar, slipping past two defenders and getting in front of goalie Igor Shesterkin. MacKinnon completed his 24th goal by lifting a backhander over Shesterkin that went into the upper corner of the net.
Colorado avoided consecutive regulation losses for the first time this season and improved to 15-1-3 in its past 19 games thanks to MacKinnon’s dynamic game-winner. MacKinnon won it after the Avalanche committed a costly turnover near the blue line that allowed Artemi Panarin to blast a shot from above the right circle by goalie Mackenzie Blackwood with 42 seconds left in regulation.
Panarin’s tying goal occurred after MacKinnon batted in a rebound from the right edge of the crease with 4:34 left in the third period. Parker Kelly scored iand Martin Necas collected three assists for the Avalanche, who bounced back from a 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday. Conor Sheary scored New York’s first goal, tying the game at 1-all early in the third.
Panthers 7, Blue Jackets 6 (OT)
Sam Bennett scored with 3.2 seconds left in overtime as Florida rallied to defeat visiting Columbus.
Bennett had a game-high-tying three assists and tied his career high with four points and Brad Marchand had a big game with the same line, a goal and three assists. The Panthers also got two goals from Carter Verhaeghe. The Panthers trailed 4-1, 5-4 and 6-4, and never led until the final second. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves as Florida snapped a five-game home losing streak, as well as an overall four-game skid.
Columbus got one goal each from Damon Severson, Dmitri Voronkov, Miles Wood, Kirill Marchenko, Cole Sillinger and Isac Lundestrom. Ivan Provorov added a team-high two assists. Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves.
Bruins 4, Devils 1
Morgan Geekie’s 22nd goal of the season and 10th in a nine-game span in the second period proved to be the game-winner in Boston’s victory over visiting New Jersey.
Fraser Minten, Casey Mittelstadt and Andrew Peeke also scored while Jeremy Swayman made 29 saves for Boston, which has won back-to-back games for the first time in nearly a month.
Timo Meier scored the lone goal and Jake Allen made 17 saves for the Devils, who had been shut out in their previous two games. It was their fifth consecutive loss.
Hurricanes 6, Predators 3
Jackson Blake notched two goals and an assist to help Carolina blast Nashville at Raleigh, N.C. Nikolaj Ehlers provided a goal and two assists and Taylor Hall, William Carrier and Sebastian Aho also scored for the Hurricanes, who registered more than one power-play goal for the first time this season.
Carolina rookie goalie Brandon Bussi made 19 saves but gave up three third-period goals that prevented his second shutout in less than a week.
Michael Bunting scored on a Nashville power play with 13:34 remaining before teammates Matthew Wood and Filip Forsberg added goals. Juuse Saros stopped 32 shots for the Predators, who were denied their first three-game winning streak of the season. Nashville had won four of its previous five games.
Blues 2, Senators 1
Jake Neighbours scored twice and Joel Hofer made 41 saves as St. Louis held off host Ottawa.
The Senators had four power-play opportunities during the first period and outshot the Blues 15-2 overall in the first 20 minutes, but Hofer stood tall to keep the game scoreless. The Blues killed off six penalties overall in the win, which snapped a two-game losing streak. St. Louis winger Jordan Kyrou suffered a left leg injury in the first period and did not return.
Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Senators, who lost for the fourth time overall — and for the second time to the Blues — in their last five games. Linus Ullmark made 18 saves in defeat.
Islanders 2, Lightning 0
Cal Ritchie banked in a third-period power-play goal, Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 shots in a record-tying performance and New York beat host Tampa Bay for the second time in five days.
After Lightning forward Brandon Hagel committed a double-minor high-sticking penalty in the third, Ritchie grabbed a hard rebound off the end board and banked it in off goaltender Jonas Johansson for his third goal of the season. Casey Cizikas scored into an empty net in the final seconds for the Islanders’ third straight victory and a 9-4-1 road mark. Sorokin’s third shutout was the 25th of his career, matching Glenn “Chico” Resch for the most in franchise history.
Tampa Bay lost its third straight contest after winning seven in a row, and was shut out for the first time this season. The club was without top point producer Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and No. 1 goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy due to undisclosed injuries. However, Tampa Bay welcomed back captain Victor Hedman after a 12-game absence.
Canadiens 2, Maple Leafs 1
Alexandre Texier scored the decisive goal of a shootout and Montreal defeated host Toronto.
Cole Caufield scored for the Canadiens in regulation and also in the shootout and Jakub Dobes made 22 saves. Montreal has won two in a row and five of seven games.
Scott Laughton scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a three-game winning streak end in their return from a 4-2-0 road trip. With Joseph Woll on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury, Dennis Hildeby started in goal for Toronto and stopped 33 shots. The Maple Leafs’ streak of scoring on their first shot on goal also ended Saturday at four consecutive games.
Kings 6, Blackhawks 0
Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves as Los Angeles shut out visiting Chicago.
It’s the second shutout of the season for Kuemper and the 38th of his NHL career, which is eighth on the NHL active list. Brandt Clarke scored two goals for the Kings, Mikey Anderson and Alex Turcotte each had a goal and an assist, Warren Foegele and Andrei Kuzmenko also scored and Drew Doughty added three assists for Los Angeles, which avoided losing three in a row.
Spencer Knight made 26 saves for the Blackhawks, who beat the Kings 2-1 on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Flames 2, Mammoth 0
Yegor Sharangovich scored in the opening minute and goaltender Dustin Wolf posted his second shutout of the season as host Calgary claimed a victory over Utah.
Wolf stopped 28 shots to backstop the Flames to their second consecutive win to kick off a crucial four-game homestand and a stretch with 11 of 14 outings in Calgary. Connor Zary also tallied.
Goalie Vitek Vanecek made 21 saves for the Mammoth, who had a two-game winning streak snapped in the final outing of a six-game road trip.
Canucks 4, Wild 2
Aatu Raty scored twice and added an assist as host Vancouver doubled up Minnesota.
Rookie Tom Willander scored his first goal and added an assist and defenseman Elias N. Petterson also found the back of the net for the Canucks, who snapped a four-game winless skid (0-3-1) and won for just the second time in nine contests (2-6-1). Nikita Tolopilo made 28 saves for his second win of the season as Vancouver improved to 4-8-1 on home ice.
Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello each had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who have dropped back-to-back games after their 12-game point streak was snapped in a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 16 shots in his first regulation loss of the season (8-1-2).
Red Wings 4, Kraken 3
Patrick Kane scored the tiebreaking goal at 17:31 of the third period as Detroit handed host Seattle its fifth straight loss.
Emmett Finnie, Andrew Copp and James van Riemsdyk also scored and Simon Edvinsson had two assists for the Red Wings, who won for the second time in their past seven games (2-3-2). Goaltender John Gibson made 24 saves.
Adam Larsson had a goal and an assist for the Kraken. Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson also tallied, and Joey Daccord stopped 21 of 25 shots.
