By Canadian Press

NHL roundup: Hughes helps the Devils rout Rangers 5-0

Dec 23, 2024 | 9:06 PM

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jack Hughes had his second two-goal game of the season against the New York Rangers and Jacob Markstrom had his second straight 12-save shutout to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 5-0 victory on Monday.

Timo Meier, Stefan Noesen and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey, which is 7-2-1 in December. Hughes added an assist on the last goal to register a three-point game.

Markstrom, who blanked the Penguins on Saturday, wasn’t tested much. His best save came early in the third period on a shot from the left circle by Artemi Panarin.

Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for the Rangers, who have lost 13 of 17 games. Chris Kreider was a healthy scratch.

The game was feisty, with two fights and plenty more post-whistle pushing and shoving.

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Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:

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JETS 5 MAPLE LEAFS 2

TORONTO (AP) — Mark Scheifele scored a hat trick and added an assist while Kyle Connor collected two goals and an assist to spark the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Jets enter the Christmas break with back-to-back wins, while the Maple Leafs dropped their second in a row at Scotiabank Arena without wounded captain Auston Matthews, out with an upper-body injury. Gabriel Vilardi added three assists. Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves.

Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey had two assists to reach 30 for the season.

John Tavares scored twice for the Maple Leafs, and Joseph Woll stopped 22 shots. Maple Leafs forward William Nylander extended his point streak to seven games with assists on both of Tavares’ goals.

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BLUES 4 RED WINGS 0

DETROIT (AP) — Dylan Holloway scored three times, Jordan Binnington made 19 saves and St. Louis Blues beat Detroit 4-0.

St. Louis had dropped three in a row. Alexandre Texier also scored, and Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko each had two assists.

Holloway scored in each period in his first career hat trick, including a clinching empty-netter. He is up to a career-high 13 goals on the season after he was held without a point in his previous six games.

It was Binnington’s second shutout of the season and No. 17 for his career.

Cam Talbot made 17 saves for the Red Wings in their third consecutive loss.

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PENGUINS 7 FLYERS 3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored a goal and added three assists to tie Mario Lemieux’s franchise record for most assists in team history and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-3.

Crosby scored a third-period empty-net goal and helped on three of Pittsburgh’s four first-period goals as the Penguins jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Crosby and Lemieux both have 1,033 assists, which ranks 12th all-time in NHL history.

Philip Tomasino finished Crosby’s backhand pass for a power-play goal at 17:44 of the first period to equal Lemieux’s mark. Michael Bunting scored twice, Bryan Rust scored his seventh goal in eight games, while Rickard Rakell and Blake Lizotte also scored for Pittsburgh.

Tristan Jarry made 23 saves.

Noah Cates scored his fourth goal in as many games, while Sean Couturier and Egor Zamula also scored for the Flyers.

Samuel Ersson stopped nine shots in the first two periods. He was replaced by Aleksei Kolosov, who made six saves.

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BRUINS 4 CAPITALS 1

BOSTON (AP) — Elias Lindholm scored with 6:19 left to break a third-period tie, and Boston killed a five-minute penalty without allowing a shot on goal to beat Washington.

It was 1-1 when Charlie Coyle made a long clearing pass to Lindholm and he slid it over to Brad Marchand at the blue line to start a two-on-one. Marchand passed it back, Lindholm faked goalie Charlie Lindgren to the ice and then backhanded it into the net to make it 2-1.

Coyle made it 3-1 two minutes later, and Marchand added an empty-netter. Justin Brazeau also scored and Jeremy Swayman made 10 saves for the Bruins, who won for the fourth time in five games and improved to 11-4-1 since Joe Sacco replaced Jim Montgomery on the bench.

Jakub Vrana scored and Lindgren stopped 18 shots for the Capitals, who came into the day leading the Eastern Conference, and have lost three of their last six games.

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LIGHTNING 4 PANTHERS 0

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored before he was ejected for kneeing Matthew Tkachuk, and Tampa Bay beat Florida.

Jake Guentzel and Mitchell Chaffee also scored for Tampa Bay in its fifth win in six games. Brandon Hagel had an empty-netter, and Anthony Cirelli and Victor Hedman collected two assists apiece.

Jonas Johansson made 36 saves in his first shutout of the season and No. 4 for his career.

Tkachuk had to be helped off the ice and to the dressing room after Kucherov crashed into his right leg late in the first period. Kucherov was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for the hit, and Tkachuk returned a couple minutes into the second.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 stops for the Panthers.

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BLUE JACKETS 5 CANADIENS 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko scored with 2:12 left in regulation, and Columbus Blue beat Montreal for their second straight home win.

Dmitri Vorokov scored twice to extend his point streak to five games, and Kent Johnson added a goal. Jordan Harris netted his first goal for Columbus, while Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan each had three assists. Marchenko also had two assists.

Jet Greaves made 27 saves, as the Blue Jackets snapped a seven-game losing streak against Montreal dating to Nov. 23, 2022.

David Savard and Jake Evans each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, and Lane Hutson scored to stretch his point streak to six games. Joel Armia also scored, Cole Caufield contributed two assists, and Sam Montembeault made 27 saves. Montreal had won three straight.

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SABRES 7 ISLANDERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Rasmus Dahlin had four assists and Buffalo stopped a 13-game slide by routing the New York Islanders 7-1.

It was Buffalo’s first win since Nov. 23 at San Jose. The Sabres went 0-10-3 during the losing streak.

Jiri Kulich had two goals and an assist, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves. Jack Quinn had a goal and an assist, and Tage Thompson, Beck Malenstyn, Jason Zucker and Zach Benson also scored.

Kyle Palmieri scored for New York with 55 seconds left in the second period. It was Palmieri’s 12th goal of the season.

The Islanders lost for the third time in four games.

Zucker’s power-play goal 6:53 into the second lifted Buffalo to a 3-0 lead. Quinn made it 5-0 when he scored at 18:21.

Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves in his 11th straight start for the Islanders.

The Associated Press