Panthers rally with five-goal third period, beat Hurricanes 5-2

It was Florida’s second comeback against the Hurricanes in less than a week. The Panthers wiped out a three-goal hole in the third period Thursday on the way to a shootout victory at home.

Robinson scored 4:15 into the game. Svechnikov’s goal came as he skated out of the penalty box and caught the Panthers off guard, scoring on a breakaway 1:58 into the second period. He slid the puck between Bobrovsky’s pads.

The Panthers had seven shots on goal through the first two periods and then nearly as many goals in the third on 15 shots.

MAPLE LEAFS 6, PENGUINS 3

TORONTO (AP) — Max Domi scored the winner with 8:25 remaining to snap a 23-game goalless streak and added an assist to end Toronto’s three-game slide with a win against Pittsburgh.

Domi danced around Pittsburgh newcomer Brett Kulak for the deciding goal, a few hours after Toronto general manager Brad Treliving gave coach Craig Berube a vote of confidence for the second time this season.

William Nylander scored twice and added two assists, and Matias Maccelli and Steven Lorentz also scored for Toronto. Bobby McMann added an empty-netter to give Toronto its third win this season against the Penguins.

Bryan Rust, Rutger McGroarty and Anthony Mantha scored for the Penguins, who have lost nine of their last 10.

Nylander scored the icebreaker for his first in 11 games, midway through the first period. But Rust drew the Penguins even 44 seconds later, getting behind Nicolas Roy and Chris Tanev for a successful breakaway.

RED WINGS 4, STARS 3, OT

DETROIT (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored the tying goal late in the third period and then got the winner 34 seconds into overtime to rally Detroit to a victory over Dallas for its third straight win.

James van Riemsdyk had a goal and an assist, Emmitt Finnie also scored and Moritz Seider had two assists for the Red Wings. John Gibson finished with 19 saves as Detroit improved to 9-2-2 in their last 13 games.

Roope Hintz, Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston scored for the Stars, who snapped a four-game win streak. Mikko Rantanen had two assists and Casey DeSmith stopped 21 shots as Dallas lost for the fifth time in 18 games (13-2-3).

In the extra period, Larkin brought the puck into the offensive zone, skated into the slot and fired it past DeSmith for his 20th goal of the season.

Johnston gave the Stars a 3-2 lead with 8:42 remaining in regulation, redirecting a pass from Miro Heiskanen past Gibson for his 20th. It was his league-leading 14th power-play goal.

Larkin tied it again on a power play with 4:03 to go, getting a backwards pass through traffic across the front from van Riemsdyk and beating DeSmith.

RANGERS 7, CAPITALS 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Taylor Raddysh and Alexis Lafreniere scored 68 seconds apart, part of a five-goal third period for New York in a victory over Washington.

Raddysh scored twice against his former team, and Vincent Trocheck also had two goals. Will Cuylle and Artemi Panarin also scored for New York, which is 14-6-1 on the road this season and 5-10-3 at home.

John Carlson, Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas scored for the Capitals, who are 1-4-2 in their last seven games.

After the Rangers trailed 3-2 entering the third, Raddysh tied it when his backhand effort in close ended up behind goalie Logan Thompson with 11:50 to play. Just over a minute later, Panarin’s shot from near the blue line deflected in off Lafreniere.

Trocheck made it 5-3 with 6:17 left, and Panarin added a goal into an empty net. Then with the goalie back in, Trocheck scored another.

Raddysh, who scored seven goals for the Capitals last season, received a message on the video board welcoming him back, then opened the scoring later in the first period. It was 1-all in the second when Strome scored after Igor Shesterkin nearly robbed him with a glove save. The puck came across the goalmouth to the Washington forward, and he appeared to have most of the net to shoot at before Shesterkin snapped his glove across and caught the puck in spectacular fashion.

ISLANDERS 2, DEVILS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Pelech scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, and New York beat New Jersey.

Simon Holmstrom also scored for the Islanders and David Rittich stopped 28 shots as New York snapped a three-game skid before the NHL enters its three-day holiday break.

Brett Pesce scored for New Jersey in its second straight loss. Jacob Markstrom had 23 saves.

Islanders captain Anders Lee made a cross-ice pass to set up Holmstrom for a one-timer that went wide, and Pelech scored on the rebound with 1:15 remaining.

Holmstrom tied the score with 7:50 left in the second period after capitalizing on a miscue by Markstrom. The Devils’ goaltender left the crease to play the puck in the corner, but a miscommunication with Jonas Siegenthaler allowed the puck to squirt free, and Holmstrom scored into the open net.

Pesce opened the scoring with less than five minutes remaining in the first period with his first goal of the season in his 13th game.

CANADIENS 6, BRUINS 2

BOSTON (AP) — Zachary Bolduc scored to give the Canadiens the lead as Montreal scored four goals in a five-minute span to snap a third-period tie and run away from Boston.

Sammy Blais, Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky also scored for Montreal. Jacob Fowler stopped 26 shots for the Canadiens in a game that started with fisticuffs but ended with the Bruins going down meekly.

Marat Khusnutdinov and Alex Steeves scored in the first period to give Boston a 2-1 lead, but Demidov tied it two minutes into the second when he swept in to steal a bad pass from Nikita Zadorov to David Pastrnak and skated in on Jeremy Swayman for the goal.

The Bruins had a goal waved off in the final seconds of the second period and it was still 2-2 when Zadorov broke his stick while trying to clear the zone and left the puck for Bolduc.

The Canadiens winger passed the puck and then followed up to knock home a rebound to make it 3-2. Caufield scored on a power play 99 seconds later, and Suzuki scored with a two-man advantage.

SABRES 3, SENATORS 2, OT

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Bowen Byram scored his second goal of the game 31 seconds into overtime and Buffalo beat Ottawa, extending its win streak to seven heading into the Christmas break.

It marks the first seven-game winning streak for the Sabres (18-14-4) since November 2018.

Noah Ostlund also scored for Buffalo, with an assist from Byram, and Alex Lyon made 24 saves.

Ridly Greig and Tim Stutzle each had a goal for the Senators, who had won four in a row. Linus Ullmark stopped 22 shots.

Stutzle extended his point streak to eight games (7 goals, 8 assists).

Ottawa (18-13-5) had an opportunity to take the lead after Alex Tuch was assessed a hooking penalty with 1:51 left in the third period, but the Senators were unable to capitalize.

PREDATORS 3, WILD 2, OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored 53 seconds into overtime to give Nashville a victory over Minnesota.

Stamkos got a step on his defender as he raced down the slot, and Erik Haula found him with a pass that Stamkos deflected past goalie Filip Gustavsson.

Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist, Roman Josi also scored and Juuse Saros stopped 30 shots for the Predators, who have won three in a row and four of five.

Brock Faber and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild, who have lost two straight following a seven-game winning streak. Gustavsson made 26 saves.

Faber gave the Wild a lead seven minutes into the game on a one-timer off a pass from Quinn Hughes. But then O’Reilly and Josi scored power-play goals to give the Predators a 2-1 advantage after one period.

Eriksson Ek tied it early in the second, scoring while the Wild had an extra skater on the ice due to a delayed penalty on Nashville.

AVALANCHE 1, MAMMOTH 0

DENVER (AP) — Scott Wedgewood made 32 saves for his second shutout of the season, and NHL-best Colorado beat Utah.

Wedgewood’s 10th career shutout helped extend Colorado’s home winning streak to 13 games. The Avalanche have won six in a row overall and eight of nine heading into the holiday break.

Colorado’s 61 points are the second most in the NHL after 36 games behind the 1929-30 Boston Bruins, who had 63 points at that stage.

Samuel Girard scored the lone goal for the Avalanche (27-2-7), who remain unbeaten in regulation at home (15-0-2). They have not lost on home ice since Carolina’s 5-4 shootout win on Oct. 23.

Vitek Vanecek stopped 25 shots for Utah, which had won two of three.

The Mammoth’s No. 1 goaltender, Karel Vejmelka, was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. Utah signed Colten McIntyre to an amateur-tryout agreement to serve as Vanecek’s backup for the night.

FLYERS 3, BLACKHAWKS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Travis Konecny scored and added his 300th career assist, leading Philadelphia past Chicago while handing the depleted Blackhawks their sixth straight loss.

Noah Cates had a power-play goal, Carl Grundstrom added an empty-netter and Philadelphia leading scorer Trevor Zegras assisted on Konecny’s goal to extend his point streak to a career-high nine games. The Flyers won their second straight, coming off a 5-2 win over Vancouver on Monday.

Samuel Ersson made 20 saves and Sean Couturier had two assists.

Chicago’s Ryan Donato scored to end an 11-game drought. Spencer Knight stopped 23 shots for the Blackhawks, who’ve dropped eight of nine and have just three wins in their last 17.

Chicago played tight hockey in its fifth game without leading-scorer Connor Bedard. He’s out until at least early January with a shoulder injury.

The Blackhawks also were without center Frank Nazar, sidelined for four weeks after being struck in the face with a shot Saturday at Ottawa. Captain Nick Foligno remains out with a hand injury.

Konecny opened the scoring at 10:17 of the first, 18 seconds after the Flyers killed a penalty to Zegras. Konecny drove down the right side of the slot and tapped in Zegras’ pinpoint cross-ice feed for his 11th goal.

OILERS 5, FLAMES 1

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid had five assists, Leon Draisaitl scored three goals and Edmonton kept rolling into the holiday hiatus with a victory over rival Calgary.

Zach Hyman had a goal and two assists, Evan Bouchard added two assists and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for the Oilers (19-13-6), who have won four of five and are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.

Mackenzie Weegar scored for the Flames (15-18-4), who won their previous two.

Connor Ingram, making a second consecutive NHL start for the first time since early February with Utah, stopped 18 shots to improve to 2-0-0 with the Oilers.

Dustin Wolf made 34 saves in the loss.

McDavid extended his point streak to 11 games, with 12 goals and 19 assists during that stretch. It was the 45th time he’s had at least four points in a game, tying Jari Kurri for second in Oilers history.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 7, SHARKS 2

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mitch Marner scored two goals, Reilly Smith had a goal and an assist, and Vegas tied a franchise record with five goals in the first period, beating San Jose.

Mark Stone also had a goal and an assist, and Brett Howden, Colton Sissons and Tomas Hertl also scored for Vegas. Pavel Dorofeyev, Kaeden Korczak, Braeden Bowman and Ivan Barbashev each had two assists, and Carter Hart had 21 saves to help the Golden Knights snap a three-game skid (0-2-1).

Macklin Celebrini and Colin Graf scored, and Tyler Toffoli had two assists for San Jose in its third straight loss. Yaroslav Askarov gave up four goals on 16 shots before he was pulled with 5:03 left in the first period. Alex Nedeljkovic had seven saves the rest of the way.

The Golden Knights had a season-high scoring output, topping the previous high of six reached three times in October.

The five-goal first tied the Golden Knights’ franchise record for a period, accomplished four times previously. Vegas had 13 players record at least a point in the period, breaking the previous mark of 11 accomplished three times.

KRAKEN 3, KINGS 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jordan Eberle had a power-play goal, Frederick Gaudreau and Ben Meyers also scored, and Seattle held on for a win over Los Angeles.

Joey Daccord made 35 saves and Eeli Tolvanen had two assists for the Kraken, who have won three in a row after dropping nine of their previous 10 games in regulation.

Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko scored as the Kings were held to fewer than three goals for the seventh straight game. Pheonix Copley made 25 saves.

Seattle had struggled in the second game of back-to-backs, but reeling Los Angeles was a welcome panacea. Eberle got the Kraken’s fifth power-play goal in six games when he beat Copley over the goalie’s left shoulder from close range early in the second period.

Gaudreau benefited from a gaffe by Copley, who couldn’t catch a fluttering puck after Brian Dumoulin broke up the shot and it trickled between the goalie’s legs for a 2-0 lead.

The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press