MacKinnon’s OT goal lifts Avs over Isles
Nathan MacKinnon scored with 16.1 seconds left in overtime and the Colorado Avalanche ended seven weeks of home futility with a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders on Friday.
MacKinnon also had an assist and Gabriel Landeskog got the other goal for Colorado. Calvin Pickard finished with 35 saves for the Avalanche, who stopped a 10-game home winless streak.
Johnny Boychuk scored for New York and Thomas Greiss had 37 saves for the Islanders.
The Avalanche had not won at home since November 14 and lost 10-of-11 overall before prevailing. Their only win in the last four weeks came December 23 in Chicago.
Maple Leafs 4, Devils 2
Toronto used a first-period scoring flurry to cruise past New Jersey at Prudential Center.
Nazem Kadri, Auston Matthews, Connor Brown and Tyler Bozak scored four goals over a 5:49 stretch in the first period to give the Leafs an insurmountable edge.
PA Parenteau and Jon Merrill scored for the Devils.
Blackhawks 2, Hurricanes 1
Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin each scored, and Chicago held on for a win over Carolina.
Scott Darling made 39 saves to earn his first win since Dec. 18 for the Blackhawks. Chicago earned its second win in a row and improved to 15-4-4 on home ice.
Victor Rask scored the Hurricanes’ lone goal.
Panthers 2, Predators 1
Jonathan Marchessault scored the go-ahead goal with 9:53 left in the third period, leading Florida over Nashville at the BB&T Center.
Panthers backup goalie James Reimer earned the win in his first January start. Greg McKegg scored the Panthers’ first goal. It was his second of the season and his second in two games.
Craig Smith scored the Predators goal.
Ducks 3, Coyotes 2 (OT)
Ondrej Kase scored in overtime when Mike Smith was unable to clear the puck from his own crease, giving Anaheim the victory over Arizona at Honda Center.
Joseph Cramarossa and Chris Wagner also scored for the Ducks.
Martin Hanzal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for the Cotoes.
Canucks 4, Flames 2
Markus Granlund scored two goals and collected an assist as Vancouver defeated Calgary to extend its winning streak to six games.
Michael Chaput and Loui Eriksson also scored for the Canucks.
Michael Frolik scored twice for the Flames, who out-shot Vancouver 46-13.
Blue Jackets’ win streak ends
The Columbus Blue Jackets fell one game short of matching the NHL record of 17 straight victories when they fell to the Washington Capitals 5-0 on Thursday.
After 16 straight wins, the Blue Jackets were never in the game as Washington goalie Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots for his fourth shutout of the season.
The Capitals got goals from five different players, scoring two in the first period, another pair in the second and one more in the third as they preserved the record of 17 in a row set in 1993 by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Blue Jackets (27-6-4) had not lost since November 26, when they were defeated in a shootout by the Florida Panthers.
Washington (24-9-5) took a 1-0 lead just over five minutes in and never looked back, getting a goal and an assist apiece from defensemen John Carlson and Nate Schmidt. Daniel Winnik, Andre Burakovsky and Justin Williams also scored, and Evgeny Kuznetsov had two assists.
Williams made it 5-0 at 5:36 of the third when he fired over Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s shoulder from a tough angle for his 11th goal.
Bobrovsky, who allowed five goals on 23 shots while looking to extend his personal winning streak to 15 games, was then lifted in favor of Curtis McElhinney.
Holtby bounced back from being pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots against Toronto on Tuesday to pick up his 27th career shutout.
The Blue Jackets’ league-leading power-play unit wa s 0-for-5.
Columbus, which won the first two meetings between the clubs this season before the streak began, outshot Washington 11-6 in the first period, but couldn’t get one past Holtby. (Reuters)