Minnesota beat Anaheim, Blue Jackets down Flyers
Matt Dumba and Jared Spurgeon scored early in the second period as the Minnesota Wild beat the Ducks 2-1 Sunday in coach Bruce Boudreau’s triumphant return to Anaheim. Boudreau was fired by the Ducks after their first-round playoff exit last year despite leading Anaheim to the past four consecutive Pacific Division titles and Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference finals. The veteran coach has turned his new team into an early-season Stanley Cup contender with 14 wins in its last 16 games. Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves for the Wild, while Ryan Kesler scored and John Gibson stopped 34 shots for the Ducks, whose threegame winning streak ended.
BLUE JACKETS 2, FLYERS 1, OT
Nick Foligno scored 2:33 into overtime to lift Columbus to victory. The Flyers’ Brayden Schenn had tied it with 17 seconds left to send the game into the extra period. Foligno then lifted a shot over Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason’s shoulder to get the win for the Blue Jackets, their first since a 16-game winning streak ended with two straight losses. David Savard also scored for Columbus and Sergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves. The win kept Columbus atop the division with a three-point lead over Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers.
BLACKHAWKS 5, PREDATORS 2
Ryan Hartman scored off a goalmouth scramble in the third period and tacked on two empty-netters to help Chicago beat banged-up Nashville. Artemi Panarin and Niklas Hjalmarsson also scored for the Blackhawks while Patrick Kane added three assists, running his team-best total to 32 in 43 games, and Corey Crawford made 25 saves. Hartman was credited with his eighth of the season when Richard Panik’s shot created a scrum in front of the net and the referees ruled the puck crossed the line before the goal was dislodged. It looked as if the puck might have gone off Hartman’s left hand while he battled Nashville defenseman Yannick Weber for position. Nashville pulled Pekka Rinne for an extra attacker with 1:39 left and Hartman added two more goals for his first career hat trick. The big night for the rookie moved him into fifth on the team with 10 goals.
HURRICANES 4, BRUINS 3, OT
Sebastian Aho’s second goal of the game, 1:34 into overtime, lifted Carolina past Boston. Derek Ryan and Jay McClement also scored for the Hurricanes and Camm Ward finished with 32 saves. Carolina won two of the three meetings between the teams, with all three going beyond regulation. Tim Schallar, David Backes and Brad Marchand scored for Boston and Zane McIntyre stopped 26 shots in his first career appearance against Carolina.
PENGUINS 6, LIGHTNING 2
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots in his fifth straight win, leading Pittsburgh past Tampa Bay. Connor Sheary had a goal and an assist and Eric Fehr, Chris Kunitz, Scott Wilson, Phil Kessel and Kris Letang also scored for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby and Matt Cullen each had two assists. Jonathan Drouin and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in his third start in four days. Drouin put the Lightning up 10 at 2:19 of the second period before the Penguins scored the next four goals to take control of the game.
SENATORS 5, OILERS 3
Mark Stone had a goal and two assists and Mike Condon stopped 35 shots as Ottawa beat Edmonton. Zack Smith, Mike Hoffman and Kyle Turris each added a goal and an assist while Tom Pyatt also scored for the Senators, who ended their four-game losing streak. Patrick Maroon had two goals and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers. Connor McDavid had two assists and Jonas Gustavsson made 13 saves. Edmonton entered the third period trailing 4-3 and desperately pressed for the tying goal but Condon shut the door. The Oilers outshot the Senators 17-3 in the period and 29-8 over the final 40 minutes. Turris scored into an empty net to seal the win. —AP