Pastrnak, Bruins topple Rangers
Boston’s leading scorer returns after missing previous 8 games
David Pastrnak scored his team-leading 39th goal after missing the previous eight games with an undisclosed injury, helping the Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-1 on Saturday.
Taylor Hall and Trent Frederic also scored for Boston, which is jockeying for playoff seeding in the Eastern Conference. Linus Ullmark made 30 stops.
The Bruins had lost four of their previous six games.
Mika Zibanejad scored his 29th goal for New York and Igor Shesterkin made 32 saves.
Sabres 5, Islanders 3: Tage Thompson scored his team-leading 37th goal during a three-goal, second-period surge, and Buffalo defeated the New York Islanders in a game between two non-playoff teams. Jeff Skinner, with his 33rd of the season, stuffed in Thompson’s rebound with 7:20 left to secure the win after Buffalo nearly squandered a 4-1 third-period lead. Hurricanes 3, Devils 2 (OT): Rookie Seth Jarvis scored with 3:21 left in overtime and Carolina rallied from a late two-goal deficit to beat New Jersey for its third straight win.
Penguins 7, Red Wings 2: Evgeni Malkin scored two goals, and Pittsburgh beat Detroit. Kris Letang had a goal and two assists for the playoffbound Penguins, who won for the third time in four games. Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Chad Ruhwedel each finished with a goal and an assist.
Stars 3, Kraken 2: Roope Hintz scored two goals in a span of about two minutes to pull Dallas even in the second, and Vladislav Namestnikov got the game-winner soon after to give the playoff-contending Stars a victory.
Panthers 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT): Brandon Montour scored 2:26 into overtime and NHL-leading Florida extended its winning streak to a franchise-record 13 games. The winning streak matches the seventh-longest in NHL history and is the league’s longest since Columbus won 16 consecutive games in the 2016-17 season. The victory also marked Florida interim coach Andrew Brunette’s 50th in just 71 games behind the Panthers’ bench.
Sharks 4, Blackhawks 1: Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 27 shots, and San Jose beat Chicago.
Senators 6, Canadiens 4: Mark Kastelic scored his first NHL goal and his second ended up being the gamewinner for Ottawa.
Lightning 6, Predators 2: Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov scored first-period power-play goals, and Tampa Bay defeated Nashville.