Blackhawks stay hot, notch 7th straight win
Bruins and Blues both win in OT; Ducks fire coach Carlyle amid losing streak
CHICAGO — Dominik Kahun had two goals and an assist, Cam Ward made 43 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 on Sunday for their seventh straight victory.
Chicago’s second line of Kahun, Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat delivered once again to help the Blackhawks continue their surprising push after a lackluster first half of the season. Strome had a goal and two assists, and DeBrincat had three assists to extend his careerbest points streak to eight games.
After Detroit pulled within one in the third period, Patrick Kane responded for Chicago with his 33rd goal. Kane made it 4-2 when he beat Jonathan Bernier low on the stick side with 3:33 left, extending the NHL’s longest active points streak to 14 games. Kane tacked on an assist on Jonathan Toews’ emptynetter with 2:01 remaining. It was Toews’ 25th of the season. Gustav Nyquist and Christoffer Ehn scored for Detroit.
BRUINS 2, AVALANCHE 1, OT: In Boston, Brad Marchand scored 4:03 into overtime and Boston beat Colorado to extend its points streak to seven games.
Patrice Bergeron left the puck at the top of the right circle for Marchand, who skated into the slot and fired it past goalie Semyon Varlamov to extend his franchise record with 14 overtime goals.
John Moore also scored, and Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves to help the Bruins improve to 4-0-3 in their last seven. The Avalanche have lost seven in a row (0-3-3).
JETS 3, SABRES 1: In Buffalo, N.Y., Blake Wheeler scored the goahead goal with 3:55 remaining and Winnipeg beat Buffalo to snap an 0-2-1 skid.
Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves to help the Jets end their longest winless streak of the season and maintain the Central Division lead.
Andrew Copp also scored and Mark Scheifele sealed the win by scoring into an open net in the final seconds. Jack Eichel scored for Buffalo.
ISLANDERS 2, WILD 1: In New York, Devon Toews scored the tiebreaking goal early in the second period, Thomas Greiss stopped 26 shots and New York beat Minnesota.
Anthony Beauvillier also scored for Metropolitan Division-leading New York. The Islanders won for the fourth time in five games and ninth in 12 (9-1-2).
BLUES 5, PREDATORS 4, OT: In Nashville, Tenn., Vladimir Tarasenko completed a hat trick 16 seconds into overtime and St. Louis beat Nashville to sweep a home-andhome set with their season-best sixth straight victory.
DEVILS 3, HURRICANES 2: In Newark, N.J., Marcus Johansson scored twice, Keith Kinkaid made 32 saves and New Jersey prevented Carolina from moving into a playoff spot.
Nico Hischier set up all three goals to help the Devils snap the Hurricanes’ three-game winning streak and hand them only their fifth loss (13-5-1) in 19 games.
LIGHTNING 5, PANTHERS 2: In Sunrise, Fla., Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist to lift Tampa Bay over Florida.
Brayden Point, Ryan Callahan and Steven Stamkos also scored for the Lightning, who scored twice on a total of three shots in the second period.
RANGERS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1: In New York, Alexandar Georgiev had a career-high 55 saves to lead New York over Toronto.
Georgiev had the second-most saves in a regular-season game in franchise history. Mike Richter has the record with 59 on Jan. 31, 1991.
DUCKS: The Anaheim Ducks fired Randy Carlyle — again.
For the second time, Ducks general manager Bob Murray removed Carlyle from the bench. He was also fired in 2011 during the seventh season of his first stint as head coach of the Ducks. The move comes on the heels of a seven-game losing streak by the Ducks, all in regulation.
The Ducks have won just two of their last 21 games (2-15-4), an unfathomable run for a squad that’s qualified for the playoffs six consecutive seasons.
Murray announced that he’ll step down from the press box and coach the team himself for the remainder of the campaign’s 26 games.