Boeser-led Canucks survive trip to Philly
Brock Boeser scored twice and Daniel Sedin inched closer to a major NHL milestone, leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 win against the slumping Flyers last night in Philadelphia.
Sedin had a goal and an assist to leave him four points shy of 1,000 for his career. Sven Baertschi scored a power-play goal, Henrik Sedin had two assists and Loui Eriksson added an empty-net goal and an assist for the Canucks.
Jacob Markstrom made 35 saves to earn his sixth win of the season as Vancouver improved to 10-8-3 with its second victory in six games.
Ivan Provorov and Jakub Voracek scored for the Flyers, who lost their fifth straight and fell below .500 for the first time this season.
Michal Neuvirth took the loss, allowing four goals on 22 shots. He was replaced by Brian Elliott with 5:20 remaining in the second period.
Boeser, recruited to play at the University of North Dakota by Flyers coach Dave Hakstol, leads the Canucks in goals (nine) and points (19).
The Canucks entered ranked 24th on the power play and went 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Flyers were without Radko Gudas, who served the second game of his 10game suspension for slashing the Canucks’ Mathieu Perreault in the back of the neck last week in Vancouver.
Blues 8, Oilers 3 — Vladimir Tarasenko had two goals and two assists and got in a rare fight to complete the Gordie Howe Hat Trick, helping St. Louis to the lopsided win against Edmonton.
St. Louis scored two goals in each of the first two periods before adding four in a wide-open third.
Brayden Schenn also had two goals and two assists, and Jake Allen stopped 26 shots for the NHL-leading Blues.
Tarasenko’s fight came in the second period. In just the third scrap of his six-year career, Tarasenko tangled with Matt Benning. It was Tarasenko’s second career GHHT. The other one came on Nov. 13, 2014, against Nashville.
Dmitrij Jaskin, Jaden Schwartz, Scottie Upshall and Paul Stastny also tallied for the Blues. It was the 100th career goal for Schwartz, who had three points.
Stars 3, Canadiens 1 — Devin Shore and Jason Spezza scored 59 seconds apart late in the second period to lift host Dallas over Montreal.
Shore had no goals in the first 19 games this season, but scored for the second straight game to tie it 1-all at 18:22 of the second. Spezza, who also has scored in consecutive games after netting only one goal in the first 19, put in a rebound just less than a minute later.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin will miss at least one game with an upper-body injury.
Coach Mike Sullivan announced the injury and said Malkin will sit out tonight when the Penguins host the Vancouver Canucks. Malkin will be re-evaluated tomorrow, ahead of Pittsburgh’s visit to Boston on Friday to play the Bruins.
Malkin is second on the team in scoring, with seven goals and 14 assists for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Jake Guentzel practiced in Malkin’s spot yesterday between Phil Kessel and Bryan Rust.