Leafs shoot past Stars to extend home streak
Mitch Marner scored the winner in the shootout to lift the Maple Leafs to a 6-5 victory against the Dallas Stars last night in Toronto, extending the franchise-record home winning streak to 11 games.
Marner beat Kari Lehtonen in the third round of the shootout, completing Toronto’s comebacks from 4-2 and 5-4 deficits in the third period.
James van Riemsdyk had his third career hat trick, and Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau also scored in regulation for the Maple Leafs. Frederik Andersen allowed three goals on 20 shots before getting lifted just past the game’s midway point with an upper-body injury. Curtis McElhinney came on and stopped 13 shots — including two big saves on Jamie Benn during a power play in overtime — the rest of the way to help Toronto improve to 3-2-2 overall since star center Auston Matthews went down with a shoulder injury on Feb. 22.
Tyler Bozak, who also scored in the shootout, and Marner each added two assists to keep the Maple Leafs perfect at home since a Jan. 22 loss to Colorado.
Tyler Seguin had a goal and two assists, Benn added a goal and an assist, and Radek Faska, Remi Elie and Brett Ritchie also scored in regulation for Dallas. Lehtonen made 26 stops through overtime.
Rangers 4, Penguins 3 — Mika Zibanejad scored the tying goal late in the third period and then got the winner 2:53 into overtime to rally New York by visiting Pittsburgh.
Chris Kreider had a goal and three assists for his first career four-point night, and Jesper Fast also scored to help the Rangers get their second straight win after a three-game skid. Neal Pionk had three assists and Alexandar Georgiev, making his second consecutive start, finished with 37 saves.
Bryan Rust, Riley Sheahan and Carl Hagelin scored for the Penguins, who lost for just the fifth time in their last 15 games (10-4-1). Casey DeSmith stopped 29 shots.
On the winner, Zibanejad snuck a wrist shot past DeSmith for his 100th career goal.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon (hamstring) will miss a minimum of four weeks. He leads the Wild in blocked shots (127) and is second in average ice time (24:32).