Wheeler’s five points fuel Jets
Blake Wheeler had an empty-net goal and four assists in the Jets' 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche last night in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Wheeler extended his point streak to nine games. He has two goals and 15 assists during the run, and is second in the NHL with 18 assists overall — one behind Colorado's Mikko Rantanen.
Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine had power-play goals, giving the Jets at least one power-play goal in 11 straight games to add to a franchise record. Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored, with Scheifele adding an assist. Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves.
Colorado defenseman Eric Johnson scored his first goal of the season, Tyson Jost added a goal and Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 shots. The Avalanche have lost five in a row.
Red Wings 3, Rangers 2 — Dylan Larkin scored with 5.1 seconds remaining in overtime, capping an impressive late comeback by host Detroit in a victory against New York.
Andreas Athanasiou, who had tied the game with 2:02 remaining in the third period, backhanded a pass to Larkin, who redirected the puck past Henrik Lundqvist for his seventh goal of the season. The Rangers led 2-0 after two periods but had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Lundqvist's bid for his first shutout in nearly a year ended with 18:14 left in the third. Gustav Nyquist took the puck from Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith and fed Abdelkader on the doorstep for an easy goal.
Athanasiou, back after missing four games with a lowerbody injury, tied it toward the end of the third when he sped in from the left wing and backhanded the puck past Lundqvist.
Blue Jackets 2, Capitals 1 — Columbus’ NHL-worst power play scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves in a victory against defending Stanley Cup champion and host Washington.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in his return to the lineup and Anthony Duclair had his seventh goal of the season for Columbus, which has three power-play goals during its two-game winning streak. It entered the night 7 of 59 on the power play, an 11.9 percent conversion rate that was last among the league's 31 teams.
Maple Leafs 6, Devils 1 — John Tavares scored his ninth goal of the season, Patrick Marleau had his 600th NHL assist and host Toronto rolled over New Jersey.
Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown, Andreas Johnsson, Morgan Rielly and Tyler Ennis also scored, and Frederik Andersen made 38 saves. Toronto improved to 11-5-0 with its third straight victory.
Marleau was involved in Kadri's goal, becoming the 88th NHL player to reach the 600 assist milestone. The only other active player with 600 assists is San Jose's Joe Thornton with 1,032.
Blues 4, Sharks 0 — Chad Johnson made 32 saves for his first shutout with St. Louis, helping the hosts beat San Jose.
Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan O'Reilly, Jaden Schwartz, and Alexander Steen scored. The Blues have won four of five games after winning just two of eight to start the season.