Gaudreau lights it up for Flames
Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and two assists, and the Calgary Flames scored five goals in the second period to rally past the Blue Jackets, 9-6, last night in Columbus, Ohio.
Cam Atkinson netted a hat trick for Columbus to extend his point streak to 11 games, but the Blue Jackets lost their second straight.
Sean Monahan also had two goals and two assists for Calgary, which scored five straight goals for a 6-4 lead during the second period. Monahan opened that barrage 1:55 into the second, and Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Noah Hanifin and TJ Brodie followed with goals. Tkachuk, Hanifin and Brodie scored in a span of 1:53.
Monahan, Gaudreau and Austin Czarnik each scored in the third period for Calgary.
David Rittich and Mike Smith combined to stop 24 shots for the Flames. Calgary earned a point in its fifth straight game to stay atop the Pacific Division and improved to 17-9-2.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 of 26 shots before being replaced in the third period by Joonas Korpisalo.
Zach Werenski, Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno also scored for Columbus.
Penguins 6, Avalanche 3 — Patric Hornqvist’s natural hat trick in the third period powered host Pittsburgh past Colorado.
The Avalanche had erased a three-goal deficit to tie the game going into the third when Hornqvist went to work.
His power-play goal 6:11 into the final period gave the Penguins the lead. Hornqvist beat Semyon Varlamov again just 1:21 later to push Pittsburgh’s advantage to two, and the veteran from Sweden completed the hat trick on his next shift when he fired a wrist shot by Varlamov less than 90 seconds later.
Canadiens 5, Senators 2 — Max Domi had two goals and an assist and Jonathan Drouin added a goal and two assists as hosts Montreal defeated Ottawa.
Artturi Lehkonen and Brendan Gallagher also scored for the Canadiens, who entered the game with one win in their last seven. Carey Price stopped 28 shots.
Maple Leafs 4, Sabres 3 — Auston Matthews scored his second goal with three seconds on the clock in overtime, and Toronto matched its best start in 84 years with a victory against host Buffalo.
Jets 3, Islanders 1 — Jacob Trouba and Adam Lowry scored 22 seconds apart early in the third period, rallying visiting Winnipeg over New York.
Lightning 6, Red Wings 5 — Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Victor Hedman scored in a shootout and visiting Tampa Bay overcame Frans Nielsen’s hat trick to beat Detroit.
Elsewhere in the NHL — The NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved adding Seattle as the league’s 32nd franchise, with play set to begin in 2021 instead of 2020 to allow enough time for arena renovations. The as-yet unnamed franchise will be the Emerald City’s first major winter sports team since the NBA’s SuperSonics left town in 2008.