Lightning claim Cup rematch
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for his second straight shutout and 23rd overall and the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Dallas Stars 5-0 on Saturday night in the first Stanley Cup rematch of the season.
The teams will meet again Tuesday night in Dallas. They had four previous scheduled meetings season postponed because of COVID protocols and weather issues in Dallas.
Steven Stamkos and Anthony Cirelli each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay, and Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Pat Maroon also scored for Tampa Bay.
Flyers 3, Sabres 0 — Brian Elliott stopped 23 shots to shut out the Sabres for a second time this season.
The Flyers were spurred by a replenished lineup in which four players returned after spending two weeks in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. They included Scott Laughton, who scored a breakaway goal to make it 3-0 late in the second period.
Sean Couturier had a goal and assist to extend his points streak to five games, in which he has four goals and five assists, and Shayne Gostisbehere also scored.
Maple Leafs 4, Oilers 0 — Jack Campbell made 30 saves for his third NHL shutout, Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist and the NHL-leading Toronto Maple Leafs opened a three-game set in Edmonton with a victory.
William Nylander, Jason Spezza and Zach Hyman also scored for Toronto, which was without NHL goals leader Auston Matthews because of a wrist injury.
Mike Smith stopped 25 shots for Edmonton, which had won five straight.
Predators 2, Blue Jackets 1 — Mattias Ekholm scored a pair of second-period goals, and Juuse Saros made 29 saves for Nashville.
Saros earned his first victory since Jan. 27. Saros’ fellow Finn Pekka Rinne has taken a larger share of the goaltending duties for Nashville this month.
Cam Atkinson scored the lone goal and Joonas Korpisalo made 31 saves for Columbus, loser of four straight.
Capitals 5, Devils 2 — Garnet Hathaway and Daniel Sprong scored in the opening 5:06 for the streaking Capitals. Lars Eller added the third goal in a big first period and Jabub Vrana gave the Capitals breathing room with a third-period breakaway tally. Rookie Vitek Vanecek had 22 saves in his ninth win. FLAMES 6, SENATORS 3
Flames 6, Senators 3 — Juuso Valimaki, Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, Andrew Mangiapane and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Flames.
Drake Batherson, Colin White and Brady Tkachuk replied for the last-place Senators.
Penguins 4, Islanders 3 — Kris Letang got his second goal of the game 4:34 into overtime, giving Pittsburgh the win.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.
Hurricanes 4, Panthers 3 — Martin Necas scored the winning goal in a shootout for Carolina, which also got goals from Vincent Trocheck, Jake Bean and Warren Foegele in regulation.