Matthews' hat trick key for Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews had a natural hat trick in the second period and William Nylander scored 54 seconds into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

Matthews pushed his NHL-leading goals total to 45, completing his fifth hat trick of the season and 12th of his career in a 7:49 span in the second period. He's on a 71-goal pace through 51 games, looking to become the first NHLer to hit 70 since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each had 76 in 1992-93.

RANGERS 7, CANADIENS 4 >> Chris Kreider scored a hat trick, Adam Fox had four assists and Jonathan Quick made 30 saves as New York downed visiting Montreal to match a season high with their sixth straight victory. The Rangers, who equaled their season best for goals, scored four times in 4:10 during the second period after Montreal took a 1-0 lead in the first.

PANTHERS 4, SABRES 0 >> Anthony Stolarz stopped 45 shots for his seventh career shutout and Florida became the 11th NHL team to win 10 consecutive road games with a win at Buffalo. Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring midway through the first period and added an emptynetter.

KRAKEN 4, BRUINS 1 >> Matty Beniers had a goal and two assists as Seattle concluded a five-game road trip with a win over Eastern Conference-leading Boston. Jordan Eberle, Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann also scored for Seattle. Joey Daccord stopped 36 shots to snap his threegame losing streak.

STARS 9, PREDATORS 2 >> Sam Steel scored 35 seconds after the puck dropped, and Dallas scored four goals in the first 16 minutes on the way to a rout of host Nashville. The Stars' Matt Duchene scored two goals against his old team. Another former Nashville player, Craig Smith, scored in the early flurry for the Central Division leaders.

BLUES 6, OILERS 3 >> Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours each had a goal and two assists and St. Louis beat visiting Edmonton for the Blues' eighth win in 10 games. Jordan Binnington made 36 saves, highlighted by two dazzling saves on Zach Hyman during an Edmonton power play in the first period.

PENGUINS 4, BLACKHAWKS 1>> Sidney Crosby scored twice, Reilly Smith and Bryan Rust added goals, and Pittsburgh won at Chicago to snap a three-game losing streak.

LIGHTNING 6, AVALANCHE 3 >> NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist as Tampa Bay beat visiting Colorado.

BLUE JACKETS FIRE GM KEKALAINEN >> Columbus fired general manager Jarmo Kekalainen midway through his 11th full season on the job and with just over three weeks to go before the March 8 deadline.