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.
Matty Beniers had a goal and two assists as Seattle concluded a five-game road
KRAKEN 4, BRUINS 1 »
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.
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.
BLUES 6, OILERS 3 » 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.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vancouver Vegas Edmonton Kings Seattle Calgary Ducks
San Jose
CENTRAL DIVISION
Dallas Colorado Winnipeg St. Louis Nashville Minnesota Arizona Chicago
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Florida Boston Tampa Bay Toronto Detroit Montreal Buffalo Ottawa
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia New Jersey N.Y. Islanders Pittsburgh Washington Columbus
Today’s game
GP W
55 53 50 51 54 54 53 53
GP W
54 55 51 53 54 53 52 54
GP W
54 54 55 52 53 54 53 50 54 52 55 53 53 51 52 52
Thursday’s results
Saturday’s games
37 31 31 25 23 25 19 15 34 33 32 29 27 25 23 14 35 32 30 28 27 22 23 22
GP W
35 30 29 27 22 24 23 16
L OT Pts GF GA
12 16 18 16 21 24 32 33
L OT Pts GF GA
14 18 14 22 25 23 25 37
L OT Pts GF GA
15 12 20 16 20 24 26 26
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
16 17 19 22 18 20 21 26
Carolina at Arizona, 6 p.m. 6 6 1 10 10 5 2 5 6 4 5 2 2 5 4 3 4 10 5 8 6 8 4 2 3 5 7 4 13 7 8 10
Kings 2, New Jersey 1
Ducks 5, Ottawa 1
Seattle 4, Boston 1
Florida 4, Buffalo 0
Toronto 4, Philadelphia 3, OT N.Y. Rangers 7, Montreal 4 Tampa Bay 6, Colorado 3 Dallas 9, Nashville 2
St. Louis 6, Edmonton 3 Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 1
San Jose 6, Calgary 3 Vancouver 4, Detroit 1 80 203 142 68 172 146 63 177 144 60 158 140 56 149 155 55 166 169 40 137 181 35 113 203 74 205 163 70 205 178 69 152 117 60 158 163 56 162 177 55 162 173 50 153 163 31 112 191 74 176 133 74 181 142 65 191 180 64 184 166 60 185 176 52 154 194 50 155 164 46 170 181
L OT Pts GF GA
73 179 151 65 173 153 65 164 159 58 177 182 57 155 177 55 150 137 54 127 164 42 153 194
Kings at Boston, 9:30 a.m.
Edmonton at Dallas, noon
Ottawa at Chicago, noon
Detroit at Calgary, 1 p.m.
Buffalo at Minnesota, 2 p.m.
Florida at Tampa Bay, 2 p.m.
Nashville at St. Louis, 2 p.m.
Ducks at Toronto, 4 p.m.
Washington at Montreal, 4 p.m. Philadelphia vs. New Jersey at MetLife Stadium, 5 p.m.
Winnipeg at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Carolina at Vegas, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus at San Jose, 7:30 p.m.