Rask stays hot, buoys Bruins

BOSTON — Tuukka Rask watched his defenseman redirect a Toronto player’s shot into the net behind him.

The way he’s been playing, he could joke about it afterward.

Rask made 23 stops and posted a point for a career-best 20th straight game, leading the surging Boston Bruins past the Maple Leafs 4-1 on Saturday.

With the Bruins leading 1-0, the Maple Leafs tied it at 8:03 of the first period, helped by Charlie McAvoy.

Positioned in front of his net, the rookie tapped Mitchell Marner’s shot — it was going fairly slowly after it hit Boston center Sean Kuraly’s stick and was heading wide — into the net to the right of Rask as he was trying to control the puck.

McAvoy immediately put his right glove to his face in disbelief and looked down while he was skating behind the net.

■ Senators 4, Flyers

3— At Philadelphia, Mike Hoffman scored the lone goal among 12 players in the shootout. Nolan Patrick scored to tie it for Philadelphia with 2.6 seconds left in regulation.

■ Flames 4, Blackhawks 3, OT — At Calgary, Alberta, Sean Monahan scored his 10th career overtime goal 59 seconds into the extra session as Calgary halted a six-game slide.

■ Lightning 4, Canucks 2— At Vancouver, British Columbia, Nikita Kucherov had two assists to back Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had 31 saves in Tampa Bay’s fifth win in six games.

■ Panthers 3, Red Wings

2— At Sunrise, Fla., Jonathan Huberdeau scored with 7.7 seconds left to back Harri Sateri, who had 26 saves in his third straight victory.

■ Stars 6, Wild 1 — At Dallas, Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist in Dallas’ four-goal second period, and Kari Lehtonen had 30 saves in his fourth straight win.

■ Islanders 4, Blue Jackets3— At New York, Brock Nelson scored the go-ahead

goal at 5:14 of the third period to back winner Jaroslav Halak, who had 46 saves.

■ Predators 5, Rangers

2— At Nashville, Tenn., Kevin Fiala scored twice for Nashville, which held New York to eight shots on goal through two periods.

■ Blues 1, Sabres 0 — At Buffalo, N.Y., Carl Gunnarsson banked in a shot off the crossbar with 5:41 left to back Carter Hutton, who had 27 saves.

■ Devils 3, Penguins 1 —

At Newark, N.J., Travis Zajac had two goals and an assist, and Pittsburgh mustered a season-low 16 shots on goal.

■ Kings 6, Coyotes 0

— At Los Angeles, Darcy Kuemper had 27 saves in his 10th career shutout, and Jake Muzzin had a goal and two assists.

■ Canadiens 5, Ducks 2

— At Montreal, defenseman Jeff Petry scored twice for Montreal, which halted a three-game slide.

■ Jets 3, Avalanche 0

— At Winnipeg, Manitoba, Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots in his fifth shutout of the season.