Pacioretty scores yet again in Vegas’ win
Max Pacioretty scored — twice — in his seventh straight game to lead the Golden Knights to a 4-1 victory over the COVID-depleted Bruins in Boston on Tuesday night.
Robin Lehner made 23 saves for the Golden Knights, who won for the fifth time in six games. Shea Theodore also scored for Vegas, and Jonathan Marchessault had a goal with 0.6 of a second left in the first period to send the Bruins to their locker room to the boos of the hometown crowd.
“It was a good start to a tough road trip,” head coach Peter DeBoer said.
Hours after the Bruins put leading scorer Brad Marchand in the COVID-19 protocol, and one day after head coach Bruce Cassidy returned from his positive test, the Bruins saw their two-game win streak end. Patrice Bergeron scored their first goal 21 seconds in the third period — when Vegas was up by four goals — and Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 shots.
Vegas put on the pressure early, scoring three times in the first period. The first two were two minutes apart, starting with Theodore seven minutes left in the first and then Chandler Stephenson made a long pass to Pacioretty, who beat Swayman to make it 2-0.
The Golden Knights got a power play with 19 seconds left in the period. As the final second drained from the clock, Marchessault’s pass deflected off two Bruins and through Swayman’s legs to make it 3-0. Sabres 4, Jets 2: Rasmus Dahlin scored twice and visiting Buffalo snapped a seven-game winless streak. Anders Bjork and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Sabres, who are 1-5-2 in their past eight games. Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson each had two assists. Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist, and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves.
Blues 4, Stars 1: Justin Faulk, Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the third period and St. Louis snapped Dallas’ eight-game home winning streak. Riley Damiani, called up from the AHL on Tuesday, scored in his NHL debut and Jake Oettinger stopped 24 shots for the Stars, who have lost four straight.
Avalanche 4, Rangers 2: In Denver, Valeri Nichushkin had two goals, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen also scored and Colorado won its fifth straight game.
Maple Leafs 5, Oilers 1: Auston Matthews had two goals and visiting Toronto won its second straight game, beating struggling Edmonton. Wayne Simmonds, TJ Brodie and Morgan Rielly also scored for the Maple Leafs. Jack Campbell stopped 35 shots.
Canucks 4, Blue Jackets 3: Bo Horvat scored on a power play in the final minute of regulation, his second goal of the game, as host Vancouver won its fifth straight game. Columbus had led 3-0 in the first period, with two goals from Eric Robinson.
Lightning 3, Kings 2: Mathieu Joseph scored with 1:35 left in overtime to give host Tampa Bay the win. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves to get his 62nd win in 2021 regularseason and playoff games, tying Marc-Andre Fleury’s 2009 NHL record for a calendar year, with Pittsburgh.
Penguins 5, Canadiens 2: Evan Rodrigues scored his ninth goal of the season and added two assists to lead host Pittsburgh over Montreal.
Flyers 6, Devils 1: Cam Atkinson had three goals and an assist for host Philadelphia. Travis Sanheim and Oskar Lindblom each had a goal and an assist, and Justin Braun also scored for the Flyers, who won a third game in a row after losing 10 straight.
Senators 8, Panthers 2: In Sunrise, Fla., Josh Norris scored two goals and Anton Forsberg made 33 saves to lift Ottawa. Nick Brown scored two late power-play goals, and Drake Batherson had a goal and two assists.
Red Wings 2, Islanders 1: Alex Nedeljkovic made 33 saves and host Detroit ended a three-game skid. Dylan Larkin got his team-high 11th goal and Michael Rasmussen also scored for the Red Wings. Anders Lee scored and Ilya Sorokin made 37 saves for New York.
Hurricanes struck: Carolina became the latest NHL team hit by a coronavirus outbreak as four more players were placed in the COVID-19 protocol, prompting the league to postpone its game at Minnesota. The call came a little more than five hours before the scheduled start in St. Paul. The NHL did not immediately announce a rescheduled date.