Hughes, Bratt lift Devils over Sabres
Devils 4, Sabres 3: Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt each had a goal and two assists to help visiting New Jersey end its six-game losing streak with a win against Buffalo on Wednesday night.
Hughes’ sixth goal of the season gave New Jersey a 3-2 lead in the third period after a failed Sabres clearing attempt led to a rebound from a shot by Yegor Sharangovich, who scored 2:22 later to make it 4-2.
Bratt’s goal gave the Devils a 2-0 edge in the first after a power-play goal from Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring.
The Devils returned from the holiday break minus Tomas Tatar and Jimmy Vesey, who are in COVID-19 protocol, for their first game since a 3-2 home loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 19.
It was the first game in 12 days for the Sabres after four straight postponements. They were without six players and coach Don Granato, who was placed in COVID-19 protocol on Sunday. Buffalo returned to the ice for the first time since a 3-2 overtime loss at Pittsburgh on Dec. 17.
Panthers 4, Rangers 3: MacKenzie Weegar, Carter Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair scored in the third period to rally host Florida past the New York Rangers as both teams returned from an extended holiday break.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists for the Rangers. Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider also scored for New York. Igor Shesterkin, back in net after missing eight games with a lower-body injury, made 28 saves.
Anton Lundell also scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 shots.
Weegar fired a wrist shot high to Shesterkin’s stick side for his first goal of the season, tying it 2-all at 5:56 of the third.
Capitals 5, Predators 3: Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a late short-handed goal in his return from an 18-day absence to put host Washington ahead for
good in a victory over Nashville.
Kuznetsov’s crafty wrist shot from a tight angle helped the Capitals beat the Predators for the first time in nine games, a streak dating to 2017.
It was his 10th of the season and his first since he was reactivated from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol earlier Wednesday.
John Carlson also scored and had three assists for Washington, which stormed to a 3-0 lead in the first period before giving it all back inside the opening eight minutes of the second.
Lars Eller and Nic Dowd added early goals as the Capitals moved two points in front of Carolina into sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Carl Hagelin added a late empty-net goal and an assist. Dmitry Orlov had two assists.
Ilya Samsonov made 17 saves in the Capitals’ first game in 10 days, in both teams’ return from the NHL’s recent pause due to COVID-19 issues.