Blackhawks snap Stars’ long win streak
Connor Bedard, Andreas Athanasiou and Seth Jones scored second-period goals 4:03 apart and Petr Mrazek made 42 saves as the host Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Saturday to halt Dallas’ franchise-best eight-game winning streak.
The Stars (48-20-9) remained atop the Central Division, three points ahead of the idle Colorado Avalanche. The clubs are set to meet on Sunday night in Denver.
Outshot 44-17 on the afternoon, including 37-12 after two periods, the Blackhawks capitalized on their limited offensive chances to win for the second time in three games.
Chicago (23-48-5) opened the scoring at 4:48 of the second period, as Bedard tallied his team-leading 22nd goal. With the Blackhawks on the man advantage, Bedard snapped a seven-game goal drought when his wrist shot from the right circle deflected off the far post and into the net.
Bruins 3, Panthers 2, OT
Jesper Boqvist sniped a deciding breakaway at 2:05 of overtime as Boston earned a win over visiting Florida in a key Atlantic Division clash.
Boqvist made the winning play happen all by himself, coming away with the puck out of a defensive-zone wall battle before breaking down the left side circle.
Charlie McAvoy and Charlie Coyle also scored for Boston (46-17-15), who have won four straight and now hold a five-point lead atop the division standings.
Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in the Bruins net.
Penguins 5, Lightning 4
Off a scramble around the Tampa Bay net, Michael Bunting tapped the puck inside the right post at 14:32 of the third period to give Pittsburgh a win over the visiting Lightning after blowing a threegoal lead.
Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang also scored, and Erik Karlsson added three assists each for the Penguins (3630-11), who won their fourth straight and moved into a playoff spot, pending Saturday’s night games.
Jets 4, Wild 2
Vladislav Namestnikov scored once in a three-point game and Alex Iafallo collected one goal and one assist to lead visiting Winnipeg over slumping Minnesota.
Kyle Connor and Morgan Barron also scored for the Jets (47-24-6, 100 points), who are riding a three-game winning streak. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves.
Kirill Kaprizov scored both goals for the Wild (36-30-10, 81 points), who have lost three of four games and are in lastgasp territory with their hopes of reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sharks 3, Blues 2, OT
William Eklund completed his hat trick with 1:04 left in overtime and host San Jose defeated St. Louis.
Eklund kept the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Joel Hofer for the game winner.
It was a costly missed point for the Blues, who have lost three of four and trail the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn scored for the St. Louis (40-32-5). Robert Thomas had two assists and Hofer made 22 saves.
Islanders 2, Predators 0
Semyon Varlamov stopped all 41 shots for host New York, which took over sole possession of third place in the Metropolitan Division with a win over Nashville.
Noah Dobson scored in the second period and Kyle Palmieri scored an empty-netter with 1:19 left for the Islanders (35-27-15), who won their fourth straight game.
Maple Leafs 4, Canadiens 2
Auston Matthews scored his leagueleading 64th goal and visiting Toronto defeated Montreal.
Max Domi, Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann also scored for the Maple
Leafs. Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens. Cole Caufield added a goal and Mike Matheson contributed two assists. Sam Montembeault allowed four goals on 12 shots before being replaced in the second period by Cayden Primeau, who made 18 saves.
Devils 4, Senators 3
Brendan Smith had a goal and two assists for New Jersey in a win against host Ottawa.
Jesper Bratt had two assists, and Jake Allen made 25 saves for the Devils (37-36-4, 78 points), who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Blue Jackets 6, Flyers 2
Defensemen Damon Severson and Zach Werenski both scored twice as Columbus delivered a blow to Philadelphia’s playoff chances, topping the visiting Flyers.
Defensemen Erik Gudbranson and Nick Blankenburg also scored for Columbus (26-39-12, 64 points), who won for just the fourth time in 14 games (48-2). Johnny Gaudreau had a pair of assists in the win.
Oilers 4, Flames 2
Evan Bouchard broke a deadlock and Connor McDavid collected two more assists in his quest to join elite company as visiting Edmonton claimed a victory over Calgary in a hard-fought Battle of Alberta clash.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored once in a three-point game, while Leon Draisaitl and Connor Brown also scored for the Oilers (47-24-5, 99 points), who are 5-1-1 in their last seven. Goaltender Calvin Pickard made 33 saves.
Kings 6, Canucks 3
Adrian Kempe had two goals and an assist as Los Angeles continued its mastery of visiting Vancouver.
The Kings (41-25-11, 93 points) have now won five of their past six games against Vancouver (47-22-8, 102 points) and clinched the season series 3-1.