Marleau collects 600th assist in win
John Tavares scored his ninth goal of the season, Patrick Marleau had his 600th NHL assist and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 on Friday night.
Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown, Andreas Johnsson, Morgan Rielly and Tyler Ennis also scored, and Frederik Andersen made 38 saves. Toronto improved to 11-5-0 with its third straight victory.
Marleau was involved in Kadri’s goal, becoming the 88th NHL player to reach the 600 assist milestone. BLUE JACKETS 2, CAPITALS 1>> Columbus’ NHL-worst power play scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves in a victory over defending Stanley Cup champion Washington. RED WINGS 3, RANGERS 2 OT >> Dylan Larkin scored with 5.1 seconds remaining in overtime, capping an impressive late comeback by Detroit.
JETS 5, AVALANCHE 2 >> Blake Wheeler had an empty-net goal and four assists in the Jets’ victory over Colorado.
WILD 5, DUCKS 1 >> Mikael Granlund had two goals and an assist as Minnesota swept the Southern California part of its its road trip.
Minnesota, which defeated Los Angeles 4-1 on Thursday, had a 43-20 advantage in shots as it dominated throughout.
RASK TAKES LEAVE OF ABSENCE FROM BRUINS >> The Boston Bruins say goaltender Tuukka Rask has been granted a leave of absence from the team for a personal matter.
The team didn’t offer an explanation, but general manager Don Sweeney said shortly after the announcement on Friday it was not health related. He also asked for privacy on behalf of Rask.
Rask has started only seven of the Bruins’ 15 games this season.
Rask came on in relief in the Bruins’ 8-5 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Halak was pulled after allowing five goals on 19 shots.