Staal ends 75-game goal drought in Panthers’ road win over Capitals
Veteran defenseman Marc Staal ended a 75-game goal drought, captain Aleksander Barkov also scored and the visiting Florida Panthers held on to beat the Washington Capitals 6-3 Thursday night in a big game in the Eastern Conference wildcard race.
Florida pulled even with Washington at 62 points, closing an 11-point gap between the teams since New Year’s Day.
If recent trends continue, the Panthers will pass them quickly, having won five of seven to claw into the playoff chase. Despite cutting their deficit to one goal with under three minutes left in regulation, the Capitals fell to 0-3-0 on their three-game homestand.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored to cut Washington’s deficit to 4-3 at 17:28 of the third.
Kent Johnson’s third-period goal was the tiebreaker and Joonas Korpisalo had 36 saves for host Columbus. The Blue Jackets tied the game in the second period and moved ahead at 9:40 of the third with Johnson’s shot after a power play ended. Patrik Laine also scored for Columbus, and Boone Jenner scored into an empty net with 3 seconds left in the game. Kyle Connor scored for the Jets.
Seth Jarvis had three goals for his first career hat trick and host Carolina scored three times in the first five minutes of the third period. Jarvis scored in the first and third periods for his first multi-goal game of the season, capping his night with a short-handed goal. Michael Pezzetta and Rafael HarveyPinard scored for Montreal.
Jeremy Swayman made 29 saves and Patrice Bergeron had a goal and an assist for visiting Boston. Brad Marchand, Craig Smith, Derek Forbort and Trent Frederic also scored for the Bruins. Juuse Saros made 25 saves for Nashville.
Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn each had a goal and an assist and host St. Louis extended its winning streak to three games. Pavel Buchnevich and Alexey Toropchenko also scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington made 33 saves. Dawson Mercer and Erik Haula scored for New Jersey.
Host Seattle led 5-0 lead after two periods. Yanni Groude had two of those goals. Gourde also assisted Oliver Bjorkstrand’s goal at 11:26 of the second that gave the Kraken a 4-0 lead. Travis Konecny scored both of Philadelphia’s goals.
Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and two assists and Dominik Kubalik scored twice for visiting Detroit. Kubalik’s goal at 15:21 of the second period broke a 2-2. Elias Lindholm and Dillon Dube scored for Calgary. Detroit announced Thursday it signed defenseman Olli Maatta to a twoyear, $6 million extension.
William Carrier’s goal at 19:42 of the third period gave host Vegas the victory. Paul Cotter tied the game for the Golden Knights at 6:22 of the third. Alexander Barbanov scored for San Jose in the first period.