Tavares scores twice to reach 300 goals as Leafs top Devils
John Tavares is earning every penny of the seven-year, $77 million contract the Toronto Maple Leafs gave him in the off-season. Not only is he living up to the hype, the 28-year-old centre is having a career year.
Tavares scored twice and hit the 300goal mark for his career in leading the Maple Leafs to a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
“It’s always that more satisfying when it contributes to a big win, especially bouncing back after the other night, so credit a lot of guys who I’ve played with over my career because obviously that was a big part of helping me be successful,” said Tavares, who also picked up an assist on linemate Mitch Marner’s empty-net goal with 22 seconds to play.
Tavares’ best season was 38 goals and 48 assists in 2014-15 with the Islanders. He now had 29 goals and 21 assists in 43 games with the Maple Leafs.
Tavares and Marner were helped by the return of left wing Zach Hyman, who was activated missing eight games with an ankle injury.
“They’re awesome,” Hyman said after posting a plus-4 night. “I just try and get them the puck as much as I can. John’s pretty tenacious on it and you see how strong he is and how he gets the puck back all the time. He’s one of the best finishers around the net. Mitch is an elite passer but he can also get himself open to shoot and you’re seeing more of that this year.”
Defenceman Ron Hainsey also scored in Toronto’s three-goal first period and third-string goaltender Michael Hutchinson made 27 saves as the Maple Leafs beat the Devils for the third time in as many games.
“We need to start stringing together wins and playing complete games and giving ourselves a shot,” forward Kyle Palmieri said after New Jersey lost for the fourth time in five games. “Tonight, obviously, we dug ourselves a bit of hole, but it was good to see we stuck with our game.”
Blake Coleman and Brian Boyle scored in a 26-second span for the Devils late in the second period to get New Jersey within a goal. Keith Kinkaid made 39 saves, including two on Tavares that prevented his hat trick and 30th goal of the season.
CAPITALS 4, BRUINS 2
BOSTON (AP) — Nicklas Backstrom scored in the third period after missing a game with an illness, helping Washington beat Boston for the 14th straight time.
Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 31st and 32nd goals for the Capitals.
Ryan Donato and David Krejci scored for Boston.
LIGHTNING 3, HURRICANES 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point had a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period and added a late empty-netter in NHL-leading Tampa Bay’s comeback victory over Carolina.
Ondrej Palat also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves. Point also had an assist. The Lightning, 17-1-1 over the last 19 games, tied a team mark with their ninth consecutive home win.
Justin Williams picked up his 300th NHL goal for the Hurricanes.
ISLANDERS 4, RANGERS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Josh Bailey scored with 1:26 remaining to lift the New York Islanders over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Matt Barzal had a goal and two assists, and Robin Lehner made 27 saves. Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee also scored for the Islanders.
Ryan Strome, Kevin Shattenkirk and Jesper Fast scored for the Rangers.
BLUE JACKETS 4, PREDATORS 3, OT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored his second goal of the night 1:22 into overtime to lift Columbus past Nashville.
Panarin won it on a 4-on-3 power play. Boone Jenner also had two goals, and Zach Werenski had a pair of assists for the Blue Jackets in the 600th career coaching win for John Tortorella.
Joonas Korpisalo had 32 saves for Columbus. He got the start because Sergei Bobrovsky was scratched because of an unspecified “incident,” according to the team, with no clear idea of when the Vezina Trophy-winner might be back. Mattias Ekholm had a goal and an assist, and Nick Bonino and Viktor Arvidsson also scored in the third period for the Predators.
WILD 3, JETS 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jason Zucker scored twice, giving Minnesota’s lagging power play a lift with his first goal and getting one later just after leaving the penalty box, and the Wild beat Winnipeg.
Jordan Greenway also scored and Devan Dubnyk made 26 saves. The Wild have won all three games against the Jets so far this season by a combined 10-5 score after losing to their Central Division rival in five games in the first round of the playoffs last spring.
Brandon Tanev and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets.
BLUES 4, CANADIENS 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Oskar Sundqvist had a goal and an assist and rookie Jordan Binnington made 28 saves to lead St. Louis past Montreal.
Robert Thomas, Jay Bouwmeester and Sammy Blais also scored for St. Louis. Binnington improved to 2-0 after becoming the 35th goalie in NHL history to record a shutout in his first career start on Monday night at Philadelphia. Brendan Gallagher scored for the Canadiens.
FLYERS 2, STARS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Carter Hart stopped 37 shots and Philadelphia beat Dallas to end an eight-game losing streak.
James van Riemsdyk had a goal and an assist, and Travis Konecny also scored for Philadelphia. Jamie Benn scored for Dallas. Tyler Seguin had an assist to extend his points streak to seven games. He has at least one point in every contest since he and Benn were harshly criticized by CEO Jim Lites on Dec. 28.