Kapanen scores twice, leads Leafs past Wings in overtime

Galchenyuk lifts Coyotes over Sharks in shootout

Toronto Maple Leafs Kasperi Kapanen (left), turns on Detroit Red Wings Nick Jensen before scoring the game-winning goal in overtime during NHL

hockey action in Toronto on Dec 23. (AP) TORONTO, Dec 24, (AP): Kasperi Kapanen scored his second goal of the game at 1:53 of overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 on Sunday night.

Kapanen’s winner squeezed through the pads of former Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier and just got over the goal line.

Morgan Rielly and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist, and Frederik Gauthier also for Toronto (25-10-2), which extended its winning streak to four games. Garret Sparks made 26 saves for the Leafs. Frans Nielsen, Filip Hronek, Michael Rasmussen and Christoffer Ehn scored for Detroit (15-18-5). Bernier stopped 19 shots for the Red Wings.

Down 4-3, Tavares knotted things up with 7.6 seconds left in regulation when he tipped a shot from the point by Jake Gardiner past Bernier for his 24th of the season with Sparks on the bench for the extra attacker.

Tavares then nearly won it a minute into overtime, but he shot high over Bernier’s net from close range before Kapanen won it.

Tied 3-3 through 40 minutes, Nazem Kadri had a chance right at the end of a Toronto power play in the third period, but his try to redirect a pass from William Nylander hit the crossbar.

Nielsen eventually snapped the deadlock with under eight minutes to go when he buried a rebound past Sparks, who was making his first start for Toronto since allowing five goals on 32 shots in Detroit’s 5-4 overtime victory at Scotiabank Arena on Dec. 6.

Kings 4, Golden Knights 3, OT In Las Vegas, Tyler Toffoli scored 1:40 into overtime to lift the Los Angeles Kings past the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on Sunday night.

It marked the second straight night the Kings won in overtime after beating San Jose on Saturday. It was also the second consecutive night Vegas fell in overtime after losing at home to Montreal.

After Los Angeles goalie Calvin Petersen made a series of spectacular saves to start overtime, Toffoli Mrazek stopped 27 shots for the Hurricanes

Coyotes 4, Sharks 3, SO In San Jose, California, Alex Galchenyuk broke out of his drought with two goals in regulation plus the only one in a shootout, and the Arizona Coyotes defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Sunday.

Conor Garland also scored to help the Coyotes win their second consecutive game after losing three straight and seven of eight. Darcy Kuemper made 35 saves for Arizona.

Tomas Hertl scored twice and Tim Heed had a goal for San Jose, which lost its third straight after winning a season-high five in a row.

Galchenyuk, acquired in a June trade with Montreal for Max Domi, hadn’t scored in 16 games and had just three goals all season going into Sunday.

Hertl recovered the puck behind the net and scored on a wraparound to tie it 3-all at 13:53 of the third. Hertl also scored early in the third to even the game at 2 before Garland gave the Coyotes a 3-2 advantage at 6:06.

Heed scored on the power play in the first period, his first goal of the season in his third game for San Jose. Dell turned back 23 shots.

Islanders 3, Stars 1 In Dallas, Anders Lee scored a tie-breaking power-play goal with 10:10 to play, and the New York Islanders beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Sunday night.

The Islanders’ first two goals went in off Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin. On the winner, Nick Leddy’s shot from the top of the slot hit the left post and went off Khudobin’s right skate before Lee poked the puck between the goalie’s legs.

Tyler Pitlick scored the game’s first goal for the Stars in the second period before Casey Cizikas tied it with a fluke goal at 14:10. Leo Khudobin finished with 25 saves. Islanders goalie Robin Lehner made 19 saves, six in the third period against a listless Dallas offense on the second night of a back-to-back.

Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand (63) eyes the puck after battling Carolina Hurricanes’ Lucas Wallmark (71) for position during the first period of an NHL hockey game on Dec 23 in Raleigh,

North Carolina. (AP) Vegas Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch (89) pursues Los Angeles Kings right wing Tyler Toffoli (73) during the first period of an NHL hockey

game on Dec 23 in Las Vegas. (AP)

New York has won four of its last five games. The Stars had won two of three.

In the first period, the Islanders outshot Dallas 9-7 and had two power plays to the Stars’ one. There were no shots on goal during any of the three man advantages.

Pitlick scored 6:20 into the second. He stickhandled in from the left along the goal line, moved the puck to his forehand and shot it inside the right post.

Panthers 6, Blackhawks 3 In Chicago, Jayce Hawryluk scored his first two NHL goals, Mike Hoffman and Jared McCann had goals in a 31-second span in the second period and Florida beat Chicago.

Denis Malgin also scored and Frank Vatrano added an empty-netter as the Panthers won road games on consecutive night and prevailed for the fourth time in five games overall.

Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists for the last-place Blackhawks, who had their season-high, three-game winning streak snapped. Connor Murphy scored his first goal of the season and Alex DeBrincat netted his 17th.

James Reimer made 26 saves for Florida and Cam Ward stopped 21 shots for Chicago, as No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford missed his fourth game with a concussion.

Blue Jackets 3, Devils 0 In Newark, New Jersey, Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves, Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Sunday for their fourth consecutive victory.

It was the second shutout of the season for Bobrosky, the 26th of his career and third against the Devils.

Cam Atkinson and Oliver Bjorkstrand added firstperiod goals for the Blue Jackets, who trail firstplace Washington by two points in the Metropolitan Division going into the league’s holiday break.

Atkinson opened the scoring at 4:03 of the first period on the Blue Jackets’ first shot of the game when he took a pass from Panarin and sent it past Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid for his 23rd goal of the season.

Bjorkstrand made it 2-0 just 1:28 later when he converted a pass from Alexander Wennberg for his fourth goal of the season.

Kinkaid gave up a fast-break goal by Panarin to put the Blue Jackets up 3-0 midway through the second period. Panarin stole the puck from Taylor Hall in the neutral zone, and the goal got Kinkaid (eight saves) pulled for Mackenzie Blackwood.

The Devils had a two-man advantage late in the second period but were unable to score.

Flyers 3, Rangers 2, SO In New York, Nolan Patrick scored the lone goal in a shootout that lasted four rounds and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the scuffling New York Rangers 3-2 on Sunday night.

Michael Raffl and Wayne Simmonds scored in regulation, and Michael Neuvirth made 32 saves as the Flyers won for the third time since changing coaches.

Chris Kreider and Boo Nieves scored for the Rangers, who lost their fifth in six games. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 28 shots.

Simmonds gave the Flyers a one-goal advantage 5:01 into the third period when he buried a rebound on the power play. The Rangers were short a man due to a too-many-men penalty. Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek assisted on the play.

But the lead was short-lived as Nieves tied it 22 seconds later. Rangers rookie Lias Andersson forced a turnover behind the Flyers net to set up the fourth-line center. Nieves, playing in his fourth game of the season, scored his second NHL goal.

Raffl evened the game 1-all at 1:46 of the second when he scored his first of the season. The veteran forward kept the puck himself on an odd-man rush and beat Lundqvist to the glove side. Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim assisted on the play.

The Rangers struck first when Kreider snapped a wrist shot under Neuvirth’s blocker at 10:05 of the opening period. Kevin Hayes made a clever play to exit the zone, dancing around Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov before making a spinning pass to lead a streaking Kreider into the offensive zone all alone. Hayes extended his point streak to seven games, setting a career high.