Stamkos breaks late tie as Lightning rally past Sabres

Panarin scores in OT, Blue Jackets edge Capitals 2-1

BUFFALO, New York, Jan 13, (AP): Steven Stamkos broke a tie with 5:16 remaining in the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan also scored, and Louis Domingue stopped 30 shots. The Lightning have won 18 of their last 20.

Sam Reinhart, Tage Thompson and Marco Scandella scored for Buffalo.

Scandella gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead at 5:54 of the third, chipping home a pass from Jason Pominville from close range. Just 23 seconds later, the Lightning took advantage of a bad giveaway by Sabres defenseman Lawrence Pilut, and Stamkos found Kucherov for his 22nd goal of the season.

In Washington, Cam Atkinson scored his 25th goal of the season, Artemi Panarin connected in overtime and Columbus beat Washington after the defending Stanley Cup champions Capitals lost All-Star goaltender Braden Holtby to an eye injury.

Panarin scored in overtime for the second straight game.

Holtby took a stick to the left eye from Atkinson through his mask in the second period. He left the game, giving way to backup Pheonix Copley, and the team said Holtby was still being evaluated.

Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo stopped 32 shots in his second consecutive start in place of Sergei Bobrovsky, who backed up after being scratched Thursday for disciplinary reasons. Coach John Tortorella did not commit to starting Bobrovsky in the second half of his team’s back-to-back this weekend.

After Atkinson beat Holtby a minute into the game on a breakaway, Columbus was cruising toward a regulation victory until Evgeny Kuznetsov tied it with 1:06 left. The 6-on-5 goal was Kuznetsov’s first in 18 games dating to Dec 2.

In Toronto, David Pastrnak scored a tie late in the second period and Boston

Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner is stopped by Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Louis Domingue (70) during the

third period of an NHL hockey game on Jan 12 in Buffalo New York. (AP)

beat Toronto.

Sean Kuraly had a goal and two assists, David Krecji also scored, and Tuukka Rask made 30 saves. Boston won the season series 3-1 and moved within two points of Toronto for second place in the Atlantic Division.

In New York, Mats Zuccarello scored late in the third period and the New York Rangers beat the Islanders for their first victory at Barclays Center.

Zuccarello redirected the winner with his skate from in front of the net for his fifth goal of the season. Filip Chytil also scored and Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves to help the Rangers win in Brooklyn for the first time since the Islanders began playing home games there in 2015.

The Islanders had been 13-2-0 in the teams’ previous 15 meetings overall.

The game completed a home-andhome series that began Thursday night with the Islanders’ 4-3 victory at Madison Square Garden. It also marked the final meeting between the Big Apple rivals this season, with each team winning two games.

James Van Riemsdyk and Sean Couturier scored for Philadelphia.

In St Paul, Minnesota, Tyler Bertuzzi had his first career hat trick and Detroit beat Minnesota to end a threegame losing streak.

Playing in his 100th career game, Bertuzzi completed his three-goal performance at 8:38 of the third period, converting a feed from Nyquist by lifting a backhand past Devan Dubnyk.

Thomas Vanek had two goals, and Jimmy Howard made 17 saves for the Red Wings, winners for the second time in 11 games. Nino Niederreiter and Luke Kunin scored for the Wild.

In Los Angeles, Jonathan Quick stopped 38 shots to get his 301st win, helping Los Angeles snap Pittsburgh’s six-game road winning streak.

Quick tied Mike Richter for fourth place in career wins by an American goalie, reaching the mark in his 577th game and matching the former Rangers goalie’s total in 666 games.

Jeff Carter had a goal and two assists, Anze Kopitar scored twice, and Alex Iafallo and Brendan Leipsic had

Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby (70) stands on the ice after he was injured during the the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan 12 in Washington. (AP)

one ech for the Kings, who had lost four of their past five.

In Montreal, Carey Price stopped 28 shots for his third shutout of the season and 43rd overall to help Montreal beat Colorado.

Brett Kulak, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordie Benn scored in the third period. The Canadiens had lost three of their last four. The Avalanche have lost nine of 10.

In Dallas, rookie goalie Jordan Binnington won his third straight start, Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals and St Louis topped Dallas.

Binnington, who has played in six NHL games, is 3-0 in three starts. The 25-year-old has allowed only two goals in those starts. Binnington shut out Philadelphia 1-0 on Monday and beat Montreal 4-1 Thursday.

He made 21 saves on Saturday, the first time he has started consecutive games.

Pat Maroon also scored for the Blues, who have won two straight for the fifth time this season.

In Edmonton Alberta, Conor Garland scored a pair of power-play goals, including one that went in off his face and left him bloodied, and Arizona won its third straight.

Jordan Oesterle also scored for the Coyotes. Connor McDavid and Kris Russell scored for the Oilers, who have lost nine of 12.

Garland’s second goal came on a scary play as a point shot struck him in the face when he was in the crease and went into the net. Garland was bleeding heavily and taken to the dressing room. He returned to the game.

In San Jose, California, Brent Burns scored his fourth game-winning goal and, Martin Jones made 27 saves for San Jose.

The Sharks, who own the secondbest home record this season at 16-4-4, have won six straight games and are 8-1-0 in their last nine along with a five-game win streak at home.

Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Melker Karlsson also scored for San Jose. Jones has allowed two or fewer goals in four straight starts.