Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Maple Leafs rout Flyers, 6-0
Andreas Johnsson had a hat trick midway through the first period and the Toronto Maple Leafs routed the Philadelphia Flyers 6-0 on Saturday night.
John Tavares, Patrick Marleau and Josh Leivo also scored, and backup goalie Garret Sparks made 35 saves for his first shutout of the season and the second of his career. Mitch Marner added two assists.
Neither team was assessed a penalty for the second consecutive game at Scotiabank Arena. The NHL’s last penalty-free game before this week came in March 2017.
Calvin Pickard, who was claimed by the Flyers on waivers from Toronto before the start of the season, allowed four goals on six shots for Philadelphia (10-11-2) before being pulled. Anthony Stolarz allowed two goals on 34 shots in relief.
Coming off back-to-back road losses, including a 4-2 decision at Columbus on Friday night, the Leafs built a 4-0 lead after just 12:20 thanks in large part to the first hat trick of Johnsson’s career.
The speedy winger got things going at 4:45 when he faked a slap shot off the rush before sliding the puck between Pickard’s pads for his third goal of the season. Johnsson made it 2-0 just 1:34 later when he blocked a point shot from defenseman Christian Folin and raced in alone and beat Pickard through the five-hole for a second time.
Marleau got in on the action at 7:44 when he fired his fifth into an open net off a scramble after a poor Philadelphia clearing attempt. A teammate of Pickard’s with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League last season, Johnsson completed his hat trick — the 24-year-old had just four goals in 27 career NHL games before Saturday — on another shot between the pads from in tight after stealing the puck from a Flyers defender.
That ended the night for Pickard, who was coming off a 31-save shutout in Philadelphia’s 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday afternoon that snapped the Flyers’ fourgame skid (0-3-1).
NOTES: Flyers winger James van Riemsdyk returned to face the Leafs for the first time. He played six seasons in blue and white before signing a five-year, $35 million contract with Philadelphia on July 1. He was honored with a first-period video tribute . ... Johnsson is the eighth Leafs player to score a first-period hat trick and the first since Wendel Clark on Oct. 11, 1986.
Patrik Laine scored five goals Saturday in the Winnipeg Jets’ 8-4 victory at St. Louis, two short of 97-year-old NHL record.
It was the 61st five-goal game in league history. Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs was the last player to score six goals in a game, on April 22, 1976, against Boston.
Brandon Tanev, Blake Wheeler, and Jack Roslovic also scored for the Jets, who snapped their first twogame losing streak of the season.
Laine’s five goal outburst gives him a league-leading 16 goals in 10 November games.
Joe Malone, who played in the early days of the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, scored seven goals in a game with the Quebec Bulldogs in January 1920. He also had a six-goal game and three five-goal games.
Laurent Brossoit allowed four goals on 27 shots for his first career win against St. Louis. He improved to 4-1-1.
Vladimir Tarasenko, David Perron, Ryan O’Reilly, and Pat Maroon scored for the Blues. Brett Connolly scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:24 left in the third period, and Washington won its seasonhigh fifth straight game.
Alex Ovechkin, Nic Dowd, Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson also scored for defending Stanley Cup champion Washington, and John Carlson had three assists. Pheonix Copley, starting in place of Braden Holtby, stopped 27 shots.
Jimmy Vesey, Brady Skjei and Ryan Strome scored for the Rangers, who lost their second straight, ending a seven-game winning streak on home ice. Kevin Hayes had two assists and Alexandar Georgiev finished with 23 saves.
Erik Gustafsson scored 2:32 into overtime to give Chicago the win.
Gustafsson wristed in his third goal of the season to beat Florida goalie James Reimer, snapping Chicago’s two-game overall losing streak and eight-game road skid.
Alex DeBrincat tied it with 2 seconds left in regulation and David Kampf, Patrick Kane and Alexandre Fortin also tallied for the Blackhawks. Gustav Forsling had two assists and Kampf added an assist for a three-point night.
Goalie Cam Ward made his first start since Nov. 12 and stopped 34 shots.
Mike Hoffman, Jared McCann, Aaron Ekblad and Frank Vatrano scored goals for the Panthers. Jonathan Huberdeau recorded a pair of assists.
Reimer made 36 saves for the Panthers, who lost their third straight.
Sam Reinhart and Tage Thompson scored in a seven-round shootout to give Buffalo its ninth consecutive victory.
Jeff Skinner and Thompson scored for Buffalo in regulation, and Linus Ullmark made 35 saves.
Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha scored for Detroit, and Jimmy Howard stopped 33 shots. Andreas Athanasiou scored in the shootout for the Red Wings. John Moore scored a powerplay goal with 2:57 left and Boston beat Montreal.
David Backes and Jake DeBrusk also scored to help the Bruins win for third time in four games. Tuukka Rask made 32 saves, and David Krejci had two assists.
Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar scored in the third period for Montreal, and Carey Price stopped 32 shots. The Canadiens have lost four straight.
Jake Guentzel scored his first career regular-season hat trick to send Pittsburgh past Columbus.
Tanner Pearson also scored for the Penguins, who have won two of their last three after losing nine of their previous 10. Kris Letang had three assists and Sidney Crosby two. Phil Kessel continued an eightgame point streak for Pittsburgh and Evgeni Malkin has a seven-game run.
Casey DeSmith made 37 saves for Pittsburgh.
Cam Atkinson and Scott Harrington scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost for the second time in three games.
Thomas Greiss made 26 saves, and Valtteri Filppula, Anthony Beauvillier, Josh Bailey and Adam Pelech scored for New York.
Brock Nelson, Anders Lee and Bailey finished with multipoint games. It was the sixth multipoint game of the season for Bailey.
Justin Williams scored for the Hurricanes. Carolina starter Scott Darling made 15 saves in the loss. The Islanders limited the Hurricanes to a single goal for the third straight game.