Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Pastrnak’s 14th hat trick lifts Bruins to win over Penguins
David Pastrnak capped his 14th NHL hat trick with a go-ahead goal with 2:26 left as Boston beat host Pittsburgh 4-3. The Bruins’ 59th win of the season and ninth in 10 games moved them within three victories of the NHL’S all-time mark set by Detroit in 1995-96 and tied by Tampa Bay in 2018-19. Boston has six games left. Pastrnak’s three goals gave him 56 this season and pushed him past 100 points for the first time in his nine NHL seasons. With 14 hat tricks, Pastrnak tied Cam Neely for the second-most in franchise history, behind only Hall of Famer Phil Esposito’s 26. Bryan Rust scored twice for the Penguins, who have alternated wins and losses for their past seven games.
■ Devils 6, Blackhawks 3: At Chicago, former Golden Knight Erik Haula, Dougie Hamilton, Jesper Boqvist and Timo Meier each had a goal and an assist for New Jersey, which stayed one point behind Carolina atop the Metropolitan Division. Longtime captain Jonathan Toews returned from a two-month medical leave of absence and had an assist for Chicago, which lost its eighth in a row.
■ Sabres 6, Flyers 3: At Philadelphia, former Golden Knight Alex Tuch notched his second NHL hat trick for Buffalo to back Ukko-pekka Luukkonen, who had 39 saves, as the Sabres moved to 4-0-1 in their past five games. Morgan Frost scored twice for Philadelphia, which had been 5-1-1 in its previous seven.
■ Hurricanes 3, Canadiens 0: At Montreal, former Golden Knight Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, Antti Raanta had 14 saves in his 19th shutout and fourth this season, and Carolina halted its three-game skid. Sam Montembault stopped 47 shots for Montreal in its third straight loss.
■ Maple Leafs 3, Senators 0: At Ottawa, Ontario, Ilya Samsonov stopped 30 shots in his 10th shutout and fourth this season, and Radim Zohorna scored in his first game with Toronto. The Leafs have alternated wins and losses for their past seven games. Ottawa had won three of its previous four.
■ Lightning 5, Islanders 0: At Tampa, Fla., Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 38 shots in his 32nd shutout and fourth this season, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos scored 1:48 apart in the second period, and Tampa Bay clinched its sixth straight playoff berth.
■ Panthers 7, Blue Jackets 0: At Columbus, Ohio, Carter Verhaeghe scored four goals to reach 40 this season, Alex Lyon had 21 saves in his first NHL shutout, and Florida won its third straight to move into the East’s final playoff spot.
■ Predators 6, Blues 1: At Nashville, Tenn., Tommy Novak had a goal and three assists as Nashville moved three points behind Winnipeg for the West’s second wild card.