Zucker stars in another late show
Vegas product keys Wild rally past Predators
ST. PAUL, Minn. — For the better part of the past week, the third period has been Jason Zucker’s time to shine.
The Las Vegas product scored the go-ahead goal with 2:55 left, and the Minnesota Wild scored four goals in less than six minutes in the third to beat the Nashville Predators 6-4 on Thursday.
Eric Staal and Jared Spurgeon each had a goal and two assists for Minnesota, which won its fourth straight.
On the winner, Mikko Koivu fought off a defenseman into the left corner and centered to Zucker in front. With two defenders nearby, his backhand shot beat Pekka Rinne.
It is his eighth goal in five games dating to Nov. 8 — the last seven coming in the final 20 minutes of a game.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “For me, I want to make sure that I’m just trying to create chances and get in on pucks and get pucks to the net at any point in the game. I guess they’re just happening to go in in the third period.”
Spurgeon added an empty-net goal. Matt Dumba, Ryan Suter and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Wild.
Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk entered the game with a franchise-record shutout streak of 195 minutes, 5 seconds. That ended 49 seconds in when Ryan Johansen converted a pass from Filip Forsberg, the first goal allowed by Dubnyk on 108 shots. He finished with 26 saves.
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At Montreal, Derek Stepan and Christian Fischer scored third-period power-play goals to back Antti Raanta, who had 33 saves, as Arizona snapped a five-game slide with its first regulation win of the season.
■ At Los Angeles, Charlie Mcavoy and Zdeno Chara scored to back Tuukka Rask, who had 27 saves, as Boston snapped a four-game slide and dealt Los Angeles its fourth straight loss and fifth in a row at home.
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At Ottawa, Ontario, Patric Hornqvist and Jake Guentzel scored in the second period to back Matt Murray, who had 21
Coyotes 5, Canadiens 4 — Bruins 2, Kings 1 — Penguins 3, Senators 1—
saves and faced just 12 shots over the final two periods.
■ At Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mark Scheifele scored the tying goal with 49 seconds left in the third period for Winnipeg, and Bryan Little scored the decisive shootout goal.
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At Denver, Gabriel Landeskog scored three goals — one on a penalty shot — for his first hat trick, and Nathan Mackinnon had a goal and four assists.
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At Toronto, William Nylander scored with 2.2 seconds left in overtime to back Frederik Andersen, who had 42 saves, as Toronto won its fifth straight.
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Jets 3, Flyers 2, SO — Avalanche 6, Capitals 2— Maple Leafs 1, Devils 0 — Panthers 2, Sharks 0 —
At San Jose, Calif., Roberto Luongo benefited from two apparent goals overturned by video review and totaled 35 saves in his 74th shutout and first this season.
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At Tampa, Fla., Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists to back Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had 27 saves to beat mentor Ben Bishop.
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At New York, Johnny Boychuk scored the tiebreaking goal on a slap shot with 4:25 left, capping New York’s rally from a 4-3 deficit.
■ At Edmonton, Alberta, Brayden Schenn had two goals and an assist to back Jake Allen, who had 29 saves, as St. Louis halted a two-game skid.
Lightning 6, Stars 1 — Islanders 6, Hurricanes 4— Blues 4, Oilers 1 —