Smith, Hakanpaa rally Stars, 3-2
Both score in final 15 seconds of third period to beat Predators
Craig Smith and Jani Hakanpaa scored in the final 15 seconds, rallying the visiting Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory against the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
Evgeni Dadonov also scored in the third period as Dallas improved to 5-0-1 in its past six games. Scott Wedgewood made 19 saves.
The Stars became the first team in NHL history to secure a victory after scoring a tying and go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation.
“We talked at the end of the second period and we felt that there were still points to be had here tonight if we could play a good 20 minutes,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We had some frustration setting in in the second period. We kind of reset and came out in the third and gave ourselves a chance.”
Michael McCarron and Colton Sissons scored for Nashville in the second. Juuse Saros made 31 stops.
Other games
Panthers 4, Golden Knights 2: Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored power-play goals 1:59 apart in the third period, and Florida went into its Christmas break by topping Vegas in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Final.
Sam Bennett and Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida, and Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Brandon Montour each finished with two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky
stopped 23 shots.
Devils 3, Red Wings 2: Timo Meier scored twice and Tyler Toffoli deflected in a goahead goal with 7:15 to play to lead host New Jersey to a victory against slumping Detroit as the Red Wings have won just two of their past 10 games.
Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves and benefitted from a shot off the goalpost by Daniel Sprong on a late power play in helping the Devils end a three-game winless streak (0-2-1).
Lightning 2, Capitals 1 (SO): Victor Hedman scored the shootout winner and visiting Tampa Bay beat Washington as the Lightning have won three in a row.
Though Washington’s three-game winning streak came to an end, the Capitals secured a point for the fourth consecutive game to remain in wild-card position going into the holiday break.
Maple Leafs 4, Blue Jackets 1: Auston Matthews added to his torrid stretch with two goals and an assist, and visiting Toronto beat Columbus to keep pace with Florida.
Matthews scored for the seventh consecutive game. He has 12 goals during the streak, running his NHL-leading total to 28 on the season.
Wild 3, Bruins 2: Kirill Kaprizov scored for the third consecutive game, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno added goals, and host Minnesota held off struggling Boston as the Bruins have lost four games in a row.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for career win No. 550, one shy of tying Patrick Roy for the second-most in NHL history.
Islanders 5, Hurricanes 4: Anders Lee had a goal and two assists to lead visiting New York to a win against Carolina as the Hurricanes have lost four of their past five games. Ilya Sorokin stopped 36 shots for the Islanders, who head into the Christmas break with at least a point in 11 of their past 12 games.
Rangers 4, Sabres 3 (OT): Chris Kreider scored 2:28 into overtime, Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves and host New York beat Buffalo to win four of their past five games. Kreider picked up his 17th goal of the season after Shesterkin denied Buffalo’s Casey Mittlestadt on a breakaway in OT.
Blues 7, Blackhawks 5: Jordan Kyrou scored twice, and Justin Faulk, Jake Neighbours and Brandon Saad also scored in the third period to help host St. Louis erase a three-goal deficit and beat Chicago to win four of their past five games.
Kraken 3, Ducks 2: Vince Dunn had a goal and two assists, Tomas Tatar scored his second goal since joining the Kraken last week, and visiting Seattle overcame a late lacrosse-style goal scored by Trevor Zegras for a 3-2 victory over Anaheim as the Ducks have won only three of their past 10 games.