Dallas’ Eaves nets 1st- period hat trick
Patrick Eaves and the Dallas Stars put together an impressive response to their ugly home loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Eaves scored three of Dallas’ four goals in the first period, and the Stars beat the host Blackhawks 4- 2 on Thursday night.
“It was just good to get a nice start. I think that was the biggest thing,” Eaves said. “We got spanked on Saturday, so that was still fresh in our minds.”
Eaves’ second career hat trick helped Dallas to its fifth win in six games. Dallas’ loss in the stretch was a 5- 1 rout by Chicago.
“We were ourselves tonight,” said Tyler Seguin, who had two assists. “Obviously, I think they handed it to us last game.”
Duncan Keith’s eighth goal 32 seconds into the third period stopped a scoreless streak of 123 minutes, 8 seconds for Chicago, which is 4- 5 since its franchise- record 12- game win streak. Patrick Kane added his 33rd goal, and Scott Darling made 14 saves in relief of Corey Crawford.
“The last two, we’ve been in a little bit of a funk,” Kane said. “We’ll work ourself out of it, just like we always do, and come back ready to play Saturday.”
Stars forward Travis Moen left in the second with a lower- body injury. Oilers 5, Maple Leafs 2: Connor McDavid had two goals and three assists and Jordan Eberle scored three times and added an assist as host Edmonton snapped a threegame losing streak.
Islanders 5, Kings 2: Former Sharks goalie Thomas Greiss stopped 28 shots and host New York scored three times in the first 14 minutes against Los Angeles. The Islanders improved to 15- 4- 2 against Western Conference teams and moved three points behind the Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Blue Jackets 4, Ducks 3: Alexander Wennberg and Cam Atkinson scored in the shootout and Joonas Korpisalo stopped Corey Perry and Jakob Silfverberg in the shootout to lift host Columbus.
Capitals 4, Wild 3: Alex Ovechkin scored three times in the second period for his 14th career hat trick as Washington improved to a league- best 20- 5- 2 on the road. Nicklas Backstrom had three assists for the Capitals.
Flyers 5, Sabres 1: R. J. Umberger scored to snap a 50game drought and Wayne Simmonds got his 20th goal as host Philadelphia ended a three- game skid.
Avalanche 4, Senators 3: Jarome Iginla had two goals and an assist and Blake Comeau had a goal and an assist as visiting Colorado ended a four- game losing streak.
Bruins 6, Jets 2: Patrice Bergeron scored twice and Brett Connolly had three assists for visiting Boston.
Briefly: Columbus signed defenseman Ryan Murray to a two- year, $ 5.65 million contract extension. Murray, 22, could have been a restricted free agent this summer. ... The NHL fined Toronto forward Nazem Kadri $ 5,000 for making a throat- slashing gesture at Calgary’s Mark Giordano on Tuesday. The gesture came after Giordano’s hard, open- ice hit on Kadri. ... Tampa Bay defenseman Jason Garrison is expected to be out at least three weeks with a lower- body injury suffered Monday, NHL. com reported. ... Boston minor- league goalie Malcolm Subban will be out at least eight weeks with a fractured larynx suffered Saturday when he was hit by a puck.