Forsberg hat trick paces Preds
Filip Forsberg scored his 10th career hat trick en route to a franchise singleseason goal-scoring record as the visiting Nashville Predators cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
Forsberg scored his 44th, 45th and 46th goals to move into sole possession of the franchise single-season scoring mark previously set by Matt Duchene (43) in 2021-22. It was also Forsberg’s franchise-record 43rd multi-goal game of his career.
Kiefer Sherwood and Jason Zucker also scored for Nashville (46-29-5, 97 points) which remained in the first wildcard spot in the Western Conference with the win. Luke Evangelista added a pair of assists.
Ex-Blackhawk Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves and also picked up an assist for the Predators, who improved to 17-1-3 in their last 21 games against the Blackhawks, including 10-0-3 in their last 13 games played in Chicago. Nashville also completed a four-game sweep of the season series.
Philipp Kurashev scored for Chicago (23-51-5, 51 points) which suffered its third straight loss. Arvid Soderblom finished with 35 saves.
Nashville took a 1-0 lead at the 5:53 mark of the first period on Forsberg’s record-setting 44th goal on the power play, a one-timer from the right circle past an Evangelista screen and inside the far corner.
Golden Knights 7, Wild 2
Defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas built an early lead and went on to a victory over visiting Minnesota, clinching the final playoff berth in the Western Conference in the process.
Jack Eichel, Nicolas Roy and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist and Chandler Stephenson tied his career-high with four assists for Vegas (43-28-8, 94 points), which snapped a three-game losing streak.
Jonathan Marchessault, Tomas Hertl, William Karlsson and Keegan Kolesar also scored goals and Noah Hanifin added two assists for the Golden
Knights.
The win, combined with Carolina’s 5-2 victory at St. Louis earlier Friday, eliminated the Blues from playoff consideration and put Vegas into the playoffs for the sixth time in its seven-year history.
Hurricanes 5, Blues 2
Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin each had a goal and an assist for the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
Jake Guentzel scored a pair of emptynet goals for the Hurricanes (51-22-7, 109 points), who have won four straight and pulled to within a point of the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division lead. Frederik Andersen made 29 saves.
Zack Bolduc and Jordan Kyrou scored, and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves for the Blues (42-33-5, 89 points), who failed to gain ground in the race for the second wild card from the Western
Conference.
Bolduc gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 17:34 of the first period. Nick Leddy took a Robert Thomas pass to the left circle before feeding Bolduc with a no-look pass through the seam for a one-timer that went glove side.
Kasperi Kapanen had a chance to double it on a breakaway with just over a minute remaining, but his shot went wide.
Coyotes 3, Oilers 2, OT
Matias Maccelli scored the overtime winner and added an assist as visiting Arizona edged Edmonton.
Maccelli took a Michael Kesselring pass and beat Calvin Pickard glove side for his 15th of the season at 1:35 of the extra period.
Josh Doan and Logan Cooley scored the other Arizona goals, and Karel Vejmelka made 37 saves on a day when Coyotes management arrived in Edmonton
to address rumors of the team’s relocation to Salt Lake City.
The Coyotes (35-40-5, 75 points) have won four of their last five.
Flames 6, Ducks 3
Nazem Kadri collected one goal and two assists in his 900th career game and Andrei Kuzmenko posted his second career hat trick as visiting Calgary claimed a victory over Anaheim.
Andrew Mangiapane and Connor Zary also scored for the Flames (36-38-5, 77 points), who have won two of three games. Dustin Wolf, the two-time AHL top goaltender, made 19 saves, while Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and Martin Pospisil all collected two assists.
Frank Vatrano, Olen Zellweger and Sam Colangelo – in his NHL debut – scored for the Ducks (26-49-5, 57 points). Anaheim goalie John Gibson stopped 21 shots.