Panthers end Boudreau’s streak
Sam Reinhart had two goals and an assist and the Florida Panthers handed Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau his first regulation loss in 10 games with a 5-2 victory Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Boudreau was 8-0-1 since taking over the Canucks on Dec. 6. Vancouver was 8-15-2 when he replaced Travis Green.
Aleksander Barkov scored his team-leading 15th goal and also had an assist for Florida. Aaron Ekblad had a goal and two assists, Maxim Mamin also scored, and Frank Vatrano and Anton Lundell each had two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 42 shots.
The Panthers move to 6-0-1 in their past seven games.
Jason Dickinson and Juho Lammiko scored for Vancouver and Thatcher Demko stopped 21 shots.
Leading 2-1, the Panthers scored twice 26 seconds apart in the second. Huberdeau’s power-play goal gave the Panthers a 3-1 lead at 8:46, and Mamin’s goal stretched the Panthers lead to 4-1.
Barkov scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway with 59.4 left in the second. Ekblad put the Panthers ahead 1-0 when his shot from just inside the blue line beat Demko on the glove side at 5:18 of the first.
Reinhart’s goal 1:08 later made the score 2-0. PREDATORS 5, AVALANCHE 4 (OT) >> Matt Duchesne scored his second power-play goal of the game with 1:59 left in overtime to lift host Nashville. He also scored midway through the third period to break a 3-3 deadlock. LIGHTNING 6, SABRES 1 >> Nikita Kucherov scored a hat trick, Steven Stamokos had a goal and two assists, and Tampa Bay breezed in Buffalo. Anthony Cirelli had a goal and an assist, Ondrej Palat extended his scoring streak to four games, and the Lightning got three assists from Alex Killorn and two from Victor Hedman. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves for his 20th win of the season. Tampa Bay (249-5) has won three of four following a three-game skid to keep pace with the Florida Panthers atop the NHL standings with 53 points. Vinnie Hinostroza scored for the Sabres, who have lost seven in a row at home and dropped to 3-13-4 over their past 20 games. Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left the game with a lower-body injury after he gave up two goals on nine shots in the first period. Malcolm Subban made 23 saves on 27 shots. BLACKHAWKS 4, BLUE JACKETS 2 >> Alex DeBrincat scored twice and Calvin de Haan netted his first goal in nearly a year to lift Chicago to its second straight road win. Columbus has dropped four of five and lost at home to the Blackhawks for the seventh consecutive time. Connor Murphy also scored for Chicago, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves for his 11th win. Boone Jenner scored for Columbus, and Gus Nyquist had a shorthanded goal and an assist. LIDSTROM JOINS DETROIT FRONT OFFICE >> The Detroit Red Wings hired Nicklas Lidstrom as vice president of hockey operations, tapping one of the franchise’s great players. General manager Steve Yzerman said his former teammate will be based in his native Sweden and involved in every aspect of helping him run the organization. Lidstrom’s job duties will include evaluating players with the Red Wings, on other NHL teams, in the AHL and Europe as well as on amateur levels.
RASK RETURNING TO BRUINS >> Goalie Tuukka Rask is signing a prorated, $1 million contract for the rest of the season with the Boston Bruins, the AP reported. The 2014 Vezina Trophy winner will make $545,000 for the rest of the season. Rask, 34, was a free agent who remained unsigned while he recovered from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. He said at the end of last season that he did not want to play for anyone other than Boston. WILD’S MERRILL GETS EXTENSION >> The Minnesota Wild agreed to terms with defenseman Jon Merrill on a three-year, $3.6 million contract extension through the 2024-25 season. COVID-19 PROTOCOLS >> New York Islanders coach Barry Trotz and defenseman Ryan Pulock were placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. Trotz just returned to the team Saturday after taking a leave of absence. Pulock hasn’t played since Nov. 15 because of a lower-body injury. Dallas goalie Braden Holtby and forward Denis Gurianov also were placed in the protocol. Same for Chicago defenseman Jake McCabe.