Bertuzzi shines, Bruins beat Rangers
BOSTON >> Tyler Bertuzzi set up a goal in his Boston debut and Linus Ullmark made 24 saves, helping the Nhl-leading Bruins beat Patrick Kane and the New York Rangers 4-2 on Saturday.
Charlie Coyle scored off Bertuzzi’s feed and set up Tomas Nosek’s shorthanded goal in Boston’s 10th straight win. The Bruins improved 26-2-3 at home.
Boston stars David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron each scored in the third period. It was Pastrnak’s 44th on the season, and No. 23 for Bergeron.
Alexis Lafreniere scored both goals for New York, and Igor Shesterkin stopped 20 shots. The Rangers have lost six of eight.
Kane, acquired in a trade with Chicago on Tuesday, is scoreless in two games with the Rangers.
Bertuzzi came over in a trade with Detroit on Thursday.
CAPITALS 8, SHARKS 3
Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the third period to give him 815 career goals, helping the Capitals shake off a rough start.
Washington erased a 2-0 deficit by scoring four goals in the final 12 minutes of the second period.
Craig Smith scored twice, and Nicolas Aube-kubel and Matt Irwin also scored in the big second period for Washington.
T.J. Oshie and Dylan Strome scored in the third period around Ovechkin’s two tallies that moved him within 79 goals of tying Wayne Gretzky’s career record.
Tomas Hertl, Alexander Barabanov and Nico Sturm scored for San Jose.
PANTHERS 4, PENGUINS 1
Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves, Sam Bennett scored in his return to the lineup and Florida stopped Pittsburgh’s four-game win streak.
Bennett missed six games with a lower-body injury. Aleksander Barkov had two assists for Florida after he was sidelined for three games with a hand injury.
Aaron Ekblad, Eetu Luostarinen and Carter Verhaeghe also scored as the Panthers improved to 1-1 on a seven-game homestand.
Kris Letang scored for Pittsburgh, and Casey Desmith made 38 saves.
The Penguins (31-22-9) lead the Panthers (31-27-6) by three points in the race for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
SABRES 5, LIGHTNING 3
Rookie Jack Quinn scored during Buffalo’s three-goal second period.
Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner, Tyson Jost and Vinnie Hinostroza also scored for Buffalo (32-25-4), which matched its win total from last year. Eric Comrie stopped 33 shots.
The Sabres were coming off consecutive losses to Columbus and Boston by a combined 12-4 score.
The Lightning dropped to 0-3-1 in their past four to mark the team’s longest skid since losing four straight a year ago.
Alex Killorn scored twice for the Lightning, and Brian Elliott stopped 29 shots. Brayden Point also scored.
ISLANDERS 4, RED WINGS 1
Anders Lee scored two of New York’s four third-period goals, helping the Islanders to the victory.
New York improved to 5-2-1 in its last eight games and remained in position for one of two Eastern Conference wild cards. Zach Parise and Kyle Palmieri also scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves.
Detroit dropped its fifth straight game. Dylan Larkin scored for the sliding Red Wings, and Magnus Hellberg finished with 32 stops.
New York went ahead to stay when Parise and Lee scored early in the third.
JETS 7, OILERS 5
Josh Morrissey had two goals and an assist as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-5 on Saturday night to snap a fivegame skid.
Mark Scheifele, Morgan Barron and Dylan Demelo each had a goal and an assist, and Adam Lowry and Kyle Capobianco also scored for the Jets. Winnipeg was 0-4-1 during its losing streak — including a 6-3 loss at Edmonton in the opener of the home-and-home the previous night.
Connor Hellebuyck, pulled after giving up four goals on 24 shots against the Oilers on Friday, had 30 saves.
Leon Draisaitl scored three goals for his sixth career hat trick, and Mattias Janmark and newcomer Nick Bjugstad also scored for the Oilers, who had won two straight. Jack Campbell finished with 32 saves.
PREDATORS 3, BLACKHAWKS 1
Tyson Barrie, Philip Tomasino and Colton Sissons each had goals, Juuse Saros made 27 saves and the Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Saturday night.
The Predators won their second game in a row and fifth in six games in their quest for a Western Conference wild-card spot.
Seth Jones scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks, who lost their fourth straight.
Barrie, playing his second game for Nashville since he was traded from Edmonton on Tuesday, made it 2-1 at 12:08 of the second with a 55-foot drive that was deflected by the Blackhawks’ Philipp Kurashev. Ryan Mcdonough picked up one of his two assists on the play. Petr Mrazek was screened by teammate Nikita Zaitsev, making his debut with Chicago.