Dylan Strome scored the tying goal in the third period and the game-winner in the shootout to give the Washington Capitals a 5-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Strome, who hit the post on the first shot of the game, tied it at 4-all midway through the period with a power-play tally, one-timing a shot from the middle of the right circle to snap a 17-game goal drought. He then scored the only goal of the shootout at the start of the first round, roofing a backhand shot past Adin Hill.
Justin Sourdif had a goal and an assist, Cole Hutson had two assists and Hendrix Lapierre and Anthony Beauvillier also scored goals for Washington, which is four points back of the second and final wild card in the Eastern Conference. Logan Thompson finished with 25 saves and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout.
Jack Eichel scored a goal and had two assists, Rasmus Andersson had a goal and an assist and Nic Dowd and Mitch Marner also scored for Vegas, which lost its third straight game and its sixth in the last seven. Hill made 17 saves for the Golden Knights, who fell three points behind second-place Edmonton in the Pacific Division.
Islanders 5, Panthers 2
Matthew Schaefer collected a pair of assists to tie the team record for points by a rookie defenseman as New York scored five goals in the second period and rallied for a critical victory over visiting Florida in Elmont, N.Y.
Schaefer ended the game with 56 points and tied the team record set by Stefan Persson during the 1977-78 season. He got the primary assist on a tying goal by Brayden Schenn with 7:51 left and then made the pass that led to Simon Holmstrom’s tiebreaking power-play goal nearly three minutes later. New York goalie Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves.
Marc Gatcomb started the comeback for the Islanders, who moved one point ahead of the Penguins into the Metropolitan Division’s second playoff spot. Emile Heineman and Casey Cizikas scored 57 seconds apart to cap the big flurry. Florida fell to 2-5-0 in its past seven games as backup goalie Danill Tarasov allowed five goals on 40 shots. Matthew Tkachuk scored both goals for the Panthers.
Lightning 4, Senators 2
Tampa Bay’s Emil Lilleberg put in the tiebreaking goal at 8:51, and the hosts rallied to earn points in their seventh straight game with a win over visiting Ottawa.
Lilleberg, who posted a career-high three points, gave the Lightning their first lead at 8:51 as part of a four-man rush. Brandon Hagel and Charle-Edouard D’Astous had a goal and an assist apiece and Jake Guentzel also scored. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves in his NHL-best 35th win.
The Senators (38-25-10, 86 points) got goals from Dylan Cozens and Jordan Spence but fell to 4-1-1 in their past six contests. James Reimer finished with 23 saves.
Oilers 4, Ducks 2
NHL points leader Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists for Edmonton in a win against visiting Anaheim.
McDavid increased his points total to 124 (42 goals, 82 assists) and stretched his point streak to four games (five goals, four assists). Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist, Jack Roslovic and Matt Savoie also scored, Evan Bouchard had two assists and Connor Ingram made 29 saves for the Oilers, who pulled within three points of the Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division.
Beckett Sennecke and Cutter Gauthier scored, John Carlson had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 30 saves for the Ducks, who entered the finale of the three-game road trip on a six-game point streak (5-0-1).
Bruins 6, Wild 3
Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm each capped off two-goal performances with insurance markers late in the third period, leading Boston to a win over visiting Minnesota.
Viktor Arvidsson logged a goal and an assist, Andrew Peeke also scored, and David Pastrnak dished out two assists to run his point streak to 12 for Boston, which is 5-1-2 in its last eight games. Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves.
Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello paced Minnesota with a goal and an assist each. Kirill Kaprizov also lit the lamp, Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 25 shots.
Hurricanes 5, Devils 2
Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist to lead host Carolina to a win over New Jersey.
Jackson Blake, captain Jordan Staal, Shayne Gostisbehere and Seth Jarvis also connected for the Hurricanes, who have won four of their last five and kept pace with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first overall in the Eastern Conference. Taylor Hall had two assists and Brandon Bussi stopped 17 shots.
Timo Meier and Evgenii Dadonov scored for the Devils, who had won five of their last six. Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves.
Sharks 3, Blue Jackets 2
Igor Chernyshov scored his second goal of the game with 1:25 left in the third period to lift San Jose past host Columbus.
Macklin Celebrini entered the zone on the rush and passed to the middle for Will Smith, who fed Chernyshov for a one-timer from the left face-off dot. Celebrini had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who snapped a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) and remain in contention for a Western Conference wild-card spot. Smith had two assists and Alex Nedeljkovic made 22 saves.
Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost three of four but remain strong contenders for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves.
Jets 4, Avalanche 2
Cole Perfetti scored a go-ahead goal with 5:11 left in the third period, Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves and Winnipeg beat Colorado in Denver to gain ground in the Western Conference playoff race.
Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and an assist and Cole Koepke and Kyle Connor scored for the Jets, who moved within three points of Nashville for the second wild card.
Brock Nelson and Parker Kelly scored and Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 17 shots for the Avalanche. Colorado had won four in a row.
Stars 6, Penguins 3
Miko Rantanen scored in his first game in nearly two months, and Dallas tallied three unanswered second-period goals to end a four-game skid and defeat host Pittsburgh.
Rantanen and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which had gone 0-3-1 in its last four. Rookie Justin Hryckowian, Lian Bichsel and Mavrik Bourque also scored for the Stars, who swept the two-game season series with Pittsburgh after winning in Dallas in December.
Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh, which was playing without Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby due to lower-body injuries. Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its third game at home in the past week.
Canadiens 4, Predators 1
Jacob Fowler stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced to help Montreal kick off its critical five-game road trip with a victory in Nashville.
Cole Caufield continued his chase for the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer when he found the back of the net for his 45th goal of the season for the Canadiens. Ivan Demidov, Oliver Kapanen and Alex Newhook all picked up a goal and an assist, while Nick Suzuki finished with a pair of assists as Montreal secured its fourth consecutive win.
Zachary L’Heureux ended Fowler’s shutout bid late in the third with a lucky goal as the puck bounced off the stanchion and on his stick with an open net in front of him. Juuse Saros made 28 saves for the Predators.
Sabres 3, Kraken 2 (SO)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves in regulation and overtime, and stopped both attempts in the shootout, helping Buffalo rally for a victory against visiting Seattle.
Rasmus Dahlin and Peyton Krebs scored in regulation, and Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn scored in the shootout for the Sabres, who avoided losing four in a row for the first time since a five-game skid in November.
Chandler Stephenson and Bobby McMann each had a goal and an assist, Kaapo Kakko recorded two assists and Philipp Grubauer made 34 saves for the Kraken, who have lost five of six (1-3-2) after taking a 2-0 lead in the second period.
Blues 5, Maple Leafs 1
St. Louis continued its dominant March with a thumping of visiting Toronto.
The win marked St. Louis’ fourth in a row as they improved their March record to an NHL-best 10-1-2. The Blues scored three in the third after Jake McCabe brought it back within one for the visitors.
Dylan Holloway had a two-point game, while Jake Neighbours, Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas also had multi-point games. Jordan Binnington stopped 12 of just 13 shots for the Blues while Joseph Woll turned away 33 of 38 shots for the Maple Leafs.
Flyers 5, Red Wings 3
Owen Tippett notched his third career hat trick and fourth career four-point night as Philadelphia survived a late scare to beat Detroit to match its franchise record with eight straight road wins.
Noah Cates and Sean Couturier also scored for the Flyers, and Jamie Drysdale and Travis Konecny posted two assists each. Dan Vladar stopped 32 shots to go to 4-1-1 in his last six starts.
Mason Appleton, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond scored for the Red Wings, all within a span of 2:31 late in the third period as Detroit tried to dig out of a 4-0 hole. Moritz Seider assisted on two of them. John Gibson made 17 saves on 21 shots for the Red Wings. Cam Talbot relieved Gibson and saved all four shots he faced.
Mammoth 6, Kings 2
Alexander Kerfoot and Logan Cooley each scored twice as visiting Utah thumped Los Angeles.
Utah, in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, holds a five-point lead over the Nashville Predators, owners of the second wild-card position. Los Angeles remains on the outside looking in, a point back of Nashville in the wild-card race.
Nick Schmaltz and Jack McBain also scored for Utah, while Mikhail Sergachev had four assists and Clayton Keller chipped in a pair of helpers and Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves. Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar also scored for the Kings. Darcy Kuemper stopped 11 shots through two periods and was replaced by Anton Forsberg to start the third. Forsberg made 11 saves.
Flames 7, Canucks 3
Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost each scored once in three-point performances and host Calgary rode a four-goal second period to a victory over floundering Vancouver.
Ryan Strome, Olli Maatta and Zayne Parekh all collected one goal and one assist, while Joel Farabee and Adam Klapka tallied once. Calgary has won 55 consecutive games when scoring four or more goals, the fifth-longest run in league history. Goaltender Dustin Wolf made 31 saves.
Liam Ohgren, Jake DeBrusk and Nils Hoglander replied for the Canucks, who sit at the bottom of the league standings and have lost five straight. Starting goalie Nikita Tolopilo was victimized for four goals on 11 shots before being pulled. Kevin Lankinen stopped nine of 12 shots in relief.
