Jack Quinn recorded a hat trick and an assist, Jason Zucker added a goal and an assist and Ramus Dahlin had three assists as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the visiting San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, 6-3, for their NHL-best eighth straight win.
Alex Tuch and Beck Malenstyn also scored for Buffalo, which is 29-6-2 since Dec. 9. The Sabres also moved four points clear of the Tampa Bay Lightning atop the Atlantic Division.
Alexander Wennberg notched a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who lost for the eighth time in 11 games (3-5-3). Keifer Sherwood also scored for San Jose, while teen sensation Macklin Celebrini scored his team-high 33rd.
The Sabres are averaging 4.5 goals per game during their win streak, and they wasted no time against San Jose.
Bruins 2, Kings 1 (OT)
Charlie McAvoy slid home a game-winning backhander 39 seconds into overtime, lifting Boston to a win over visiting Los Angeles.
Mark Kastelic fired a long pass to David Pastrnak, who centered the puck to McAvoy for a drive down the slot to propel Boston to its 13th consecutive home win. Mason Lohrei also scored and Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves for the Bruins, who hold the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot.
For Los Angeles, Drew Doughty’s goal with 6:00 left in regulation forced overtime. Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots. Both of the teams’ head-to-head meetings this season were scoreless after two periods and ended with 2-1 Boston wins in overtime.
Hurricanes 5, Penguins 4 (SO)
Jackson Blake scored the shootout winner as Carolina beat Pittsburgh after blowing a two-goal lead late in regulation in Raleigh, N.C.
Logan Stankoven, Mark Jankowski, Seth Jarvis and Alexander Nikishin had Carolina’s goals in regulation. Frederik Anderson made 24 saves for the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes, who have won eight of their last 10 games.
Bryan Rust scored two goals, while Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh in a matchup between the top two teams in the division. Erik Karlsson provided two assists and Stuart Skinner stopped 39 shots.
Islanders 4, Blues 3 (OT)
Mathew Barzal scored 2:11 into overtime to complete an unlikely New York comeback for a road win over St. Louis. The Islanders are 10-0-0 in games decided in overtime this season.
Down 3-0 midway through, the Islanders scored three goals to force extra time, with Barzal assisting on two of those tallies. Calum Ritchie had a goal and an assist for the Islanders while Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each contributed a goal. Ilya Sorokin stopped 20 shots.
The Blues had their four-game winning streak end despite getting a goal and two assists from Jimmy Snuggerud. Robert Thomas added two assists, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway scored St. Louis’ other goals, and Joel Hofer made a career-high 46 saves.
Canadiens 3, Maple Leafs 1
Rookie Oliver Kapanen and Philip Danault scored in the first period to lift host Montreal over struggling Toronto.
Jake Evans converted into the empty net with 28 seconds remaining in the third period to seal the Canadiens’ third win in four meetings with the Maple Leafs this season. Jakub Dobe made 17 saves to improve to 11-1-2 in his past 14 games.
William Nylander scored in the second period and Joseph Woll stopped 30 shots for the Maple Leafs, who have lost eight straight games (0-6-2) since the Olympic break.
Panthers 4, Red Wings 3
Carter Verhaeghe scored the tying and go-ahead goals 1:15 apart in the waning moments of regulation as Florida rallied for a home victory over Detroit in Sunrise, Fla.
Down 3-2, Florida pulled goaltender Daniil Tarasov (25 saves) for the extra skater, and Verhaeghe sent a drive from the point through plenty of slot traffic and past screened Detroit goalie John Gibson (24 saves) to tie things with 1:30 left in regulation. Then the Panthers surged into the Detroit zone off a Red Wings turnover, where Matthew Tkachuk, who assisted on Verhaeghe’s tying score, found him again for a successful wrister in the dying seconds.
Residing near the bottom of the Eastern Conference following back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning seasons, the Panthers have beaten the Red Wings twice in a five-day span after losing four straight.
Rangers 4, Flames 0
Alexis Lafreniere netted a hat trick and goaltender Jonathan Quick recorded his 65th career shutout as host New York beat struggling Calgary.
Conor Sheary also scored and Mika Zibanejad collected two assists, giving him five points (two goals, three assists) in two outings. Gabe Perreault also recorded a pair of assists. Quick made 21 saves to register his second shutout of the season,
The Rangers sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but they have posted a 4-1-2 mark in their past seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 25 shots for the Flames, who have the league’s worst road record and are ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks in the overall standings.
Stars 2, Golden Knights 1
Jake Oettinger made 26 saves as Dallas extended its point streak to 13 games with a victory over visiting Vegas.
Jamie Benn scored what proved to be the game-winner on a second-period power play. Oskar Back also tallied for Dallas, which extended its winning streak against the Golden Knights to four games dating back to last season.
Jack Eichel scored for Vegas, which took its third straight loss and its sixth in the past seven games. Adin Hill stopped 14 shots as the Golden Knights lost to the Stars for the fourth straight time.
Predators 4, Kraken 2
Ryan Ufko scored his first career NHL goal and Juuse Saros made a season-high 43 saves as Nashville rallied for a victory at Seattle.
Tyson Jost, Reid Schaefer and Steven Stamkos also scored and Jonathan Marchessault had two assists for the Predators, who evened their record on their five-game trip at 1-1-0 and pulled within a point of Seattle for the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card berth.
Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers scored for the Kraken, who lost their third in a row. Joey Daccord stopped 23 of 26 shots.
Blue Jackets 5, Lightning 2
Conor Garland crafted his second straight two-goal game as visiting Columbus swept the three-game season series from Tampa Bay.
Acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in a trade last week, Garland broke a 24-game scoreless drought with two markers on Monday. Now he has four goals through two games with his new team. The Blue Jackets also got tallies from Ivan Provorov, Dante Fabbro and Kirill Marchenko. Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan had two assists apiece for Columbus, which opened a three-game road trip by moving to 15-2-3 in the past 20 contests.
In dropping to 1-6-0 in their past seven games and playing a third match in four nights, the Lightning got goals from Gage Goncalves and J.J. Moser. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves.
Oilers 4, Avalanche 3
Connor McDavid scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and added an assist, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice and Edmonton beat Colorado in Denver.
Jack Roslovic had a goal, Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl had two assists each and Tristan Jarry made 11 saves in relief of Connor Ingram for Edmonton. Ingram was injured in a collision with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct after skating into Ingram, who sustained a cut on his forehead. McDavid netted the game-winner at 9:03 of the third.
Ross Colton, Valeri Nichushkin and Martin Necas scored and Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 20 shots for the Avalanche, who had their five-game winning streak snapped.
Wild 5, Mammoth 0
Bobby Brink scored his first goal as a member of Minnesota to help his new team cruise to a shutout win over Utah in Saint Paul, Minn.
Kirill Kaprizov notched a goal and an assist, while Matt Boldy, Danila Yurov and Ryan Hartman scored one goal apiece for Minnesota, which won for the third time in its past four games. Vladimir Tarasenko tallied two assists. Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped all 25 shots he saw for his fourth shutout of the season and the 15th of his career.
Logan Cooley led Utah with four shots on goal. The Mammoth had their point streak snapped at four games (3-0-1) and were shut out for the sixth time this season. Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka allowed five goals on 30 shots.
Ducks 4, Jets 1
Alex Killorn, Ryan Poehling and Jackson LaCombe each had a goal and an assist for visiting Anaheim, which scored three times in a 1:44 span of the second period in a victory against Winnipeg.
Tim Washe also scored and Lukas Dostal made just 12 saves for the Ducks in the opener of the four-game road trip. Anaheim improved to 6-2-0 since the Olympic break and 15-4-0 in its past 19 games.
Morgan Barron scored and Connor Hellebuyck turned away 31 shots for the Jets, who had won three in a row.
