NHL roundup: Lightning's Vasilevskiy shines in return

[December 14, 2018]  Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov each had a goal and an assist, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made a career-best 48 saves in his first game since Nov. 10, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 Thursday night.

Vasilevskiy, who was tested 23 times in the second period, made some spectacular saves in his return after missing 15 games with a broken foot.

Cirelli has scored in a career-best four straight games and has five goals in that span. Alex Killorn and Tyler Johnson also scored in the Lightning's eighth consecutive win. J.T. Miller added two assists.

Kasperi Kapanen scored a first-period goal for the Maple Leafs. Frederik Andersen made 17 saves in the Toronto goal.

Jets 5, Oilers 4 (OT)

Josh Morrissey scored 41 seconds into overtime, and Mark Scheifele collected one goal and two assists as host Winnipeg erased a third-period deficit to beat Edmonton.

Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves in helping Winnipeg extend its winning streak to three games. The Jets, who blew a 3-1 lead and trailed 4-3 going into the third period, are on a 7-1-0 run.

Wheeler, Bryan Little, Dustin Byfuglien and Morrissey all had two-point games for Winnipeg. Scheifele has eight points in a three-game point spree. Ryan Spooner, Darnell Nurse, Jujhar Khaira and Alex Chiasson scored for the Oilers, who got two assists apiece from Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

Predators 4, Canucks 3 (OT)

Colton Sissons scored at 3:05 of overtime to give host Nashville a win over Vancouver. Sissons converted Nick Bonino's pass on a three-on-one to give the Predators their second straight victory.

Bonino and Sissons each had a goal and an assist for led the Predators while Ryan Hartman and Calle Jarnkrok supplied Nashville's other goals.

Jay Beagle, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat scored for the Canucks.

Blue Jackets 4, Kings 1

Artemi Panarin scored two goals, and Columbus avoided taking a season-high third consecutive loss, beating visiting Los Angeles.

Lukas Sedlak and Josh Anderson also scored, Cam Atkinson had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets, who ended a three-game home-losing streak in which they were outscored 16-8.

Dustin Brown scored for the Kings, who fell to 0-4-1 in their past five road games. Jonathan Quick made 37 saves.

Sabres 3, Coyotes 1

Jeff Skinner scored his 22nd goal of the season and Carter Hutton finished with 25 saves to lead host Buffalo past Arizona.

Evan Rodrigues and Casey Mittelstadt also scored goals for the Sabres, who won their second consecutive game. Hutton returned to action after missing three games with an upper-body injury as the Sabres improved to 11-3-2 on their home ice, matching their total for home wins for the entire 2017-18 season.

Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli (71) celebrates as he makes a shorthanded goal on Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) during the first period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Christian Fischer scored the lone goal for Arizona, which lost its fourth game in a row. Darcy Kuemper finished with 30 saves.

Wild 5, Panthers 1

Red-hot Nino Niederreiter scored twice and added an assist to lead Minnesota past Florida in Saint Paul, Minn.

Niederreiter has seven goals in 31 games this season, but four of the scores have come in the past three contests. Eric Staal, Zach Parise and Jonas Brodin scored the Wild's other goals. Ryan Suter added three assists, giving him a team-high 22 for the season.

The Panthers, who got a goal from Denis Malgin, lost their fourth consecutive game.

Canadiens 6, Hurricanes 4

Jeff Petry continued his hot streak with a two-goal effort to help host Montreal defeat Carolina.

The teams combined for seven goals during a wild third period, with Andrew Shaw's marker 12:24 into the period ending up as the game's winning score. On a partial two-on-one play, Shaw took a pass from Shea Weber for his ninth goal of the season.

Matthew Peca, Brendan Gallagher and Artturi Lehkonen scored Montreal's other goals. Andrei Svechnikov produced the first two goals for the Hurricanes, who also got tallies from Sebastian Aho and Jaccob Slavin.

Sharks 3, Stars 2

Timo Meier notched his second consecutive two-goal game as San Jose defeated visiting Dallas. Meier has nine points in five games since returning from a three-game absence caused by an undisclosed injury.

Joe Thornton also scored for San Jose, and Martin Jones made 20 saves as the Sharks earned their third win in a row and their fifth in six games.

Radek Faksa and Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas, which lost its third straight after winning four in a row. Anton Khudobin stopped 21 shots.

--Field Level Media

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