NHL roundup: Lightning strengthen grip atop conference

[February 09, 2018]  Yanni Gourde, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos each had a goal and an assist as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the visiting Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday.

The Lightning strengthened their hold on the best record in the league while beating the Canucks decisively for the second time in less than a week.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 29 shots for his league-leading 32nd win of the season. Vancouver netminder Anders Nilsson took the loss while recording 31 saves on 36 shots.

Adam Erne also scored for Tampa Bay, which won after losing its two most recent home games.

Blues 6, Avalanche 1

Brayden Schenn got into a fight three seconds into the game, scored two goals and notched his 300th NHL point as St. Louis defeated visiting Colorado.

Schenn and Gabriel Landeskog dropped their gloves at the three-second mark, and each received a five-minute major for fighting. Schenn scored the game's first goal later in the period to reach his milestone.

He added a goal in the second period. Schenn leads the team in goals (23) and points (53).

Coyotes 4, Wild 3 (OT)

Clayton Keller scored with 1:05 left in overtime as visiting Arizona stunned Minnesota.

Keller's goal capped a surprising rally after the Coyotes overcame a 3-0 second-period deficit with three unanswered goals.

Nick Cousins led Arizona with two goals while Kevin Connauton provided a goal and an assist. Alex Goligoski recorded two assists as the Coyotes, who sit last in the NHL, posted their first win in five games.

Golden Knights 4, Sharks 3

James Neal scored what proved to be the game-winner with 4:50 to go, and Vegas recorded the final three goals to rally for a victory at San Jose.

Erik Haula, William Karlsson, Brayden McNabb and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for the Golden Knights, who improved to 13-1-1 against Pacific Division opponents. David Perron, Colin Miller and Reilly Smith each had two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury registered 35 saves for the Golden Knights, who finished a 4-2-0 road trip.

Joe Pavelski scored two goals, Brent Burns had three assists and Timo Meier added a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who lost for the second time in two meetings with Vegas. Martin Jones stopped 28 shots for San Jose, which dropped its second consecutive game.

Stars 4, Blackhawks 2

Tyler Seguin scored twice, including an empty-net goal with 58 seconds to play, as Dallas won at Chicago.

The Stars swept the four-game season series. Seguin's second goal clinched the game for Dallas, which has won four in a row and has not lost this month.

The loss was the fourth in a row for Chicago, which has earned just one point -- for an overtime defeat at Calgary on Saturday -- in February.

 

Flyers 5, Canadiens 3

Travis Konecny scored two goals, and Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux and Ivan Provorov added one each as Philadelphia defeated visiting Montreal.

Shayne Gostisbehere earned three assists while Giroux also recorded two assists for the Flyers, who remain in the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Goaltender Brian Elliott stopped 25 shots for the Flyers.

Artturi Lehkonen, Logan Shaw and Brendan Gallagher scored one goal apiece for the Canadiens. Carey Price allowed four goals on 27 shots for Montreal.

Sabres 4, Islanders 3

Sam Reinhart scored the tie-breaking goal with 4:14 left in the third period as Buffalo recovered from squandering a three-goal lead to edge New York with a 4-3 win at KeyBank Center on Thursday night.

Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues and Ryan O'Reilly also scored for the Sabres, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Goalie Robin Lehner made 26 saves.

John Tavares, Ross Johnston and Anders Lee scored for the Islanders, who trailed 3-0 before tying the game on Lee's goal 73 seconds before Reinhart's game-winner.

Senators 4, Predators 3 (OT)

Mike Hoffman's 100th career goal was the overtime winner as Ottawa beat visiting Nashville.

Hoffman sped away for a breakaway chance that he converted at 3:01 of the overtime session for his 15th goal of the season. Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson made 35 saves in the win, 18 of them in the third period and three in overtime.

A night that featured Kyle Turris returning to Ottawa, where he spent parts of seven seasons before being traded to the Predators in November, became an entertaining see-saw affair.

Flames 3, Devils 2

Sean Monahan scored twice and New Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau had one goal and one assist as Calgary collected all of its offense in the second period and held on for a victory over host New Jersey.

Calgary's backup goalie, David Rittich, provided another strong performance with 30 saves, 11 of them in a one-sided third period, to record the win and improve his record this season to 5-1-2. The contest marked Calgary's third consecutive victory following a six-game losing skid.

Taylor Hall and Pavel Zacha scored for the Devils.

--Field Level Media

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