NHL roundup: Staal has hat trick, Wild crush Blues

[February 28, 2018]  Eric Staal collected three goals and five points, and Jason Zucker potted one goal and had four assists as the Minnesota Wild recorded their fifth straight win with an 8-3 thumping of the struggling St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night in Saint Paul, Minn.

Mikael Granlund, the third member of Minnesota's top line, scored twice in a four-point game as the Wild tied a franchise record for most goals in a game. Goalie Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves in the victory.

Mikko Koivu had a goal and an assist for the Wild, and Jared Spurgeon scored a goal. The Blues got a pair of goals from Vladimir Tarasenko and one from Alex Pietrangelo.

Predators 6, Jets 5

Ryan Hartman's first goal in a Nashville uniform -- with exactly one minute left in the third period -- gave Nashville a comeback win over Winnipeg.

Hartman emerged as the hero in his first game since being acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks. Roman Josi collected five assists for the Predators, and Craig Smith scored two goals.

The Predators, who trailed 5-3 with less than 10 minutes remaining, recorded their fifth straight win and denied the Jets a chance to move into a tie with them for first place in the Central Division. The Jets lost for the first time in three games.

Kings 4, Golden Knights 1

Jack Campbell made 41 saves to pick up his first career NHL win as visiting Los Angeles completed a back-to-back sweep of Vegas.

Campbell, the 11th pick of the 2010 draft by the Dallas Stars, was making his first start in goal for the Kings this season and first in the NHL since 2013. He was called up from the AHL Ontario Reign last week when Los Angeles traded Darcy Kuemper to the Arizona Coyotes.

Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Carter, Kyle Clifford and Tyler Toffoli also scored goals for the Kings. William Karlsson found the net for the Golden Knights.

Sharks 5, Oilers 2

Joe Pavelski notched a goal and two assists in San Jose's four-goal second period as the Sharks bounced visiting Edmonton.

Evander Kane, acquired Monday from the Buffalo Sabres, chipped in two assists in his first game for San Jose. Justin Braun, Timo Meier, Logan Couture and Chris Tierney also scored goals for the Sharks.

Connor McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi potted goals for Edmonton, which saw its three-game winning streak end and was rebuffed in its chance to sweep its California road trip. The Oilers won one-goal decisions Saturday night in Los Angeles and Sunday night in Anaheim.

Stars 2, Flames 0

Devin Shore and Tyler Seguin scored goals and goalkeeper Ben Bishop turned away 38 shots for his fifth shutout of the season as host Dallas did just enough to beat Calgary.

The Stars improved to 2-3-0 in its past five games after going 6-1-0 in the previous seven contests.

 

The Flames were 0-for-6 on the power play -- with four of the Dallas penalties against Tyler Pitliick -- including the final 1:42, when they pulled goalkeeper Jon Gillies to try to break through Bishop with a two-man advantage but were unsuccessful.

Panthers 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT)

Jared McCann scored with 1:14 left in overtime to lift Florida to a win over Toronto in Sunrise, Fla.

Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau also had goals for the Panthers. Dominic Moore and Zach Hyman scored for the Maple Leafs.

Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped 37 shots in improving his record to 4-1-0 since his return from injury.

Devils 3, Penguins 2

Stefan Noesen scored a tiebreaking goal early in the third period as New Jersey won at Pittsburgh.

The goal was the right winger's ninth this season and came 5:01 into the third period with the teams deadlocked at 2.

Noesen tipped the puck past Pittsburgh goalie Casey DeSmith (35 saves) -- in for starter Matt Murray, who sustained a concussion in practice Monday.

Bruins 4, Hurricanes 3 (OT)

Charlie McAvoy scored the winner in a two-point game, and Riley Nash and Tommy Wingels also had a goal and an assist apiece as Boston beat visiting Carolina in overtime.

McAvoy ended overtime at the 1:08 mark when he raced down the ice during an odd-man rush and elected to shoot to the delight of the TD Garden crowd. Nash, who took the place of the injured Patrice Bergeron on the top line, assisted on the winner. Bergeron is on the shelf after sustaining a broken foot on the weekend.

Boston goalie Tuukka Rask regrouped from a spotty opening period and made 29 saves in the win that snapped the Bruins' two-game losing skid.

Capitals 3, Senators 2

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored two goals as host Washington handed Ottawa a fifth straight loss.

Tom Wilson also scored for the Capitals, who won for just the second time in five games. The Capitals are in the midst of a tough stretch, playing 11 times in the past 18 days.

Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson scored for Ottawa.

--Field Level Media

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