NHL roundup: Penguins bury Rangers with first-period flurry

[March 08, 2021]  Kasperi Kapanen had a goal and two assists Sunday and the Pittsburgh Penguins scored three times in a 61-second span of the first period en route to a 5-1 win over the visiting New York Rangers.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist, and John Marino, Sidney Crosby and Zach Aston-Reese also scored for Pittsburgh, which improved to 10-2-0 at home.

Goaltender Casey DeSmith, playing for the second time since Feb. 11, stopped 23 of 24 New York shots.

Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who had scored 12 goals over their previous two games and 15 over a three-game winning streak entering Sunday.

Predators 4, Stars 3 (SO)

Roman Josi scored the decisive shootout goal, and visiting Nashville overcame blowing a three-goal, third-period lead to beat Dallas.

Pekka Rinne made 35 saves and a huge stick stop on Dallas' Joe Pavelski in the shootout to help the Predators snap a three-game losing streak. Mikael Granlund, Calle Jarnkrok and Eeli Tolvanen each had a regulation goal.

Down 3-0, the Stars not only ruined Rinne's 60th-career shutout bid when Radek Faksa scored for a second straight contest with 7:30 left in regulation, but opened the door for an impressive comeback.

Capitals 3, Flyers 1

Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov and Nick Jensen each scored one goal to lift Washington past Philadelphia, which was playing in front of fans at home for the first time this season.

T.J. Oshie added two assists for the Capitals, who saw goaltender Ilya Samsonov make 36 saves in his first career start against the Flyers -- who lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since January of 2020.

The game was Philadelphia's first with fans at the Wells Fargo Center since March 10, 2020. About 3,100 fans attended, or 15-percent capacity.

Islanders 5, Sabres 2

Anders Lee and Brock Nelson scored 62 seconds apart to fuel a three-goal second period for host New York, which completed a three-game sweep of visiting Buffalo in Uniondale, N.Y.

Nelson finished with two goals for the Islanders, who also beat the Sabres 5-2 in Uniondale on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. Casey Cizikas scored later in the second and Cal Clutterbuck added a goal in the third.

Goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves, as New York won for the seventh time in eight games (7-0-1) and improved to 12-2-2 since Feb. 1. Jeff Skinner and Colin Miller scored in the third period for the reeling Sabres, who have dropped seven in a row (0-6-1) and are 2-10-1 since returning from a coronavirus pause Feb. 15.

Devils 1, Bruins 0

Kyle Palmieri snapped a scoreless stalemate with 4:37 remaining in the third period, Scott Wedgewood had 40 saves to complete the shutout and New Jersey ended a five-game losing streak with a win at Boston.

Wedgewood recorded his second shutout in six games this season for the Devils, who entered having lost eight of nine. New Jersey played the tail end of a back-to-back after a 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.

The Devils improved to 3-0-1 against the Bruins this season. Tuukka Rask had 24 saves for Boston, which has lost six of nine (3-5-1).

Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi (59) scores the game winning goal against Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) during the overtime shootout period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Lightning 6, Blackhawks 3

Yanni Gourde had two goals as part of a four-goal barrage in the second period and added two assists to boost visiting Tampa Bay past Chicago in the rubber match of a three-game weekend series.

Tangling with the Blackhawks at the United Center for the third time in four days, the Lightning rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win for the seventh time in eight games.

Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist -- both as part of a Lightning power play that went 4-for-5 -- while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy rebounded from a shaky start to make 22 saves. Ondrej Palat also had a goal and an assist.

Hurricanes 4, Panthers 2

Sebastian Aho tallied a short-handed goal and an assist as Carolina won for the fifth consecutive time with a victory over Florida in Raleigh, N.C.

Vincent Trocheck netted his team-leading 13th goal, and Nino Niederreiter and Warren Foegele each added markers for the Hurricanes, who are 12-2-2 against Florida since 2016-17. James Reimer (11-3-0) yielded two goals on 23 shots.

Carolina was victorious for the third time in four games (3-0-1) against its former Southeast Division foe, but Sunday was its first win in regulation.

Senators 4, Flames 3 (SO)

Drake Batherson was the hero as visiting Ottawa recovered from blowing a two-goal, third-period lead to claim a victory over struggling Calgary.

Batherson, who was denied on an overtime breakaway, lifted a glove-side wrist shot for the winner. Goaltender Matt Murray stopped 31 shots -- 14 in the third period alone plus three of four Flames in the shootout -- for the Senators, who are 4-1 this season in games that go beyond 60 minutes.

Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves through overtime for the Flames, who are 3-6-2 in their last 11 games but will have new head coach Darryl Sutter behind the bench next game.

--Field Level Media
 

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