NHL roundup: Mika Zibanejad's record night powers Rangers

[March 26, 2021]  Mika Zibanejad had three goals and three assists to lift the New York Rangers past the host Philadelphia Flyers 8-3 on Thursday.

Zibanejad has scored six goals and totaled 12 points in consecutive games against the Flyers, as Thursday he equaled his stats from a March 17 matchup. He is the first player to notch consecutive six-point games against the same opponent during a single season in NHL history.

Ryan Strome added one goal and three assists while Pavel Buchnevich scored two goals and K'Andre Miller and Filip Chytil had one goal each for the Rangers, who won their third in a row. Adam Fox recorded five assists, which tied a single-game franchise record for defensemen. New York's Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves.

Kevin Hayes and Sean Couturier each had a goal and an assist, Claude Giroux also scored and Shayne Gostisbehere collected two assists for the Flyers, who have dropped four straight.

Stars 4, Lightning 3

Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists, scoring the winner on a breakaway with 1:21 remaining as Dallas defeated visiting Tampa Bay to earn a split of their two-game series in a rematch of last season's Stanley Cup Final.

Joe Pavelski had a goal and two assists for the Stars, Jason Robertson contributed a goal and an assist and Miro Heiskanen also scored. Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.

Yanni Gourde, Alex Killorn and Ondrej Palat scored for Tampa Bay, and Gourde and Palat also had an assist apiece. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 of 41 shots but saw his franchise-record streak of consecutive victories snapped at 12 games, two shy of the NHL record.

Predators 7, Red Wings 1

Rocco Grimaldi scored a career-high four goals and host Nashville overwhelmed Detroit.

Grimaldi, who had three goals this season entering the game, recorded his first career hat trick during the first nine minutes as the Predators won for the fifth time in six games. It was the fastest hat trick by a Predators player in team history.

Bobby Ryan scored for Detroit, which had been shut out its previous two games. Starting goaltender Thomas Greiss was pulled after Nashville's third goal in favor of Calvin Pickard.

Islanders 4, Bruins 3 (OT)

Anthony Beauvillier scored 21 seconds into overtime to cap a frantic final few minutes of action as visiting New York overcame a two-goal, first-period deficit to edge Boston.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Josh Bailey and Oliver Wahlstrom scored for the Islanders, with the latter producing a brief lead by scoring with 2:56 left in the third period. New York won its third straight and improved to 12-2-0 in the past 14 games.

Karson Kuhlman and Steven Kampfer scored in the first period for the Bruins, and Anders Bjork forced overtime by scoring with 2:02 to go in regulation. Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, who missed the previous six games with an undisclosed injury, exited after one period.

Maple Leafs 3, Senators 2 (OT)

Justin Holl scored with 18 seconds remaining in overtime to give Toronto a dramatic road victory over Ottawa.

The Maple Leafs have now won consecutive games following a 1-6-0 stretch. Ilya Mikheyev and Jason Spezza scored Toronto's other goals.

Connor Brown and Alex Formenton scored for the Senators, who have recorded points in each of their past six games (3-0-3).

Hurricanes 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT)

Martin Necas scored a goal and assisted on Sebastian Aho's game-winner at 1:26 of overtime as Carolina won at Columbus.

Cedric Paquette and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Hurricanes, and Dougie Hamilton provided an assist to stretch his point streak to 13 -- the longest by a defenseman in franchise history and longest by a blue-liner this year.

Columbus' Cam Atkinson produced a goal and an assist, and Werenski and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored.

New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) skates with the puck against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Penguins 4, Sabres 0

Casey DeSmith stopped all 36 shots he faced, Jared McCann scored two power-play goals and Sidney Crosby reached 1,300 career points as Pittsburgh sent visiting Buffalo to its 16th straight loss.

Radim Zohorna and Jake Guentzel also scored and Kris Letang had two assists for Pittsburgh, which is 3-0-1 in its past four games. Crosby had three assists.

Buffalo, now on an 0-14-2 run, played without interim coach Don Granato and assistant Matt Ellis due to NHL COVID-19 protocol. General manager Kevyn Adams filled in behind the bench. Dustin Tokarski made 27 saves.

Avalanche 5, Golden Knights 1

Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar and J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist each, and Colorado beat Vegas in Denver.

Philipp Grubauer stopped 18 shots and Joonas Donskoi and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also had goals for Colorado. The Avalanche have won seven straight home games and eight of nine overall.

Max Pacioretty scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for Vegas. The Golden Knights have dropped two of their past three games since a five-game winning streak.

Capitals 4, Devils 3

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored two goals, including the game-winner in the third period, as host Washington improved to 5-0-0 against New Jersey this season.

Kuznetsov, one of the Capitals' top offensive threats, had not scored a goal at home before these two. Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist, Dmitry Orlov also scored and Justin Schultz and Daniel Sprong each had two assists for Washington, which got 21 saves from Vitek Vanecek.

Nicholas Merkley, Miles Wood and Jesper Bratt scored goals for the Devils, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 18 shots.

Wild 2, Blues 0

Cam Talbot made 37 saves for his 24th career shutout and posted wins on back-to-back nights as Minnesota blanked St. Louis in Saint Paul, Minn.

Marcus Johansson and Kirill Kaprisov scored for the Wild, who extended their team-record home winning streak to 11 games.

Jordan Binnington made nine saves for the Blues, who have won just two of their past nine games (2-4-3).

Blackhawks 3, Panthers 0

Patrick Kane and Brandon Hagel both had a goal and an assist to back a 41-save shutout by Kevin Lankinen as host Chicago defeated Florida for the second time in three days.

Chicago stymied six Florida power plays. The Panthers fell to 0-3-0 on a five-game road trip while losing for the fourth time in five games overall. Pius Suter also scored for Chicago.

The Blackhawks earned their third shutout of the season, with Lankinen contributing his second. Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves for Florida.

--Field Level Media

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