NHL roundup: Lightning's Nicholas Paul scores twice, Panthers' streak ends

[April 25, 2022]  Nicholas Paul scored twice, including a sensational short-handed goal to put his team up for good, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the host Florida Panthers 8-4 on Sunday night at Sunrise, Fla.

The loss snapped the Panthers' franchise-record 13-game win streak. The Panthers hadn't lost since March 27 at the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Paul's go-ahead goal was set up by Brandon Hagel, who beat Panthers star Aleksander Barkov to a loose puck behind Florida's net. Hagel took a quick look behind him before passing to a charging Paul. From there, Paul slipped the puck between his legs before lifting it above goalie Spencer Knight's blocker.

The Lightning also got two goals apiece from Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. Cal Foote and Brayden Point also tallied. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves for the Lightning.

Sharks 5, Golden Knights 4 (SO)

Thomas Bordeleau scored in the third round of the shootout after Timo Meier scored the tying goal with 0.9 seconds remaining in regulation and San Jose rallied to hand Vegas a loss in Las Vegas.

The 20-year-old Bordeleau, playing just his fifth NHL game after starring for a University of Michigan team that advanced to the Frozen Four, deked the Golden Knights'' Logan Thompson and then beat him with a backhand shot on his blocker side to win it.

Nick Bonino had his first two-goal game of the season and Tomas Hertl also scored goals for San Jose, which snapped an eight-game road losing streak as well as an 11-game regular-season losing streak to the Golden Knights.


Wild 5, Predators 4 (OT)

Dmitry Kulikov scored the overtime winner just before the buzzer and Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice in a three-point outing to lead visiting Minnesota to a victory over Nashville.

Kevin Fiala and Nick Bjugstad also scored for the Wild, who surrendered three leads but survived to extend their winning streak to five games. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves.

Filip Forsberg collected his 40th goal of the season in a three-point game, while Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen and Dante Fabbro scored once for the Predators. Nashville holds the Western Conference's first wild-card playoff spot despite a 3-4-2 slump. Goalie David Rittich stopped 42 shots.

Blue Jackets 5, Oilers 2

Playing his sixth career game, Nick Blankenburg's first NHL goal broke a tie near the halfway mark of the third period, and Columbus scored four times in the final frame to cool off visiting Edmonton and overshadow Connor McDavid setting a career high for points.

Edmonton led 2-1 after two periods, but Columbus tied it when Oliver Bjorkstrand backhanded home a rebound. Then, on the power play, Bjorkstrand (two assists) set up Blankenburg, who drove the puck from the point, through traffic and by Oilers netminder Mikko Koskinen (26 saves) with 10:46 left. Jack Roslovic and Cole Sillinger added late insurance goals.

McDavid assisted on Evander Kane's fifth goal in three games and Leon Draisaitl's 55th of the season to sit at a career-high 118 points. He also tied a career high with 75 assists, but the Oilers failed in their chance to clinch home-ice in the first-round of the playoffs.


Maple Leafs 4, Capitals 3 (SO)

Alexander Kerfoot scored the decisive goal of a seven-round shootout and visiting Toronto defeated Washington.

Toronto's Jason Spezza scored his 12th goal of the season at 19:02 of the third period with the goaltender removed for an extra attacker to force overtime. Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and an assist and Ilya Lyubushkin had a goal for the Maple Leafs. Auston Matthews had two assists as Toronto swept all three games of the season series with Washington.

T.J. Oshie, Lars Eller and Marcus Johansson scored for the Capitals. Washington lost Alex Ovechkin to injury early in the third period and he did not return.


Blues 6, Ducks 3

Ivan Barbashev had a goal and two assists as visiting St. Louis defeated Anaheim to spoil captain Ryan Getzlaf's farewell game.

The Ducks took an early 2-0 lead after the team honored Getzlaf's retirement before the game. But the Blues rallied to extend their point streak to 16 games (14-0-2).

Apr 24, 2022; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Nicholas Paul (20) scores on Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight (30) during the second period at FLA Live Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Jordan Kyrou, Vladimir Tarasenko, Justin Faulk, Pavel Buchnevich and Marco Scandella also scored and added an assist for the Blues. Max Comtois, Gerry Mayhew and Adam Henrique scored for the Ducks, who are 3-14-5 in their last 22 games. Getzlaf capped his 17-year career, all with Anaheim, with a behind-the-back assist to Henrique with 2:41 to play.

Hurricanes 5, Islanders 2

Max Domi scored the game-winning goal 5:40 into the third period as visiting Carolina moved closer to clinching the Metropolitan Division with a win over New York in Elmont, N.Y.

Derek Stepan and Seth Jarvis scored in the first period and Jesper Fast and Brendan Smith converted into the empty net in the third for the Hurricanes. Carolina won its fourth straight game to increase its lead to four points over the idle New York Rangers in the Metropolitan.

Ross Johnston scored in the first period and Ryan Pulock tied the game in the second for the Islanders, who have lost five straight games (0-4-1). Semyon Varlamov recorded 29 saves in the loss.

Flyers 4, Penguins 1

Noah Cates had two goals and one assist to lift host Philadelphia past Pittsburgh.

Morgan Frost added one goal and one assist and Travis Konecny also scored for the Flyers, who snapped a five-game home losing streak. Keith Yandle contributed two assists and goaltender Martin Jones stopped 37 shots.

Sidney Crosby scored the lone goal for the Penguins. Pittsburgh goaltender Louis Domingue made 39 saves.


Red Wings 3, Devils 0

Alex Nedeljkovic made 17 saves for his fourth shutout of the season to lift Detroit to a road win over New Jersey in Newark, N.J.

The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead with 4:12 remaining in the first period on a goal by Oskar Sundqvist, who took advantage of a turnover by the Devils. Tyler Bertuzzi and Michael Rasmussen added empty-net goals in the game's final two-plus minutes.

Andrew Hammond stopped 21 shots and allowed only one goal in defeat for New Jersey (27-44-8, 62 points), which has lost five of its last six games (1-3-2).


Jets 4, Avalanche 1

Adam Lowry and Blake Wheeler scored just over a minute apart to spark host Winnipeg to a four-goal third-period and a comeback victory over slumping Colorado.

Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for the Jets, who snapped a four-game skid. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves in gaining his 200th NHL victory. Hellebuyck also set a franchise record for games played by a netminder (380).

J.T. Compher replied for the Avalanche, who have already claimed the Western Conference's regular-season title but have lost four straight games for the first time this season. Goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped 40 shots.

Bruins 5, Canadiens 3

Patrice Bergeron had two goals and an assist as Boston defeated host Montreal.

Erik Haula also scored twice, and Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves for the Bruins, who are 4-1-0 in their past five games and have a three-point lead over the Washington Capitals for the first wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. They're also three points behind third-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division.

Josh Anderson, Mike Hoffman and Nick Suzuki scored for the Canadiens, who have lost nine in a row. Sam Montembeault made 37 saves.

--Field Level Media

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