NHL roundup: Ryan O’Reilly's hat trick leads Leafs

 

[February 22, 2023]  Ryan O'Reilly had three goals and an assist as the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 Tuesday night.

O'Reilly's goals -- his first since joining Toronto in a trade with St. Louis last Friday -- marked his fourth career hat trick. Mitchell Marner earned his career-best fifth assist of the game on the play, making him the first NHL player to log five assists in a game this season.

John Tavares added a goal and three assists, William Nylander had a goal and an assist, and Michael Bunting also scored for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves for the win, Toronto's third in four games.

Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist for Buffalo. Jack Quinn and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Sabres, who were returning from a 2-1-0 road trip and had won two straight.

Oilers 4, Flyers 2

Connor McDavid netted two goals and tallied one assist while Leon Draisaitl scored once in a three-point game as host Edmonton snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over Philadelphia.

Draisaitl, who potted career point No. 700, has collected nine points (five goals, four assists) during a six-game point streak. With his assist on Draisaitl's goal, McDavid reached the 800-point mark in his 545th game, becoming the fifth-youngest player in league history to reach that milestone. Tyson Barrie also scored for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner made 23 saves.

Noah Cates and Owen Tippett replied for the Flyers, who have one win in their last six outings. Carter Hart stopped 23 shots.

Blackhawks 3, Golden Knights 2 (SO)

Tyler Johnson scored the tying goal on a six-on-four power play with 55 seconds left and then scored the game-winner in a shootout to lead Chicago over visiting Vegas.

Johnson fired a wrist shot through the pads of Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit at the end of the third round with the only goal of the shootout. Trailing 2-1, the Blackhawks took advantage of a delay-of-game penalty on defenseman Alex Pietrangelo for firing the puck into the stands, leveling the game in the last minute.

Cole Guttman also scored a goal for Chicago off an assist from Johnson, and Petr Mrazek made 34 saves for the win. Jack Eichel and Keegan Kolesar scored for Vegas, which had a five-game winning streak snapped but moved one point ahead of the Dallas Stars for the best mark in the Western Conference. Brossoit, making his first NHL start since March 15, 2022, finished with 37 saves.

Red Wings 3, Capitals 1

Pius Suter scored a pair of unassisted goals, and visiting Detroit handed slumping Washington its fifth consecutive loss.

Robert Hagg scored his first goal of the season for the Red Wings, who have won six of their past seven games. Ville Husso made 26 saves for Detroit, which wrapped up a 4-1-0 road trip. Tom Wilson's power-play goal was the only offense the Capitals could muster. Darcy Kuemper stopped 22 shots.

The Red Wings were credited with 28 blocked shots, compared to 13 by Washington. The Red Wings secured the season series against the Capitals, 2-0-1, and pulled even with Washington in the Eastern Conference standings with 62 points. Both teams are two points off the final wild-card position.

Wild 2, Kings 1

Ryan Hartman scored two goals and Filip Gustavsson made 33 saves as Minnesota cooled off Los Angeles' high-scoring attack to win in Saint Paul, Minn. The Wild have won their past three games and are 4-1-1 in their past six.

Despite recording a season-low 20 shots, Minnesota delivered a strong defensive performance to stifle the high-scoring Kings. Although the Kings amassed 34 shots, they had trouble translating that pressure into clear scoring chances.

Los Angeles entered the game on a four-game winning streak during which the Kings scored 22 goals. And the Wild limited Los Angeles to one unsuccessful chance and no goals with the extra attacker. The Kings were 9-for-18 on the power play in their previous five games, but the Wild extended their penalty-killing streak to a perfect 19-for-19 over their last eight games.

Feb 21, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Ryan O'Reilly (90) skates up ice during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Predators 5, Canucks 4 (SO)

Matt Duchene scored the only goal in a shootout as host Nashville bounced back from allowing two late goals to beat Vancouver.

Cole Smith, Philip Tomasino, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund scored in regulation and Juuso Parssinen had two assists for Nashville, which won for the second time in three games. Andrei Kuzmenko scored twice and Sheldon Dries and Conor Garland had one goal apiece for Vancouver, which fell to 4-5-2 under new coach Rick Tocchet.

The Canucks scored goals just 51 seconds apart late in the third period to tie it 4-4. Garland notched his 12th of the season at 18:53, and Kuzmenko scored with just 16 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Lightning 6, Ducks 1

Nick Paul set a career high for goals in a season during Tampa Bay's four-goal second period and Brayden Point notched his 200th career tally as the Lightning throttled visiting Anaheim.

After a scoreless first period, Paul scored the first of four Tampa Bay goals in the second by firing in his 17th, eclipsing his career high of 16 while playing for the Ottawa Senators and Lightning last season.

Tampa Bay stretched its franchise-record home point streak to 15 games (14-0-1). The club has scored at least three goals in nine consecutive home games and in 24 of its total of 28 this season.

Canadiens 5, Devils 2

Sam Montembeault made 38 saves and Montreal had five different goal scorers to pull away for a victory over New Jersey in Newark, N.J.

Justin Barron scored early in the first period before Johnathan Kovacevic and Nick Suzuki scored 73 seconds apart early in the second. Rem Pitlick scored in the third period as Montreal halted New Jersey's six-game home winning streak. Mike Matheson scored an empty-net goal with 3:47 remaining and added an assist.

Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer scored for the Devils, who dropped to 15-4-3 over their past 22 games. New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek took his first regulation loss since Dec. 28 against Boston by allowing four goals on 17 shots. He had been 12-0-1 in his previous 13 games, which was one shy of the team record for a point streak by a goalie set by Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur on three occasions.

Hurricanes 4, Blues 1

Andrei Svechnikov scored two goals in the first eight minutes to snap a long scoring drought, and Carolina went on to defeat St. Louis in Raleigh, N.C.

Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis also scored goals, with Jarvis adding two assists. Svechnikov and Aho also each had one assist. Frederik Andersen made 35 saves as Carolina's winning streak grew to four games. The Hurricanes have won 11 of their last 12 games.

Justin Faulk's second-period goal made it 2-1 and seemed to give the Blues a chance, but they failed to convert a few chances after that before Carolina tacked on two more goals. Jordan Binnington made 32 saves in the loss.

--Field Level Media

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