NHL roundup: Sebastian Aho's late goal lifts 'Canes past Panthers

 

[February 23, 2024]  Sebastian Aho scored with 18.9 seconds to play and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 44 shots as the Carolina Hurricanes outlasted the visiting Florida Panthers to win 1-0 on Thursday night in a showdown between two of the Eastern Conference's best teams in Raleigh, N.C.

Aho's 21st goal of the season came on a late power play and was assisted by Andrei Svechnikov and Jesper Fast. A postgame scrum between the teams followed.

Kochetkov, who had been the backup the previous two games, needed 16 third-period saves for his third shutout of the season and seventh in 56 career games.

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots, but Florida's six-game winning streak ended. The Panthers had won 10 of their previous 11 games.

Maple Leafs 7, Golden Knights 3

Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 52nd goal and Max Domi scored twice as Toronto cruised to a season-high sixth straight win in Las Vegas.

It was the 19th multi-goal game of Domi's career. Pontus Holmberg had a goal and an assist, Mitch Marner added two assists and Jake McCabe, David Kampf and John Tavares also scored for Toronto, which jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead. It was the 10th goal in the last five games for Matthews while Marner has 15 assists over his last six games. Martin Jones finished with 23 saves for the Maple Leafs, who have scored 34 goals during their six-game win streak.

Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist, Shea Theodore had two assists and Michael Amadio and William Karlsson also scored for Vegas, which suffered its fourth consecutive home loss. Logan Thompson finished with 18 saves after starter Adin Hill was pulled at the 14:20 mark of the first period after allowing three goals on 20 shots.

Capitals 5, Lightning 3

Rasmus Sandin scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:59 left and revitalized Washington opened a two-game trip in Florida by beating Tampa Bay.

Connor McMichael recorded his second consecutive two-goal game, one into an empty net, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Anthony Mantha potted goals for Washington. Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson had two assists apiece. Capitals forward T.J. Oshie spun and fell to the ice in a non-contact incident with 8:06 left in the game and had to be helped to the dressing room.

Brandon Hagel extended his point streak to 11 games, and Nicholas Paul and Tyler Motte also scored for Tampa Bay, which lost for the third consecutive time at home and finished 1-3-0 on its homestand.

Flames 3, Bruins 2 (OT)

Nazem Kadri scored the overtime winner to give host Calgary a season sweep of Eastern Conference-leading Boston.

Oliver Kylington and Martin Pospisil also scored for the Flames, who won their second consecutive outing. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves for his 211th career win, moving him ahead of Tommy Salo for second place among Swedish-born goalies. Henrik Lundqvist tops the list at 459.

Sprung on a three-on-one rush, Kadri wisely elected to shoot, and hit the mark at 3:56 of the extra period for his sixth career overtime winner and 20th goal of the season. The Flames won in Boston, 4-1, on Feb. 6.

Red Wings 2, Avalanche 1 (OT)

Patrick Kane scored at 3:42 of overtime to give host Detroit a win over Colorado, the Red Wings' third straight win.

The Red Wings also ended a 10-game losing streak to Colorado, which was also seeking its third straight victory. Dylan Larkin assisted on Kane's goal and scored the regulation goal for Detroit. Alex Lyon made 30 saves in the win.

Nathan MacKinnon had the Avalanche goal to increase his point total to 93. Colorado's backup goaltender Justus Annunen recorded 28 saves.

Rangers 5, Devils 1

Alexis Lafreniere scored twice and Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves as New York extended its winning streak to a season-high nine games with a rout in Newark, N.J.

Lafreniere notched his fourth career multi-goal game and second this season by scoring late in the first and second periods. Mika Zibanejad scored a power-play goal and Artemi Panarin added three assists after being questionable with a lower-body injury as the Rangers beat the Devils for the second time this season.

Feb 22, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) takes a shot against the Florida Panthers during the third period at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Shesterkin won his fifth straight start and helped the Rangers win nine straight for the first time since Oct. 25-Nov. 15, 2015.

Penguins 4, Canadiens 1

Kris Letang scored twice as Pittsburgh put up four unanswered goals to snap a two-game losing streak with a win over visiting Montreal.

Drew O'Connor added a goal and an assist and Erik Karlsson had two assists for the Penguins, who had lost five of six (1-4-1). Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 30 saves to improve to 6-1-1 against Montreal in his career.

Forward Colin White was in an interesting situation for the game. He was put on waivers by the Penguins on Wednesday and participated with them in a morning skate Thursday. Hours before the game, Montreal claimed White, so he moved to the visitors' locker room and suited up for the Canadiens. He posted a plus-1 rating in 11:11 of ice time.

Blues 4, Islanders 0

Pavel Buchnevich scored a hat trick and Jordan Binnington earned his 15th career shutout as host St. Louis defeated New York thanks in large part to scoring three goals in a 32-second span.

Binnington made 38 saves as the Blues were outshot 38-25.

After a scoreless first period, Brandon Saad scored on the power play 4:38 into the second. Buchnevich made it 2-0 just 7 seconds later by driving toward the left post to redirect Robert Thomas' cross-crease pass. Then Buchnevich made it 3-0 at 5:10 with a snap shot from the right circle off Jordan Kyrou's pass from the middle.

Senators 4, Stars 1

Josh Norris scored two goals and Drake Batherson had two assists as host Ottawa defeated Dallas. The Senators are on a three-game points streak (2-0-1) and are 9-3-3 in their last 15 games.

Thomas Chabot and Shane Pinto scored Ottawa's other goals. Goaltender Anton Forsberg stopped 14 of 15 shots to earn his 10th win in 19 games this season.

Joe Pavelski scored the lone Stars goal. Scott Wedgewood stopped 18 of 19 shots in a relief outing. Starting goaltender Jake Oettinger was pulled midway through the second period after allowing three goals on 11 shots.

Kraken 5, Canucks 2

Jordan Eberle had two goals and an assist and Jared McCann added a goal and three assists as host Seattle defeated Western Conference-leading Vancouver.

Justin Schultz had a goal and an assist and Vince Dunn also tallied for the Kraken, who extended their point streak to four games (3-0-1). Goaltender Philipp Grubauer, making just his second start since suffering a lower-body injury Dec. 9, made 19 saves.

J.T. Miller and Sam Lafferty scored for the Canucks, who suffered their fourth consecutive defeat. Thatcher Demko stopped 26 of 30 shots.

Predators 4, Kings 1

Colton Sissons had a goal and two assists and Juuse Saros made 27 saves as visiting Nashville ended Los Angeles' four-game winning streak.

Jeremy Lauzon had a goal and an assist and Mark Jankowski and Yakov Trenin also scored for the Predators, who have won three in a row for the first time since a four-game winning streak Dec. 10-16.

Kevin Fiala scored and David Rittich made 17 saves for the Kings, who are 5-2-0 since Jim Hiller took over as interim head coach on Feb. 2.

--Field Level Media

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