Connor Hellebuyck won a battle between elite goaltenders, Morgan Barron and Mark Scheifele scored second-period goals and the Winnipeg Jets topped the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on Thursday night.
In a matchup between two of the five active Vezina Trophy-winning goalies, Hellebuyck made 26 saves, while Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy also stopped 26 shots.
A three-time Vezina winner who backstopped Team USA’s gold medal-winning 2-1 overtime victory over Canada, Hellebuyck improved to 8-2-1 in head-to-head matchups with Vasilevskiy, the 2019 Vezina winner.
Gustav Nyquist scored his first goal for Winnipeg, and Kyle Connor added an empty-net goal as the Jets improved to 5-2-3 in their last 10 games.
Brayden Point scored the only goal for the Lightning, who have lost four straight games after going 20-1-1 from Dec. 20 to Feb. 25.
Rangers 6, Maple Leafs 2
Alexis Lafreniere scored the tiebreaking goal on a redirection in the third period and host New York pulled away for a victory over Toronto.
Will Cuylle scored in the first period before capping things with an empty-net tally with 2:51 left, and Vladislav Gavrikov netted the second tying goal during a power play in the second period. Jaroslav Chmelar and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers.
Matias Maccelli scored 13 seconds into the contest and rookie Easton Cowan scored in the second before the Maple Leafs allowed five straight goals and matched a season worst with their sixth straight loss.
Senators 4, Flames 1
Dylan Cozens broke a third-period tie and sparked Ottawa to a crucial comeback victory over host Calgary.
Lars Eller, Tim Stutzle and Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators, who are on a 7-1-2 run that is keeping them in the playoff picture. Ottawa goaltender Linus Ullmark made 19 saves. He is on a personal 8-0-3 streak. Ottawa is four points behind the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.
Martin Pospisil tallied for the Flames, who have dropped four straight games (0-3-1) and have managed only three victories in 13 games (3-7-3), which leaves them a dozen points outside a Western Conference playoff position.
Kings 5, Islanders 3
Artemi Panarin scored his first goal for the Kings, helping Los Angeles to a win against visiting New York.
Panarin, Adrian Kempe and Mikey Anderson each had a goal and an assist, Samuel Helenius and Alex Laferriere also scored, Brandt Clarke had two assists and Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves for the Kings, who had lost six of their previous seven games (1-5-1).
Bo Horvat, Adam Pelech and Emil Heineman scored, Jean-Gabriel Pageau had two assists and Ilya Sorokin stopped 30 shots for the Islanders, who were coming off a 5-1 road loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday that snapped a five-game winning streak.
Blue Jackets 4, Panthers 2
Ivan Provorov had a goal with two assists and Mathieu Olivier scored twice as host Columbus won its third straight.
Boone Jenner also scored and Jet Greaves made 26 saves for the Blue Jackets, who are 14-2-1 since Jan. 11 and just outside of playoff position in the Eastern Conference. Columbus, undefeated while star Zach Werenski has missed the last three games due to illness, snapped a 0-6-3 slide versus Florida, but nearly coughed up a 3-0 lead.
The Panthers finally got on the board with 10:52 remaining in the third period. Daniil Tarasov made 24 saves for the Panthers, whose playoff hopes continue to fade after a fourth straight defeat amid their 2-9-0 rut.
Mammoth 3, Flyers 0
Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller scored second-period goals and Vitek Vanecek made 16 saves as Utah posted a shutout road victory over Philadelphia.
Dylan Guenther had two assists and Michael Carcone also scored for Utah, which has won five of its last seven games. Vanecek, making his first start since Jan. 27, recorded the 100th victory (and 11th shutout) of his career.
Dan Vladar turned aside 20 shots for Philadelphia, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Flyers played without top scorer Travis Konecny (upper-body injury) for the second straight game.
Sabers 5, Penguins 1
Josh Norris and Owen Power each had a goal and an assist for Buffalo, which won its fifth straight game against host Pittsburgh.
Ryan McLeod, Alex Tuch and Mattias Samuelsson also scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves.
Bryan Rust scored, and Arturs Silovs made 21 saves for the Penguins, who have lost three of four (1-2-1).
Predators 6, Bruins 3
Nashville closed the second period with three straight goals to break open a one-goal game and went on to post a win over visiting Boston.
Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists while Matthew Wood scored twice in the Predators’ four-goal middle frame. Nicolas Hague, Erik Haula and Luke Evangelista also scored, Steven Stamkos had two assists and Juuse Saros made 20 saves to help Nashville break a three-game skid (0-2-1).
Charlie McAvoy and Viktor Arvidsson each notched a goal and an assist, Morgan Geekie also scored and Pavel Zacha had two helpers for the Bruins, who have a six-game road losing streak (0-3-3). Joonas Korpisalo stopped 23 shots.
–Field Level Media
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