Bratt has his first career hat trick as the Devils beat the Lightning 5-2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Jesper Bratt scored three goals in his first NHL cap as the New Jersey Devils rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Sunday night to end a three-game skid.
Nico Hischier and Nolan Foote also scored to help the Devils improve their league-leading road record to 26-5-4. Vitek Vanec finished with 22 saves to help New Jersey to the victory, after losses at home to the Lightning on Tuesday and Thursday, before going 2-0 in a 4-2 loss at Florida on Saturday.
Nikita Kucherov reached 100 points for the third time in his career with a goal in the first period and Alex Killorn also scored for the Lightning, who have won three in a row. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves.
CANUCKS 2, DUCKS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Elias Pettersson had a power-play goal and an assist to extend his point streak to eight games, Quinn Hughes had two assists to give him 60 for the season, and Vancouver beat Anaheim.
JT Miller had a goal and an assist, and Collin Delia made 17 saves to help the Canucks win for the seventh time in eight games.
Ryan Strome scored and John Gibson made 38 saves for the Ducks, who were eliminated from the playoffs.
5 WILD, 3 CITIES
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Matt Boldy scored three goals for his second career hat trick to lead Minnesota.
Ryan Reaves and Brandon Duhaim also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves to improve to 7-0-0 in his last seven starts for the Wild. Minnesota, which ended its 14-point streak against Boston on Saturday, moved within one point of first-place Dallas Central and two points behind second-place Colorado.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice on the power play and Dylan Strome once for Washington, which is 2-4-1 in its last seven games. The Capitals lead Pittsburgh by five points for the final wild-card spot with 11 games remaining. Charlie Lindgren stopped 35 shots.
BLUE 3, JETS 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Kasperi Kapanen, Nathan Walker and Jakub Vrana each scored for St. Louis to get ahead of Winnipeg.
Rookie goaltender and Winnipeg native Joel Hofer started in his first appearance with St. Louis and stopped 33 shots in his fourth NHL start to help the Blues win for the fourth time in six games. He didn’t get on the ice because he had to leave the ice for a skate repair in the second period. Thomas Greiss saved it while filling.
Hofer started in place of the suspended Jordan Binnington on Friday and made 33 saves in a 5-2 win over Washington — his first NHL game since Nov. 13, 2021. Hofer, recalled from the AHL in Springfield under emergency conditions Thursday after Binnington. was suspended, he is now 3-1-0 in the NHL.
Connor Hellebuyck, making his second straight start, made 14 saves for the Jets, who have lost three of their last four games.
RANGERS 7, Predators 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Defenseman K’Andre Miller had two goals and two assists in New York’s six-goal first period, and Jaroslav Hala made 22 saves to lead the Rangers to their first shutout of the season.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists in the opening period, and Filip Chytile, Mika Zibenejad, Tyler Mott and Chris Kreider also scored to help New York earn its fourth straight home win and second shutout in two days. The Rangers beat Pittsburgh 6-0 on Saturday night after also beating the Penguins on Thursday and Washington on Tuesday.
The Rangers scored six times in their first eight shots, trailing Nashville goaltender Kevin Lankin after allowing four goals in five shots. He was replaced by Juuse Saros.
BRUINS 7, SABERS 0
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jeremy Swayman stopped 26 shots to post his second straight shutout, David Pastrnak scored his team-leading 48th goal, and NHL-leading Boston lost to blowout Buffalo.
Jake DeBrusk had a goal and three assists, Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists, and Garnet Hathaway, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie Coyle and Charlie McAvoy also scored for the Bruins. Swayman now has four shutouts on the season, all since Jan. 16.
Boston improved to 19-1-1 in their last 21 meetings against the Sabres, and 9-0-1 in their last 10. The Bruins won their 26th road game to match the franchise record set in 1971-72. Boston’s 53 wins in 69 games are tied for the team’s fourth-most, and four shy of the franchise record set in the 78-game season of 1970-71.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 19 shots to drop to 0-3-2 in the last five, allowing 21 goals in that stretch. The Sabers fell to 2-7-2 in their last 11.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 7, BLUE JACKET 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jack Eichel scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season and fourth of his career to lead Vegas.
Phil Kessel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist, while Paul Cotter and Zach Whitecloud also scored for the Golden Knights. Alex Pietrangelo had four assists and Jiri Patera stopped 35 shots to improve to 2-0 in his second career start.
Kirill Marchenko and Liam Foudy scored for Columbus and Patrik Lain had two assists. Daniil Tarasov came off late in the second half after giving up five goals on 28 shots. He was replaced by Michael Hutchinson, who made 10 saves.
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