Dillon Dube recorded his first career hat trick and the host Calgary Flames rode a four-goal first period to a 7-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
After the game, the Flames (11-11-2) fired head coach Geoff Ward and replaced him with Darryl Sutter. Formerly Calgary’s head coach from 2002-06, Sutter led the Los Angeles Kings to Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014.
Sean Monahan, Derek Ryan and Brett Ritchie each added one goal and one assist for the Flames. Josh Leivo also scored, Matthew Tkachuk collected three assists and goaltender David Rittich made 29 saves.
Josh Norris, Artem Anisimov and Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa. Senators goalie Matt Murray yielded four goals on 11 first-period shots. Joey Daccord played the rest of the way, allowing three goals on 18 shots.
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Rangers 6, Devils 1
Chris Kreider continued his roll by recording a natural hat trick as New York beat slumping New Jersey in Newark, N.J. The Rangers won for the fifth time in seven games.
Kreider’s fourth career hat trick gave him nine of his team-leading 13 goals in the past six games. Pavel Buchnevich, Brendan Smith and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for the Rangers. New York goalie Igor Shesterkin made 32 saves before getting hurt in the third period. Alexandar Georgiev finished off the game, stopping three shots.
Jack Hughes scored for the Devils, who lost their fourth straight and eighth straight at home. Mackenzie Blackwood allowed four goals on 15 shots before getting pulled in the third period. Replacement Aaron Dell made two saves and yielded two goals.
Flyers 4, Penguins 3
Claude Giroux scored his second goal of the game with 2:08 left on a shot that trickled over the goal line as Philadelphia erased an early three-goal deficit to win at Pittsburgh.
Scott Laughton produced the tying goal and Sean Couturier also scored for Philadelphia. Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom and Nicolas Aube-Kubel had two assists apiece and Giroux enjoyed a three-point night with an assist. Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott made 26 saves.
Kris Letang, Mark Friedman and Jared McCann scored in the first 3:57 for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry made 31 saves.
Panthers 5, Predators 4
Aaron Ekblad notched two goals and two assists, Mason Marchment netted his first career marker and Florida opened its five-game road trip with a win over Nashville.
Jonathan Huberdeau recorded a goal and an assist for Florida, and Carter Verhaeghe tallied for the first time in 11 games. Aleksander Barkov recorded three assists for the Panthers, who moved 7-1-1 on the road. Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 35 shots, and Radko Gudas played in his 500th NHL game.
Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists, Mattias Ekholm added a goal and an assist and Colton Sissons and Ryan Johansen tallied for Nashville, which fell to 3-7-1 in its past 11 against Florida. Viktor Arvidsson notched three assists.
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Islanders 5, Sabres 2
Matt Martin produced his first multi-goal game in almost seven years for New York, which never trailed in a win over Buffalo in Uniondale, N.Y.
Noah Dobson scored just beyond the midway point of the first while Anthony Beauvillier and Jordan Eberle scored in the second and third period for the Islanders, who are 5-0-1 in their past six and are 10-2-2 since Feb. 1.
Taylor Hall snapped an extended goal-scoring drought in the second period and Rasmus Ristolainen scored in the third for the Sabres, who have lost five straight (0-4-1).
Hurricanes 5, Red Wings 2
Jordan Staal scored the go-ahead goal 45 seconds into what became a three-goal third period for Carolina against Detroit in Raleigh, N.C.
Jesper Fast and Nino Niederreiter added goals in the final period as the Hurricanes won their fourth game in a row. Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas also scored for Carolina. Hurricanes goalie Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 33 shots.
Detroit’s goals were both scored by Filip Zadina. Red Wings goalie Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves.
Jets 4, Canadiens 3 (OT)
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored with 31 seconds left in overtime Winnipeg defeated host Montreal in the opener of a two-game series.
Paul Stastny scored twice and Mathieu Perreault also tallied for Winnipeg, which won for the sixth time in its past seven games. Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves.
Brendan Gallagher, Tyler Toffoli and Corey Perry scored for the Canadiens, who dropped to 1-1-2 under new coach Dominique Ducharme, who replaced the first Claude Julien last week. Jake Allen stopped 23 of 27 shots.
Lightning 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)
Alex Killorn beat the overtime buzzer by a fraction of a second and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 35 shots as visiting Tampa Bay earned its sixth straight victory.
Tampa Bay scored three unanswered goals to end the game, erasing a 2-0 deficit after two periods. Anthony Cirelli scored short-handed and Steven Stamkos tied the game. Killorn delivered the game-winner after weaving to the top of the slot, turning and shooting in the nick of time.
Ryan Carpenter (short-handed) and Alex DeBrincat scored second-period goals and Kevin Lankinen stopped 31 shots to lead the Blackhawks, who will host the Lightning on Friday and Sunday.
Blue Jackets 3, Stars 2
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Boone Jenner collected a goal and an assist and Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves to lead visiting Columbus over Dallas.
Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eric Robinson each scored early in the third period for the Blue Jackets, who have won two in a row following an 0-4-1 skid.
Defenseman Miro Heiskanen scored from the point at 7:35 into the third period to halt Dallas’ goalless streak at 189 minutes, 46 seconds. Jason Robertson scored midway through the third period and Anton Khudobin turned aside 19 shots for Dallas, which fell for the 10th time in 11 games (1-7-3).
Canucks 3, Maple Leafs 1
Jake Virtanen scored two goals and Thatcher Demko had 31 saves to lead host Vancouver over Toronto.
It was the second multi-goal game of Virtanen’s career. Bo Horvat also scored for Vancouver, which snapped a five-game losing streak against the Maple Leafs while winning for just the fourth time in its last 16 games (4-10-2). The Canucks did it despite playing without All-Star center Elias Pettersson (lower body).
Pierre Engvall scored for Toronto, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. Michael Hutchinson finished with 25 saves for the Maple Leafs, who took just their second road loss in 12 games (9-2-1) this season.
–Field Level Media