Bennett’s power-play goals lift short-handed Panthers over Maple Leafs 3-2

By Canadian Press on March 13, 2025.

TORONTO (AP) — Sam Bennett scored power-play goals late in each of the first two periods, Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves and the short-handed Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday night for their seventh victory in eight games.

Defenseman Niko Mikkola also scored for the defending champion Panthers. They lead the Atlantic Division, four points ahead of the second-place Maple Leafs. Toronto has lost four of five.

Florida played without Matthew Tkachuk (lower-body), newcomer Brad Marchand (upper-body) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad (suspension).

John Tavares had his 27th goal of the season for Toronto. Max Domi added a goal, and Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 shots.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Adin Hill made 27 saves, Nicolas Roy and Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist each as Vegas beat Columbus.

It was Hill’s fourth shutout this season and the 11th of his NHL career.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored and Tomas Hertl had two assists for the Golden Knights.

Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two in a row and four of five.

Roy converted a pass from Jack Eichel during a power play at 12:00 of the first for a 1-0 lead on the Golden Knights’ first shot of the game. The Blue Jackets at that point had 18 with eight on goal.

Saad made it 2-0 at 19:01 before Dorofeyev’s goal a 12:17 of the second.

FLYERS 4, LIGHTNING 3, SO

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov scored in the shootout, Bobby Brink had two goals and Philadelphia beat Tampa Bay.

Michkov and Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point scored the only goals in the scheduled first three shootout attempts. Tippett then beat Johnas Johansson and the Lightning failed to match, lifting the Flyers to a 1-5 record on their seven-game homestand.

Ryan Poehling had the other goal for Philadelphia. Gage Goncalves, Zemgus Girgensons and Cam Atkinson scored for Tampa Bay.

PENGUINS 5, BLUES 3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ryan Graves scored 2:17 into the game and Pittsburgh never trailed in a win over St. Louis.

Graves’ goal was his first of the season, and Conor Timmins flicked a shot over the stick-side shoulder of goaltender Jordan Binnington to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead almost 2 1/2 minutes into the second period.

Zack Bolduc scored a power-play goal with 8:25 left in the second period to cut the St. Louis deficit to 2-1.

Connor Dewar redirected a pass from Blake Lizotte into the net with 2:18 left in the second to make it 3-1. Timmins and Dewar were acquired last week in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Dylan Holloway added another power-play goal for St. Louis less than 90 seconds into the third period, Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust answered about six minutes later and Alexey Toropchenko’s goal for St. Louis made it 4-3 with about 11 minutes remaining.

DEVILS 3, OILERS 2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists for his second straight three-point game and New Jersey rallied to beat Edmonton.

Bratt tied it at 2 with his 19th goal of the season at 6:50 of the third period, then set up Simon Nemec’s first of the season 1:35 later. Brett Pesce also scored, and Jake Allen made 31 saves — 18 in the third period.

Leon Draisaitl scored his NHL-leading 47th goal for Edmonton. Evan Bouchard also scored and Connor McDavid had two assists. The Oilers lost their second straight and fell for the eighth time in 11 games.

SENATORS 6, BRUINS 3

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Drake Batherson had two goals and an assist to end a 10-game drought and Ottawa beat Boston for their fifth straight victory.

Shane Pinto, Tyler Kleven, Ridly Greig and Claude Giroux also scored to help Ottawa solidify its position as the Eastern Conference wild-card leader. Linus Ullmark made 22 saves.

David Pastrnak scored his 34th goal for Boston. Casey Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov added goals.

RANGERS 3, WILD 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Braden Schneider scored at 1:51 of overtime to give New York a victory over Minnesota.

Schneider slipped a backhander past goalie Filip Gustavsson into the top-right corner to end New York’s four-game losing streak. Vincent Trocheck and Jonny Brodzinski also scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves.

Marcus Johansson and Frederick Gaudreau had tying power-play goals for Minnesota in the third period, and Gustavsson stopped 28 shots. The Wild top the Western Conference wild-card standings.

Trocheck opened the scoring at 6:45 of second with his 18th of the season. Johansson tied it with the man advantage at 3:55 of third, Brodzinski countered at 6:39, and Gaudreau tied it again on another power play at 8:42.

KINGS 3, CAPITALS 0

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Quinton Byfield had a goal for the fifth consecutive game, Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves, and Los Angeles beat Washington.

Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, Warren Foegele scored, and the Kings won their fourth in a row following a season-high five-game losing streak.

Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves for the Capitals, who had won five straight. Alex Ovechkin did not have a shot on goal despite playing nearly 19 minutes with 8:41 of it on the power play.

That limited imprint on offense came in large part because of a second straight excellent showing from Los Angeles’ penalty kill, which did not allow a goal in five tries after denying the New York Islanders on eight power plays on Tuesday.

The Kings broke the game open with goals from Fiala and Byfield 47 seconds apart early in the third period. Fiala scored his 25th goal for the third time in four seasons by burying a one-timer on the power play before finding Byfield off the rush.

SHARKS 4, BLACKHAWKS 2

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Undrafted rookie Collin Graf scored twice, Will Smith had a goal and an assist and San Jose beat Chicago.

Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves for San Jose, and Tyler Toffoli had an empty-net goal.

Smith opened the scoring with a one-timer 3:48 into the game off a feed from Macklin Celebrini. Smith, a 19-year-old rookie, has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in his last 19 games.

Frank Nazar and Ilya Mikheyev scored for Chicago. Spencer Knight had 21 saves.

Connor Bedard, Chicago’s leading scorer with 61 points, was given 10-minute misconduct penalty with about nine minutes to play.

The Associated Press

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