Dallas Stars' Craig Smith (15), Roope Hintz (24) and Matt Duchene (95) celebrate a game tying goal against the Nashville Predators during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. The Stars won 3-2. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Craig Smith and Jani Hakanpaa scored in the final 15 seconds, rallying the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 National Hockey League victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
Evgeni Dadonov also scored in the third period as Dallas improved to 5-0-1 in its last six games. Scott Wedgewood made 19 saves.
The Stars became the first team in NHL history to secure a victory after scoring a tying and go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation.
Michael McCarron and Colton Sissons scored for Nashville in the second. Juuse Saros made 31 stops.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:
—
PANTHERS 4 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored power-play goals 1:59 apart in the third period, and Florida went into its Christmas break by topping Vegas in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup final.
Sam Bennett and Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida, and Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Brandon Montour each finished with two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.
Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for Vegas, which topped Florida in five games last spring for the title. The Golden Knights matched a season-worst by losing their third straight and are just 10-9-4 following an 11-0-1 start to their title defence.
Jiri Patera stopped 38 shots for Vegas.
—
WILD 3 BRUINS 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Kirill Kaprizov scored for the third straight game, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno added goals, and Minnesota held off struggling Boston.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for career win No. 550, one shy of tying Patrick Roy for the second-most in NHL history.
David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie scored, and Linus Ullmark made 32 saves for the Bruins, who are 0-2-2 in their past four. Boston has not lost four in a row since an 0-4-1 skid Dec. 5-12, 2019.
Pastrnak scored on the power play early in the first for his 20th tally of the season. He is the sixth player in franchise history to reach the 20-goal mark in eight consecutive seasons.
—
ISLANDERS 5 HURRICANES 4
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Anders Lee had a goal and two assists to lead New York over Carolina.
Ilya Sorokin stopped 36 shots for the Islanders, who head into the Christmas break with at least a point in 11 of their past 12 games.
Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat and Mike Reilly each had a goal and assist, and Sebastian Aho had a goal for the Islanders. Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal had two assists each.
Stefan Noesen, Jaccob Slavin, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Pyotr Kochetkov had 23 saves for Carolina.
—
LIGHTNING 2 CAPITALS 1 (SO)
WASHINGTON (AP) – Victor Hedman scored the shootout winner and Tampa Bay outlasted Washington.
The Lightning have now won three straight games to gain traction in the Atlantic Division race. Though Washington’s three-game winning streak came to an end, the Capitals secured a point for the fourth straight game to remain in Wild Card position going into the holiday break.
Luke Glendening scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots in regulation and went 2-for-3 in the shootout to help Tampa Bay escape with two points.
Anthony Mantha scored his 10th goal of this season and his fifth in eight games. Charlie Lindgren had 19 saves in the loss.
—
MAPLE LEAFS 4 BLUE JACKETS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Auston Matthews added to his torrid stretch with two goals and an assist, and Toronto beat Columbus.
Matthews scored for the seventh consecutive game. He has 12 goals during the streak, running his NHL-leading total to 28 on the season.
William Nylander had a short-handed goal and two assists, extending his point streak to 11 games while helping Toronto stop a two-game slide. John Tavares also scored, and Maple Leafs goaltender Martin Jones made 27 saves.
Columbus lost centre Sean Kuraly with 18.3 seconds left in the first period after he suffered an abdominal injury and was helped to the locker room. The period was suspended and the remaining time was played just before the start of the second.
The Blue Jackets said the injury did not appear to be serious, but Kuraly was taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
Justin Danforth scored for Columbus, which has lost four straight at home. Daniil Tarasov stopped 26 shots.
—
DEVILS 3 RED WINGS 2
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Timo Meier scored twice and Tyler Toffoli deflected in a go-ahead goal with 7:15 to play to lead New Jersey over slumping Detroit.
Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves and benefited from a shot off the goalpost by Daniel Sprong on a late power play in helping the Devils end a three-game winless streak (0-2-1).
Patrick Kane and Shayne Gostisbehere tallied for the Red Wings, who have lost five of six. Michael Hutchinson played well in his first start for Detroit, making 32 saves.
—
SENATORS 5 PENGUINS 4 (OT)
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – Tim Stutzle scored 70 seconds into overtime and Ottawa snapped a six-game losing streak with a win over Pittsburgh.
Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris, Erik Brannstrom and Jakob Chychrun also scored for Ottawa, which won its first game during Jacques Martin’s second stint as coach. Anton Forsberg made 30 saves.
Martin took over behind the bench on an interim basis when the Senators fired D.J. Smith on Monday. He also coached the team for nine seasons from 1995-96 through 2003-04.
Lars Eller, Rickard Rakell, Drew O’Connor and Kris Letang scored for the Penguins while Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 21 shots.
—
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
