New York Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider (4) works for the puck against Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
NEW YORK (AP) – K’Andre Miller scored two goals and added an assist to lead the New York Rangers to a 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for New York, which has won five of its last six.
Alexis Lafreniere, Artemi Panarin and Braden Schneider also scored for the Rangers, and Mika Zibanejad – playing in his 800th NHL game – added two assists.
Anthony Mantha scored the Capitals’ lone goal, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots.
BRUINS 4, SABRES 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Charlie Coyle scored twice and Brad Marchand had two assists to lead Boston over Buffalo.
Mason Lohrei and Morgan Geekie also scored for the Bruins, who ended a four-game losing streak. Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves.
Erik Johnson scored for the Sabres. Devon Levi made 21 saves.
Special teams played a big role in the outcome as the Bruins scored on their first three power-play chances. Meanwhile, the Sabres went 0 for 6 with the man advantage.
PENGUINS 7, ISLANDERS 0
NEW YORK (AP) – Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin each scored twice, Kris Letang had six assists including five in the second period, and Pittsburgh toppled New York.
Tristan Jarry finished with 21 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Rickard Rakell, Radim Zohorna and Valtteri Puustinen also scored for Pittsburgh and Marcus Pettersson picked up four assists.
Letang became the first defenseman in NHL history to record five points in a period and the first player of any position in Penguins history to do so.
Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves as the Islanders’ nine-game point streak on home ice (6-0-3) came to an end. Semyon Varlamov replaced Sorokin to begin the third period and made six saves.
SENATORS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 2
TORONTO (AP) – Drake Batherson scored twice and Ottawa overcame an early two-goal deficit to beat Toronto for its second straight victory.
Parker Kelly and Brady Tkachuk also scored and Joonas Korpisalo made 34 saves to help Ottawa improve to 13-17-0. The Senators are 2-1-0 against the Maple Leafs this season.
Matthew Knies and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Toronto and Martin Jones stopped 26 shots. The Maple Leafs fell to 17-9-6.
PANTHERS 3, LIGHTNING 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Sam Reinhart had two goals, Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves, and Florida coach Paul Maurice coached his 1,800th game.
Aaron Ekblad also scored for the Panthers, and Aleksander Barkov had three assists.
Nikita Kucherov scored his 300th goal and Michael Eyssimont had the other Lightning goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.
Kucherov, the NHL points leader, missed several first-period shifts after taking a stick to the face.
DEVILS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3, OT
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Timo Meier scored on a breakaway at 2:12 of overtime to give New Jersey its second straight comeback victory.
Luke Hughes tied it for New Jersey with 25 seconds left in regulation.
Ondrej Palat and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey. Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves.
Yegor Chinakhov, Justin Danforth and Jake Bean scored for Columbus, and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 31 shots. Columbus has blown an NHL-worst 17 leads.
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