NHL roundup: Coach Cooper gets 500th win, Lightning beat Kings 3-2 in OT
By The Associated Press on January 9, 2024.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Nick Perbix scored 2:03 into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied from two goals down in the third period to beat the slumping Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Tuesday night. Jon Cooper became the third-fastest NHL coach to win 500 games. Scotty Bowman (825) and Bruce Boudreau (837) were the only ones to get there faster than Cooper’s 839 games. Cooper is the fastest to do it with one franchise, and 29th overall to reach the milestone. Perbix ended a 40-game goal drought with his game-winner. Tyler Motte and Brandon Hagel also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots and is 10-9-0 since returning from back surgery. Phillip Danault and Matt Roy had the Los Angeles goals. Cam Talbot made 26 saves for the Kings, who have lost six in a row (0-3-3). Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday: — PANTHERS 5 BLUES 1 ST. LOUIS (AP) – Matthew Tkachuk scored his fifth career hat trick to help Florida beat St. Louis for its eighth straight victory. Sam Reinhart and Kevin Stenlund also scored for the Panthers. Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves. Brayden Schenn scored and Joel Hofer made 26 saves for the Blues. Tkachuk scored into an empty net for his 11th goal of the season with 57 seconds left to complete his hat trick. — KRAKEN 5 SABRES 2 BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Alex Wennberg, Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers scored in the second period as Seattle pulled away from Buffalo for its seventh consecutive win. Yanni Gourde and Vince Dunn also scored for the Kraken, and Joey Daccord made 36 saves. Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch scored for the Sabres. Devon Levi stopped 21 shots. — MAPLE LEAFS 7 SHARKS 1 TORONTO (AP) – Mitchell Marner had two goals and two assists as Toronto won its fourth straight and handed San Jose its 12th consecutive defeat. Morgan Rielly, Auston Matthews, Pontus Holmberg, Jake McCabe and Nicholas Robertson also scored for the Maple Leafs, who snapped a three-game skid at home. Martin Jones made 22 saves. William Nylander had three assists, and McCabe added two. Henry Thrun had the lone goal for San Jose. — CANUCKS 5 ISLANDERS 2 NEW YORK (AP) – Filip Hronek and Quinn Hughes scored first-period goals and Casey DeSmith made 17 saves as Vancouver defeated the Islanders to complete a three-game sweep in the New York area. Elias Pettersson, Tyler Myers and Dakota Joshua also scored for the first-place Canucks, who are on a seven-game trip – their longest of the season. Conor Garland added two assists for Vancouver, which has won four of five overall. The Canucks are 11-2-2 since Dec. 5. Brock Nelson scored both goals for the Islanders. Vancouver was coming off a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. The Canucks won 6-4 at New Jersey on Saturday. — JETS 5 BLUE JACKETS 0 WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) – Cole Perfetti scored twice and Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves as Winnipeg blanked Columbus to match a franchise record with its seventh consecutive victory. Perfetti also had an assist. Brenden Dillon, Josh Morrissey and Gabriel Vilardi scored the other goals for the NHL-leading Jets, who pushed their point streak to a club-record 13 games. Adam Lowry added two assists. Hellebuyck earned his 34th career shutout and second this season. He is 11-0-2 in his past 13 games, the longest unbeaten streak for a goalie in franchise history. Daniil Tarasov stopped 18 shots for the Blue Jackets. — AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl 38-37
