ST. LOUIS (AP) — Zach Benson and Alex Tuch scored and the Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Monday night for their ninth straight victory.
Noah Ostlund also scored, Peyton Krebs had an empty-netter and Alex Lyon made 16 saves for Buffalo. The Sabres have their longest streak since winning 10 straight in November 2018.
Lyon has started seven games during Buffalo’s nine-game surge, stopping 170 of 185 shots for a .919 save percentage.
Jimmy Snuggerud and Brayden Schenn scored for St. Louis, and Joel Hofer made 30 saves. The Blues are 3-2-1 in their last six games.
Benson scored his fourth goal of the season when he batted a shot from Jack Quinn that was heading wide into the net 1:46 into the third period to give Buffalo a 3-2 lead.
Tuch tied it 2 with his 12th goal of the season. His wrist shot evaded Hofer’s blocker with 4:43 remaining in the second period.
PANTHERS 5, CAPITALS 3
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored two goals, helping Florida beat Washington and giving the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions nine wins in its past 12 games.
The Capitals (20-14-5) have lost four of five.
Florida came back from a third-period deficit to pull out the win, getting goals from Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad and Reinhart.
The Capitals led 3-2 early in the third on a goal by Dylan Strome, who also had two assists. But Marchand tied the score by batting in his own rebound past goalie Logan Thompson at 6:16 of the third, and Ekblad put Florida ahead for good about seven minutes later.
Reinhart added an empty-netter to seal matters for Florida.
HURRICANES 3, RANGERS 2, OT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jackson Blake’s power-play goal on a deflection 4:47 into overtime lifted Carolina to a win over New York.
Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist and Jordan Martinook provided the tying goal in regulation for the Hurricanes, who’ve won two straight following a three-game skid. Nikolaj Ehlers had two assists. Rookie goalie Brandon Bussi stopped 17 shots to improve to 13-1-1.
Vladislav Gavrikov and Jonny Brodzinski scored for the Rangers, who’ve dropped back-to-back games. Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves.
The Rangers were trying to kill off the final 1:59 of overtime following a tripping penalty on Matthew Robertson. New York had won its previous three games that extended beyond regulation, but Blake deposited his fourth goal in a six-game stretch.
Bussi was in the nets unexpectedly because earlier in the day would-be starter Pyotr Kochetkov, who shut out the Rangers last month, was placed on injured reserve. Coach Rod Brind’Amour said before the game that Kochetkov has opted for what’s likely to be season-ending surgery for a lower-body injury.
The teams each scored on power plays in the first period, with Gavrikov converting 1:39 into the game. Aho’s tally came late in the period with the Hurricanes on a 5-on-3 advantage.
OILERS 3, JETS 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Calvin Pickard made 41 saves to help Edmonton beat Winnipeg.
Max Jones, Jack Roslovic and Zach Hyman — into an empty net — scored for the Oilers. The are 20-14-6 overall and 4-2-0 in their last.
Connor McDavid assisted on Hyman’s goal to extended his points streak to 13 games. McDavid has 13 goals and 20 assists during the run.
Adam Lowry scored for Winnipeg in his 800th NHL game. Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves as the Jets fell to 0-4-3 their last seven.
BLUE JACKETS 4, SENATORS 1
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Damon Severson had a goal and an assist, Jet Greaves made 27 saves and Columbus beat Ottawa for its third straight victory.
The NHL pushed back the starting time a half-hour to 7:30 p.m. after the Blue Jackets’ late arrival because of plane issues and inclement weather.
Greaves also was in goal Sunday in a 4-2 home victory over the New York Islanders.
Boone Jenner, Denton Mateychuk and Kirill Marchenko also scored for Columbus. Cole Sillinger and Charlie Coyle each had two assists.
Jake Sanderson scored for Ottawa, and Leevi Merilainen made 18 saves. The Senators have lost three straight.
AVALANCHE 5, KINGS 2
DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored the 399th goal of his career, Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist, and surging Colorado won its eighth in a row, beating Los Angeles.
MacKinnon added an assist to go with his NHL-leading 32nd goal this season. Jack Drury, Cale Makar and Martin Necas also scored for the Avalanche, who have won 14 in a row at home.
Colorado has points in 28 of their last 29 games and are 10-0-1 in their last 11 to continue their historic start to the season. Colorado reached 65 points in 38 games, second all-time to the 1929-30 Boston Bruins.
Corey Perry scored and Joel Armia added a short-handed goal for Los Angeles, which has lost seven of nine.
Drury opened the scoring midway through the first period and Perry tied it with a power-play goal 5:15 into the second period.
Necas put Colorado back in front later in the second when he tapped in a puck that was sitting on the goal line. Nelson’s snap shot beat Anton Forsberg over his left shoulder with 2:30 left in the second.
Forsberg finished with 21 saves for the Kings.
Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 23 shots, including a save on Adrian Kempe’s short-handed breakaway late in the second period.
PREDATORS 4, MAMMOTH 3
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Steve Stamkos scored two goals less than two minutes apart in the third period to rally Nashville to a victory over Utah.
Stamkos scored a power-play goal with 8:21 to play to tie the game at 3, then scored the winner with 6:43 left.
Ryan O’Reilly assisted on both goals. Roman Josi and Luke Evangelista also scored to help Nashville secure its fourth win in five games. Juuse Saros made 28 stops for the Predators.
JJ Peterka, Mikhail Sergachev, and Dylan Guenther scored for Utah, which dropped its second straight game. Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves.
Peterka scored his 15th goal of the season on a power play to put Utah on the board at the 5:48 of the first.
Josi levelled the score for Nashville four minutes later, snapping the puck home from long distance.
Utah regained a 2-1 lead on Sergachev’s goal at the 3:41 of the second. He blasted the puck down the middle, near the blue line, and threaded the shot past multiple defenders.
Evangelista answered at the 7:51 mark of the second. He collected a puck that bounced off Vanecek’s glove and sent a wrist shot around his right side.
Guenther scored his 17th goal of the season at the 4:02 of the third, putting Utah back in front 3-2.
FLAMES 2, BRUINS 1, OT
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Connor Zary scored off a scramble in front of the goal on a power play at 1:53 of overtime to give Calgary a victory over Boston, sending the Bruins to their sixth straight loss.
Zary scored with Boston’s Jonathan Aspirot off for high-sticking Blake Coleman at the end of regulation.
Coleman tied it at 1 for Calgary with 6:28 left in the second period with his 12th goal of the season. Dustin Wolf made 24 saves to help the Flames to their second victory and fourth in five games.
Andrew Peeke scored for Boston with 1:54 left in the first.
Jeremy Swayman stopped 18 shots for the Bruins.
WILD 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marcus Johansson had a goal and three assists and surging Minnesota beat Vegas.
The Wild are 9-1-1 since Dec. 8. They are third in the Central Division with 54 points.
Matt Boldy, Jared Spurgeon, Brock Faber and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored for the Wild. They have scored first in 25 games this season.
Boldy has 18 points (10 goals, 8 assists) in his last 12 games, while Eriksson Ek has 13 points (6 goals, 6 assists) in his last 11.
Filip Gustavsson improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven starts, stopping 14 shots.
Minnesota outshot Vegas, 27-16.
Both teams were 0 for 2 on the power play.
Vegas goalie Carter Hart allowed five goals on 12 shots before he was pulled as Minnesota opened a 5-0 lead by the 6:56 mark of the second period. Akira Schmid came in for Hart and stopped all 15 shots he faced.
Brayden McNabb and Mark Stone scored for Vegas.
SHARKS 5, DUCKS 4
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Macklin Celebrini became the third player with 60 points this season with a goal and two assists in San Jose’s victory over Anaheim.
Mario Ferraro, Igor Chernyshov, William Eklund and Zach Ostapchuk also scored for the Sharks, who earned their second win since the holiday break despite getting outshot 43-13. Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves.
Troy Terry scored two goals, Cutter Gauthier got his 19th goal and Pavel Mintyukov also scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight and seven of nine while falling out of first place in the Pacific Division. Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on nine shots before Petr Mrazek replaced him during the second period.
With his seventh multi-point game of December, Celebrini needed just 39 games to get 60 points — the most scored by a teenager before New Year’s Day in the NHL. He also extended his points streak to eight games.
Celebrini left the ice after getting hit in the face by a deflected puck in the third period, but returned several minutes later.
Alexander Wennberg set up San Jose’s first two goals with exceptional passes, but Anaheim scored off an atrocious turnover by Askarov. He gave away the puck behind his net to Nikita Nesterenko, who found an uncontested Terry.
CANUCKS 3, KRAKEN 2, SO
SEATTLE (AP) — Kevin Lankinen made 37 saves and Liam Ohgren had the lone shootout goal in Vancouver’s victory over Seattle.
Linus Karlsson and Elias Pettersson scored in regulation to help Vancouver end Seattle’s four-game winning streak.
Jared McCann and Ryan Winterton scored for Seattle. Joey Daccord stopped 22 shots for the Kraken.
At 8:50, McCann beat Lankinen with a slap shot on the power play for his first goal since returning from injury on Sunday, missing seven games earlier this month.
McCann and Conor Garland dropped the gloves with 4:43 to go in the first, seemingly in retaliation for an earlier, unpenalized elbowing by Garland on McCann. Karlsson scored on the next faceoff, tying the game at one with a snap shot.
Winterton made it 2-1 with 20 seconds remaining in the first. Pettersson tied it 5:23 into the second, beating Daccord cleanly from the slot.
The Associated Press
