Jason Spezza had his eighth career hat trick and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Vancouver Canucks 7-3 Thursday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Auston Matthews added two goals for the Maple Leafs, Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists and John Tavares scored his 350th career goal. William Nylander had three assists and Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin and Travis Boyd each had two assists.
Frederik Andersen made 16 saves in the Toronto goal.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist for Vancouver. Tanner Pearson and Bo Horvat also scored and Thatcher Demko made 30 stops for the Canucks, who have lost three straight.
Predators 6, Panthers 5 (OT)
Filip Forsberg scored with one minute left in overtime as visiting Nashville rallied for a win in Sunrise, Fla. Forsberg finished with two goals and three assists.
Nashville’s Pekka Rinne stopped all 12 shots he faced in relief of Juuse Saros, who made 19 saves while allowing five goals in two periods. Matt Duchene scored twice for Nashville, including the game-tying goal with 57 seconds left in regulation, and Calle Jarnkrok and Roman Josi also scored.
Jonathan Huberdeau led Florida with his first career hat trick, and he added two assists for his first career five-point night. Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist, and Aaron Ekblad also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves, but he blew a 5-3 third-period lead.
Coyotes 4, Blues 3
Conor Garland and Christian Dvorak each had a goal and an assist as Arizona held off host St. Louis.
Nick Schmaltz and Tyler Pitlick also scored for the Coyotes, and Jordan Oesterle had two assists. Antti Raanta made 40 saves in his second start of the season for Arizona.
Mike Hoffman scored twice for the Blues, who saw their four-game winning streak snapped. Ryan O’Reilly also scored, David Perron had two assists and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves.
Rangers 4, Capitals 2
Ryan Strome scored twice, Artemi Panarin collected three assists and host New York beat Washington.
It was Strome’s fourth career two-goal game. Anthony Bitetto and Pavel Buchnevich added goals for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves, as the Rangers improved to 3-0-1 in their past four games.
Shesterkin withstood being hit in the jaw by an Alex Ovechkin shot in the second period. He also stopped Ovechkin six times before the Russian superstar scored his 709th career goal in the third period to move past Mike Gartner into sole possession for seventh on the NHL’s all-time list. Carl Hagelin had the Capitals’ other goal, and Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves.
Jets 4, Flames 1
Mason Appleton scored twice and Mathieu Perreault collected three assists to pace host Winnipeg to a victory over Calgary.
Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for the Jets, who scored four unanswered goals to win their second straight game — both over the Flames. The victory is the 153rd of Hellebuyck’s career, which is the most in franchise history. The old mark was held by Ondrej Pavelec.
Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele also scored for Winnipeg. Andrew Mangiapane collected the game’s first goal for Calgary, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.
Blackhawks 6, Hurricanes 4
Alex DeBrincat chipped in the go-ahead goal with 7:38 left in the third period, and he added an empty-net goal in the final minute as Chicago posted a win over visiting Carolina.
Patrick Kane had a goal and three assists for the Blackhawks, Dominik Kubalik added a goal and two assists, and Mattias Janmark had a goal and an assist. Andrew Shaw also scored for Chicago, and Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves.
Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov each tallied a goal and an assist while Nino Niederreiter and Brock McGinn also scored for Carolina, which lost for the first time in six games. James Reimer recorded 29 saves.
Blue Jackets 4, Stars 3
Cam Atkinson scored his 200th career goal early in the third period to lift host Columbus to a victory over Dallas.
Columbus native Jack Roslovic and fellow new addition Patrik Laine both scored their first goal for the Blue Jackets since being acquired in a trade from the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 23. Oliver Bjorkstrand also tallied as Columbus posted its ninth win in its past 10 meetings with Dallas.
Captain Jamie Benn scored a goal in his third straight game and Roope Hintz and Jason Dickinson also tallied for the Stars, who have lost three of their last four games (1-2-1) after winning their first four to start the season.
Senators 3, Canadiens 2
Matt Murray made 36 saves and Tim Stutzle recorded a goal and his first two NHL assists to lead Ottawa to a win at Montreal.
The victory snapped a nine-game winless drought (0-8-1) for the Senators, who won for the first time since a season-opening 5-3 decision over the Maple Leafs on Jan. 15. Thomas Chabot collected a goal and an assist for Ottawa, and Connor Brown also scored.
The North Division-leading Canadiens suffered their second regulation loss of the season despite goals from Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson. Phillip Danault collected two assists for Montreal, and Carey Price stopped 19 shots.
–Field Level Media
