NHL roundup: Capitals lose Wilson, but find a way to beat Panthers 4-3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Tuch and Aliaksei Protas scored in the second period to lift the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 National Hockey League victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

Brady Tkachuk scored two goals for the Panthers in the first, the latter coming on an extended power play after Washington’s Tom Wilson was ejected for a hit on Sandis Valmanis, but the Capitals rallied in the second.

Jack St. Ivany scored his first career goal for the Capitals in the first, and Pierre-Luc Dubois added one in the third. Sam Bennett brought the Panthers within one with 46.6 seconds to play.

Valmanis did not return after Wilson’s hit to his back knocked him headfirst into the area where the boards and glass meet. Wilson was given a major penalty for boarding, and Tkachuk put Florida ahead 2-1.

Tuch tied it with his 11th goal of the season, and then Washington took the lead with a nice team goal. Ryan Leonard battled behind the net and sent the puck to Dubois in the left circle. He made one more pass to Protas on the right doorstep, and he had an open net to shoot at.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:

PREDATORS 3 BLUES 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist and Juuse Saros made 25 saves to lead Nashville to a 3-1 win over the St. Louis.

Ross Colton and Nick Perbix also scored and Roman Josi had two assists for Nashville.

Jimmy Snuggerud scored and Joel Hofer made 26 saves for the Blues, who have lost three straight.

Snuggerud scored the game’s first goal at 13:07 of the opening period.

With the Blues on a power play, Snuggerud beat Saros with a one-timer from the lower part of the left faceoff circle.

Snuggerud leads the Blues with nine goals this season.

Nashville, who entered Saturday with the NHL’s third-best penalty kill at 90 per cent, had not allowed a power-play goal against in its previous seven games.

RANGERS 4 KRAKEN 3

SEATTLE (AP) — Gabe Perreault, Tye Kartye and Jaroslav Chmelar scored in the first period and New York held off Seattle for their third straight victory.

Pavel Dorofeyevalos also scored for the Rangers (10-7-1), and Alexis Lafrenière and Mika Zibanejad each had two assists.

Joonas Korpisalo stopped 25 shots in his Rangers debut. Acquired from Boston in July, he had been on injured reserve because of a foot infection.

Kaapo Kakko, Jordan Eberle and Vince Dunn scored for Seattle (9-6-1) in the final period. Berkley Catton had two assists, extending his points streak to a career-high eight games.

Joey Daccord was pulled for Philipp Grubauer after giving up three goals in the first 14 minutes. Grubauer stopped 15 shots.

CANADIENS 4 MAPLE LEAFS 2

TORONTO (AP) — Alex Newhook scored twice in the first period, Jacob Fowler made 26 saves and Montreal beat Toronto.

Chris Kreider and Zachary Bolduc also scored for Montreal (11-3-3). The Canadiens have won seven of their last eight games.

William Nylander and Gavin McKenna scored for Toronto (8-8-2), and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots. The Maple Leafs have lost two straight and four of five in regulation.

The Canadiens opened the scoring at 5:56 of the first when Newhook’s pass in front of Bobrovsky pinballed into Toronto’s net after a giveaway by McKenna started the sequence. Newhook then tipped in Kaiden Guhle’s point shot with 6:54 left.

The Canadiens made it 3-0 on a breakaway with 7:03 to go in the second when Kreider intercepted McKenna’s pass at Montreal’s blue line and beat Bobrovsky past his blocker. Toronto’s rookie winger was benched for the rest of the period.

SENATORS 4 MAMMOTH 2

OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Nick Cousins broke a tie on a deflection with 2:18 left and Ottawa beat Utah.

Shane Pinto added an empty-net goal with 16 seconds left.

Fabian Zetterlund and Michael Amadio also scored for the Senators (11-6-1). Samuel Ersson turned away 30 shots for his third victory of the season.

Clayton Keller and Barrett Hayton scored for the Mammoth (10-7-1), with Karel Vejmelka making 17 saves.

The Mammoth played the fifth and final game of a trip where they went 2-2-1.

DEVILS 5 ISLANDERS 4 (OT)

NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Hughes scored in overtime to lift the New Jersey Devils to a victory over New York.

Dougie Hamilton, Luke Evangelista, Declan Chisholm and Evan Rodrigues also scored for New Jersey, which extended its winning streak to four games. Jake Allen made 19 saves.

Hughes scored with 3:42 remaining in overtime, keeping the puck on a two-on-one rush before firing a shot past Ilya Sorokin’s blocker.

Anthony Duclair, Matthew Schaefer, Simon Holmstrom and Victor Eklund scored for New York, which lost its third straight game. Sorokin finished with 45 saves and captain Bo Horvat added two assists.

The Devils erased a two-goal deficit in the third period, capped by Hamilton’s power-play goal with 6:18 remaining in regulation. Jack Hughes curled around the net before finding Hamilton in the slot for the tying goal.

HURRICANES 9 BLACKHAWKS 2

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jordan Martinook scored two of Carolina’s four first-period goals in the Hurricanes’ win over Chicago.

Andrei Svechnikov added two goals, and Seth Jarvis, Jackson Blake, Sebastian Aho, Shayne Gostisbehere and Alexander Nikishin, making his season debut, also had goals. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Eric Robinson and William Carrier all had two assists for the NHL-best Hurricanes, who’ve won six of their last seven games.

The nine goals tied the Carolina franchise record since relocating from Hartford, Conn., in 1997.

Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 18 shots in his first outing since his franchise-record 10-game winning streak ended Tuesday in Nashville.

STARS 4 SHARKS 3

DALLAS (AP) — Defenceman Thomas Harley scored one of Dallas’ three power-play goals in his first three-point game of the season and the Stars beat San Jose.

Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Benn and Jason Robertson also scored for the Stars, who are 3-0-1 in their last four games. Jake Oettinger made 20 saves.

Michael Misa, rookie Ivar Stenberg and Will Smith scored for the Sharks, who were swept in a road back-to-back after losing at Minnesota on Friday night and have dropped five straight, all in regulation.

Macklin Celebrini assisted on each Sharks goal for his fourth three-point game of the season. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 26 shots.

The Stars are 10-0-1 against the Sharks dating to March 2024.

LIGHTNING 4 WILD 3 (OT)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored a power-play goal 3:23 into overtime and Tampa Bay rallied past Minnesota.

In the opener of a four-game trip, the Lightning got two goals and an assist from Jake Guentzel and a goal and two assists from defenceman Charle-Edouard D’Astous. Brayden Point and John Carlson also had two assists, and Dennis Hildeby made 19 saves.

Kucherov took a pass from Guentzel in the slot and ripped a shot past Calvin Pickard for his first goal in seven games.

The reigning NHL MVP, Kucherov recently requested a trade from the Lightning because he feels disrespected by a lack of communication with general manager Julien BriseBois. Kucherov, a two-time MVP, can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Tampa Bay has won three in a row and is 4-0-2 in its past six games.

AVALANCHE 4 RED WINGS 0

DENVER (AP) — Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves, Martin Necas had two goals and two assists and Colorado beat Detroit.

Blackwood had his first shutout of the season and 18th of his career and Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar had a goal and two assists each for Colorado.

It was the 800th career game for Avs coach Jared Bednar, with all coming behind the Colorado bench. His 455 wins are fifth through 800 games.

The once-fierce rivalry, which accounted for five Stanley Cup titles from 1996-2002, has cooled significantly since Detroit moved to the Eastern Conference and the teams have not been competitive at the same time. Colorado has been a perennial title contender since 2020, winning it all in 2022, while the Red Wings are in the midst of an 11-season playoff drought.

OILERS 4 CANUCKS 2

EDMONTON, Alta. — Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist, Connor McDavid added three more assists and the Edmonton Oilers beat the struggling Vancouver Canucks 4-2.

Mattias Ekholm and Jason Dickinson also scored for the Oilers (12-3-3), who snapped a two-game slide. Edmonton is 10-0-2 when scoring first this season.

Devon Levi returned from an injury to make 20 saves and improve to 7-1-0 in the Edmonton net.

Max Sasson and Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks (3-15-1), who have lost five straight. They are 1-14-1 since a 2-1 start.

Leevi Merilainen stopped 26 shots for Vancouver.

McDavid extended his season-opening assist streak to 18 games. He leads the NHL with 37 assists and 47 points.

The Associated Press