Kucherov’s 3rd-period natural hat trick powers Lightning past Sabres 8-3

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had a natural hat trick and an assist — all in the third period — and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres 8-3 on Wednesday night for their fourth victory in five games.

Kucherov, the Russian star who requested a trade Oct. 30, had his eighth NHL hat trick after the Sabres scored three in a row to cut it to 4-3.

Brandon Hagel scored twice, John Carlson had a goal and four assists, and Scott Sabourin and Yanni Gourde also scored. Jake Guentzel had four assists, and Anthony Cirelli added three, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.

Josh Doan, Jason Zucker and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres, who have lost three of their last four. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made nine saves on 14 shots and Colten Ellis stopped five of eight shots in relief.

Thompson cut it to 4-3 33 seconds into the third period, but Kucherov soon took over, scoring his first two in a 2:46 span.

RANGERS 3, FLAMES 1

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mika Zibanejad scored twice in the second period, Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves and New York beat Calgary for its fourth victory in five games.

Tye Kartye, into an empty net, also scored for New York (11-8-1).

Adam Klapka scored for Calgary (8-10-1). Devin Cooley stopped 21 shots.

Zibanejad opened the scoring 59 seconds into the second period.

Halfway through the second, Zibanejad fired a one-timer on a power play past Cooley after being setup on a cross-ice pass from Pavel Dorofeyev.

Glenn Gawdin, who broke into the NHL with the Flames, made his New York debut at fourth-line center. It was his 14th NHL game and first since March 6, 2024.

OILERS 3, FLYERS 2, OT

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Evan Bouchard scored on a one-timer from the left side 47 seconds into overtime and Edmonton beat Philadelphia for its third straight victory.

Bouchard leads NHL defenseman with 11 goals.

Connor McDavid picked up an assist in the second period to extend his season-starting points streak to 20 games, tying his career high and becoming the eighth player in NHL history with multiple 20-game streaks. The Oilers captain leads the league with 49 points.

Zach Hyman scored twice for Edmonton (14-3-3), which matched its second-best start in franchise history through 20 games. The Oilers are 12-0-2 when they score first this season.

Tristan Jarry made 30 saves to improve to 5-1-3.

Tyson Foerster and Travis Sanheim scored for Philadelphia (5-10-6), which has lost four of its last five. Dan Vladar stopped 21 shots.

VEGAS 5, UTAH 3

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Stone had an early assist to move within two points of breaking Vegas’ career scoring record, Ivan Barbashev scored twice in the second period and the Golden Knights beat Utah.

Stone helped set up Jack Eichel’s power-play goal at 2:15 of the first period to push his Vegas total to 416 points, one off Jonathan Marchessault’s mark.

Carter Hart made 14 saves to help Vegas open a five-game homestand with its fourth straight victory. Mitch Marner had three assists.

Victor Olofsson made it 2-1 on a power play at 3:07 of the second, then set up Barbashev’s goals at 4:51 and 8:16 — the second on a breakaway.

After Dmitri Simashev pulled Utah to 4-3 at 9:07 of the third, Brett Howden slipped a shot through traffic 1:12 later to push the lead back to two goals.

Lawson Crouse scored for Utah in the first period and set up Jack McBain’s second-period goal.

Sebastian Cossa stopped 23 shots for the Mammoth.

PREDATORS 4, DUCKS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shane Wright, Nils Hoglander and Jayden Struble had a goal and an assist apiece, and Nashville extended its winning streak to six games with a victory over Anaheim.

Hoglander put Nashville ahead with a remarkable between-the-legs goal in the second period, and Justus Annunen made 27 saves to win his fourth consecutive start. Steven Stamkos also scored late in the third period.

One night after a comfortable shutout in Los Angeles, the Predators completed the Southern California sweep by cooling down the surging Ducks, whose five-game winning streak ended.

Cutter Gauthier extended the NHL’s most prolific seven-game goal scoring binge in more than three decades with a first-period score for Anaheim. Captain Mikael Granlund also had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who had been the first team since the 1988-89 Los Angeles Kings to score at least five goals in eight consecutive games.

Laurent Brossoit stopped 18 shots in his first loss in his five starts for Anaheim. The Ducks’ power play went 0 for 3 after scoring in eight consecutive games since Oct. 22.

PENGUINS 3, SHARKS 2, SO

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Ben Kindel scored in regulation and had the lone shootout goal and Pittsburgh beat San Jose after blowing a two-goal lead in third period.

San Jose star Macklin Celebrini scored with 8:28 left, and set up Mason Marchment’s tying goal with 4:11 remaining.

The Penguins then survived a San Jose power play for the final 43 seconds of overtime after Kris Letang was sent off for holding Sam Dickinson’s stick.

Sergei Murashov made 34 saves for the Penguins through overtime, then ended the tiebreaker by stopping Will Smith in the third round. Kindel scored on the first attempt of the shootout.

Samuel Girard opened the scoring for Pittsburgh on a slap shot at 8:57 of the first period, and Kindel connected on a power play at 3:28 of the third.

Yaroslav Askarov stopped 33 shots for San Jose.

The Associated Press