With the New York Rangers in dire need of a win, Igor Shesterkin turned in a spectacular performance on Friday. The goalie made 41 saves to end his team’s three-game losing streak in a 3-1 victory against the host Dallas Stars.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist while Reilly Smith and Chris Kreider also scored for New York.
Shesterkin, the Rangers’ top goalie, entered play having lost three of his past four starts. The win marked the first time he allowed one or fewer goals since a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 1.
Roope Hintz scored and Jake Oettinger stopped 27 shots for the Stars, who took their second consecutive loss to finish 3-3-0 on their homestand.
Panthers 2, Blues 1 (OT)
Aleksander Barkov scored with 17 seconds left in overtime to lift Florida past St. Louis in Sunrise, Fla.
Uvis Balinskis also scored for the Panthers, who have gone 9-2-1 in their past 12 games. Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, including two on Dylan Holloway in overtime.
Oskar Sundqvist scored and Joel Hofer made 25 saves for the Blues, who have won just one of their past six games.
Maple Leafs 6, Sabres 3
William Nylander scored and added two assists as Toronto doubled up host Buffalo.
Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Nicholas Robertson each scored a goal and made an assist. Auston Matthews and Max Pacioretty also scored for the Leafs, who have won three straight. Matt Murray, making his first NHL start in 628 days after being recalled from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, stopped 24 shots.
JJ Peterka, Mattias Samuelsson and Owen Power scored for Buffalo, which has lost 12 straight (0-9-3). Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 13 shots before being replaced by James Reimer, who stopped 14 of 15 shots.
Canadiens 4, Red Wings 3
Patrik Laine scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 7:58 remaining as Montreal won at Detroit.
The Canadiens’ Jake Evans scored a short-handed goal and added an assist in his 300th career game. Emil Heineman also had a goal and an assist, Arber Xhekaj scored his first goal of the season and Sam Montembeault made 25 saves in the win.
Patrick Kane, Joe Veleno and Tyler Motte scored for the Red Wings, and Michael Rasmussen had two assists. Cam Talbot made 29 saves. The teams will complete the home-and-home set in Montreal on Saturday night.
Capitals 3, Hurricanes 1
Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 shots and host Washington benefitted from goals late in the first two periods to defeat Carolina in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Metropolitan Division.
Aliaksei Protas, Jakub Vrana and Connor McMichael scored for the Capitals, who ended a two-game slide. Lindgren, who earned his 10th victory of the season, joined teammate Logan Thompson (12) with a double-digit win total.
Seth Jarvis scored for the Hurricanes, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves.
Utah 2, Wild 1
Dylan Guenther scored a pair of goals to lift the Utah Hockey Club to a win over Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minn.
Goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped 28 of 29 shots for Utah, which notched a season high with its fourth victory in a row.
Mats Zuccarello scored the lone goal for Minnesota, which lost for the third straight game and fell for the fifth time in seven games. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up two goals on 18 shots.
Avalanche 4, Ducks 2
Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and an empty-net goal in Colorado’s road win over Anaheim.
Scott Wedgewood stopped 30 of 32 shots to improve to 4-2 since being acquired from Nashville on Nov. 30. Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar each had a goal and an assist, and Mikko Rantanen had two assists as Colorado won its second straight game.
Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn scored for the Ducks, who had won their last two games. John Gibson stopped 19 of 22 shots, including a save on a Samuel Girard penalty shot late in the third period.
–Field Level Media
