NHL round-up: Streaking Rangers blow by Predators
The Rangers, who blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-0 on Saturday night, have won four straight by a combined score of 22-5. They have scored 15 unanswered goals in their last three games, the longest streak in the NHL this season.
K'Andre Miller scored twice in the first, and Filip Chytil, Mika Zibanejad, Tyler Motte and Artemi Panarin also collected goals as the Rangers tied the franchise record for most goals in a first period, set most recently against the Los Angeles Kings in an 8-3 win on December 15th, 1999. Goalie Jaroslav Halak stopped all 22 shots he faced one night after Igor Shesterkin recorded the shutout with 33 saves.
The Predators have lost three straight (0-2-1). They entered Sunday five points behind the Winnipeg Jets in the race for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Goalie Kevin Lankinen was pulled after allowing four goals on just five shots in the first 9:09. Juuse Saros went the rest of the way and made 26 saves.
Bruins 7, Sabres 0
Boston received another strong performance from goaltender Jeremy Swayman and extended its winning streak to three games by blasting host Buffalo.
Swayman, who recorded 36 saves in a 3-0 victory over Winnipeg on Thursday night, stopped 27 Buffalo shots to collect his fourth shutout of the season and the ninth of his career. Patrice Bergeron, Garnet Hathaway, Jake DeBrusk, Hampus Lindholm, David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and Charlie McAvoy scored for Boston, which completed a five-game road trip with a 3-2-0 record.
The loss was the beginning of a three-game homestand for the Sabres, who received 19 saves from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Wild 5, Capitals 3
Matt Boldy had a hat-trick, and Minnesota defeated Washington in Saint Paul, Minn.
Ryan Reaves and Brandon Duhaime also scored for the Wild, who were playing the second half of a back-to-back after a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves. Minnesota moved ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for sole possession of second place in the Central Division, but the Wild have played two more games.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice for the Capitals, who have lost three of four. Charlie Lindgren made 35 saves. Washington trails the Pittsburgh Penguins by five points for the second wild-card entry into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Golden Knights 7, Blue Jackets 2
Jack Eichel had a hat-trick and Vegas scored four times in the span of 6:22 in the second period to pull away for a five-goal victory over Columbus in Las Vegas.
It was the fourth hat-trick of Eichel's career. Phil Kessel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist, Alex Pietrangelo tied a team record for defensemen with four assists and Zach Whitecloud and Paul Cotter also scored goals for Vegas, which broke a tie for first place in the Pacific Division with the idle Los Angeles Kings with its fifth win in its last six games.
Kirill Marchenko and Liam Foudy scored goals and Patrik Laine had two assists for Columbus, which suffered its seventh loss in eight games. Daniil Tarasov made 24 saves on 29 shots before being pulled with 3:03 left in the second period. Michael Hutchinson finished up and made 10 saves.
Blues 3, Jets 0
Joel Hofer and Thomas Greiss combined for a 34-save shutout as St. Louis defeated visiting Winnipeg.
Hofer made 33 saves in his second game filling in for Jordan Binnington, who completed his two-game NHL suspension Sunday. Greiss stopped the only shot he faced while Hofer was out of the game for a skate repair. Kasperi Kapanen had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who have won four of their last six games. Nathan Walker and Jakub Vrana also scored for St. Louis.
Connor Hellebuyck made 14 saves for the Jets, who suffered their third loss in their last four games.
Devils 5, Lightning 2
Jesper Bratt notched his first career hat-trick, and Nico Hischier netted the game-winner in a three-goal second period in New Jersey's comeback win over host Tampa Bay.
The Devils trailed 2-0 in the second period but got three goals from the two forwards in less than six minutes to win for the first time in four games (1-2-1). Bratt and Hischier, who added an assist, each reached 30 goals in the win as New Jersey improved its stellar road record to 26-5-4.
For the Lightning, Nikita Kucherov reached 100 points with a goal, and Alex Killorn scored. Andrei Vasilevskiy (31-18-4) made 34 saves. New Jersey held Tampa Bay's third-ranked power play scoreless on four attempts.
Canucks 2, Ducks 1
Elias Pettersson scored his career-high 33rd goal of the season as visiting Vancouver beat Anaheim and took both games of a two-game California swing.
Pettersson eclipsed his previous season best of 32 goals from last season. Canucks goalie Collin Delia stopped 17 shots. Delia grew up just north of Anaheim, home of the Ducks, in Rancho Cucamonga.
Ryan Strome scored the lone goal and John Gibson stopped 38 shots for Anaheim, which is halfway through an eight-game homestand.
