NHL Capsules: Anders Lee scores 2, Islanders hold on to beat Lightning
TAMPA, Fla. – Anders Lee scored twice and the New York Islanders held on after nearly blowing a four-goal lead, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 Saturday night.
John Tavares had a goal and two assists, and Andrew Ladd and Brock Nelson also scored for the Islanders (11-6-2), who ended Tampa Bay’s five-game winning streak and handed the Lightning (15-3-2) just their third regulation loss. Josh Bailey had three assists and Thomas Griess stopped 36 shots to improve to 4-0-1 in his last five starts.
Yanni Gourde had two goals and Ondrej Palat had the other for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 27 saves.
Lee scored during a two-goal first and added a power-play goal at 1:05 of the third as the Islanders went ahead 4-0.
After Gourde and Palat scored 13 seconds apart to cut their deficit in half at 3:26 of the final period, Gourde pulled the Lightning to 4-3 with 3:36 left.
Tavares sealed the Islanders’ win with an empty-netter with 22 seconds to go.
Predators 5, Avalanche 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Craig Smith had a goal and an assist, Pekka Rinne made 29 saves and Nashville beat Colorado.
Colton Sissons, Anthony Bitetto, Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for Nashville, winners of six of seven. Roman Josi, Kevin Fiala and P.K. Subban each had two assists.
Andrei Mironov had a goal and an assist and J.T. Compher also scored for Colorado, which has lost four of five. Semyon Varlamov had 19 saves.
Nashville has defeated the Avalanche eight straight times.
Smith scored the game’s first goal with 35 seconds remaining in the opening period. With Nashville on a power play, Varlamov stopped Subban’s slap shot from the blue line, but Smith was in front and able to put the rebound in for his seventh goal.
Blackhawks 2, Penguins 1
PITTSBURGH – Artem Anisimov scored a power-play goal in the third period, and Chicago continued its winning streak against Pittsburgh with a 2-1 victory.
Anisimov scored his 10th goal of the season just 21 seconds after Pittsburgh tied the game. Gustav Forsling scored his second for the Blackhawks, who won their eighth straight against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins.
The Blackhawks have won three of their last four games after taking two of their previous seven.
Corey Crawford made 35 saves for Chicago, including a right-pad stop on Phil Kessel in the final 20 seconds.
Crawford briefly left the game with an apparent upper-body injury in the second period. Crawford left the crease to cover the puck, and the Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin clipped him in the head and was assessed an interference penalty. Anton Forsberg entered the game and didn’t face a shot until Crawford returned nearly three minutes later.
Matt Hunwick scored his second of the season, a short-handed goal, for Pittsburgh. He missed the previous 15 games with a concussion.
Capitals 3, Wild 1
WASHINGTON – Alex Ovechkin returned from taking a puck to the face, T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist and Washington Capitals snapped Minnesota’s winning streak at four.
Behind goals from Oshie, Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov and 30 saves by goaltender Braden Holtby, the Capitals stopped their skid at two and won their fifth consecutive game at home.
Ovechkin was bloodied in the second period when a puck ramped off his stick and into his face, but Washington’s captain got some repairs and was back on the ice for the start of the third. He set up Kuznetsov’s goal late in the period.
Nino Niederreiter scored for Minnesota, which lost for the first time since Nov. 8. Backup Alex Stalock stopped 40 of 43 shots in his first career start against the Capitals.
After back-to-back bad road losses, the Capitals got a boost from scoring first. A boarding penalty to Kyle Quincey opened the door, and Oshie gave them a 1-0 lead 9:42 in with his seventh power-play goal of the season, tied with Steven Stamkos for the most in the NHL.
Maple Leafs 6, Canadiens 0
MONTREAL – Ron Hainsey and Nazem Kadri scored 37 seconds apart in the second period, Frederik Andersen stopped 33 shots for his second straight shutout, and Toronto beat Montreal for its sixth straight win.
Auston Matthews had two goals, and James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown also scored for Toronto. The Maple Leafs were coming off a 1-0 overtime win over New Jersey two nights earlier in which Andersen had 42 saves.
Charlie Lindgren finished with 22 saves, giving up five goals for the second straight game. He was replaced at 9:39 of the third by Antti Niemi, who stopped three of four shots he faced in his first game for Montreal since he was claimed off waivers this week.
Matthews returned to the Toronto lineup after missing four games with an upper-body injury and had a good scoring chance early on. Montreal had a 16-6 shot advantage in the first but scoring chances were even.
Blues 4, Canucks 3 (OT)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Brayden Schenn scored at 2:41 of overtime to give St. Louis a victory over Vancouver.
Colton Parayko, Vladimir Sobotka and Joel Edmundson scored in regulation for Western Conference-leading St. Louis. Paul Stastny had three assists and Jake Allen stopped 20 shots.
On the winner, Schenn cut through the neutral zone and across the blue line and beat Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson high on the blocker side for his eighth goal of the season.
Sven Baertschi had a goal and an assist, and Brock Boeser and Markus Granlund also scored for Vancouver, which has lost four of five (1-3-1). Loui Eriksson had two assists and Nilsson finished with 27 saves. . Nilsson made 27 saves for the Canucks, who have lost four of five.
Hurricanes 3, Sabres 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Sebastian Aho scored with 4:45 remaining to lift Carolina over Buffalo on Saturday night for its third straight win.
Justin Williams scored in the second period and Joakim Nordstrom added an empty-netter. Scott Darling had 24 saves for the Hurricanes, who are 4-1-1 in the last six games since losing four in a row.
Evander Kane scored for the Sabres, who have lost five straight. Chad Johnson stopped 30 shots.
Aho scored on a breakaway after Buffalo’s Justin Falk lost the puck near his own blue line. Aho’s wrist shot from the right slot went over Johnson’s glove. Aho has scored in three straight games, his first three goals of the season.
Williams gave Carolina a 1-0 lead with 5:14 left in the second. On an odd-man rush with Marcus Kruger, Williams stopped in the left slot, faked a pass and beat Johnson with a low wrist shot.
Nordstrom scored with 41 seconds remaining.
Kane got his 11th of the season to tie it with 7:33 remaining in the third. Ryan O’Reilly stole a pass from Haydn Fleury and fed Kane in the left slot.
Flames 5, Flyers 4 (OT)
PHILADELPHIA – Sean Monahan had the first hat trick of his NHL career, and Michael Frolik scored 1:18 into overtime to give the Calgary the win over Philadelphia.
Johnny Gaudreau added a goal and two assists and extended his points streak to a career-high nine games for the Flames, who won for the sixth time in eight games.
Goaltender Mike Smith, who returned from an upper body injury, turned aside 35 of 39 shots to earn his 10th win for the Flames (11-8-0).
Brian Elliott, who appeared in 49 games for the Flames last season, recorded 27 saves in the loss for the Flyers. Philadelphia (8-8-4) lost for the fourth straight time.
Defensemen Brandon Manning and Ivan Provorov and forwards Sean Couturier and Nolan Patrick scored for the Flyers.
The Flames, who rank last in the NHL on the penalty kill, held the Flyers to just one shot on a power play in the final 2 minutes of regulation.
The teams combined for eight goals on 54 shots through the opening 40 minutes.
Kings 4, Panthers 0
LOS ANGELES – Johnny Brodzinski scored his first NHL goal, and Andy Adreoff scored his first of the season to lead the Los Angeles past Florida.
Backup Darcy Kuemper stopped 24 shots for the Kings for his eighth career shutout and first since Jan. 21, 2016, with Minnesota.
Los Angeles scored three goals in the third period to put away Florida and end a four-game losing streak. All those losses came at home after Los Angeles went 11-2-2 in its first 15 games.
Tyler Toffoli scored at 8:14 of the first period on a delayed penalty, beating James Reimer for a tap-in goal, his ninth of the season. Alex Iafallo battled to protect the puck behind the net to help set up the goal, and Drew Doughty made a nice pass to Toffoli. Dustin Brown also assisted.
Brodzinski scored on a backhander at 2:23 of the third to beat Reimer top shelf. His first career goal came against a Panthers team that includes Nick Bjugstad, his former high school teammate in Blaine, Minnesota.
Coyotes 3, Senators 2 (OT)
OTTAWA, Ontario – Anthony Duclair scored in overtime to complete a hat trick and Arizona beat Ottawa for its second straight victory.
Antti Raanta made 30 saves to help the Coyotes improve to 4-15-3. On Thursday night in Montreal, they rallied to beat the Canadiens 5-4 for their first regulation victory of the season.
Mark Stone and Mark Borowiecki scored for the Senators, and Mike Condon stopped 25 shots.
Duclair scored at 1:23 of overtime, his shot trickling through Condon’s pads and over the goal line.
The Senators opened the scoring late in the first when Tom Pyatt sprung Stone down the wing to beat Raanta for his team-leading 13th goal. The Coyotes tied it less than two minutes later. Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson tried to knock down Jason Demers’ pass, but it got past him and allowed Duclair to beat him in a foot race as he wrapped a puck behind Condon.
Ottawa regained the lead early in the second when Cody Ceci’s rebound bounced right to Borowiecki for an open right side.
Duclair tied it at 2 on a power play midway through the third period. Condon dove to make the save, but whiffed on the puck leaving an easy play for Duclair.
Stars 6, Oilers 3
DALLAS – Ben Bishop shut out Edmonton over the last 39 minutes after Kari Lehtonen was pulled, and Dallas beat Edmonton.
Bishop made 17 saves after replacing Lehtonen early in the second period with Edmonton leading 3-2.
Devin Shore tied the game at 3 with his first goal this season, and Radek Faksa scored with 1:26 left in the second to put Dallas ahead.
Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza added third-period goals. Bishop assisted on Spezza’s power-play goal.
Antoine Roussel and Alexander Radulov scored to give Dallas a 2-0 lead, but Drake Caggiula and Connor McDavid scored to tie the game at 2 entering the second period.
Caggiula scored his second goal of the game less than one minute into the second.
Jets 5, Devils 2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Patrik Laine, Jacob Trouba and Matt Hendricks scored in a 95-second span, and Winnipeg beat New Jersey for its fourth straight win.
Kyle Connor and Mathieu Perreault also scored during Winnipeg’s five-goal second period, and Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves. Mark Scheifele and Joel Armia each had two assists, helping the Jets improve to 7-2-1 at home this season.
Devils goalie Cory Schneider played two periods and stopped 17 shots. Keith Kinkaid had 12 saves in the third.
Brian Gibbons and Will Butcher scored for New Jersey (11-5-3), which dropped to 6-2-2 on the road. Butcher also had an assist.
A scoreless first period was followed by five goals in the first half of the second.
Connor rushed the net and sent a Blake Wheeler rebound past Schneider at 5:51, but Gibbons tied it with his ninth goal of the season.
The Jets then put away with the Devils with an impressive scoring spree.
Bruins 3, Sharks 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Anton Khudobin stopped 36 shots to lead Boston over San Jose.
Peter Cehlarik, Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen scored to help the Bruins get their second straight win after a four-game skid (0-3-1). Boston had totaled nine goals in its previous five games, scoring more than two for just the second time in nine November games.
Khudobin remained unbeaten in regulation (5-0-2) and improved to 4-1 with a 0.99 goals-against average in five games against the Sharks.
Timo Meier scored and Aaron Dell finished with 18 saves for the Sharks, one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. San Jose has been held to two of fewer goals in five of their seven games this month.