NHL Roundup: Tkachuk scores in return from injury as Panthers edge Sabres

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal and had an assist in his return from injury and the Florida Panthers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Tkachuk gave Florida a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal with 4:24 to go in the first period and never relinquished it to win for the eighth time in nine games and move into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with the idle Boston Bruins. Both teams have 82 points.

Sam Bennett and Brandon Montour also scored for the Panthers while Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves. Montour also picked up a pair of assists and has 10 points in his past five games.

Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 34 shots.

AVALANCHE 5, STARS 1

DENVER (AP) — Andrew Cogliano and Nathan MacKinnon scored 49 seconds apart, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 33 shots and Colorado cruised to a win over Dallas.

MacKinnon also had an assist to give him at least a point in all 29 home games this season. It’s the longest home point streak since Mario Lemieux’s 31-game streak in 1995-96.

Joel Kiviranta, Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen also had goals as Colorado scored five straight after falling behind 1-0 just 60 seconds into the game.

It was a big night for Cale Makar, who had an assist on MacKinnon’s goal to become the highest-scoring defenseman in franchise history. His 308th career point broke a tie with Tyson Barrie.

Logan Stankoven scored early and Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for Dallas.

DEVILS 7, SHARKS 2

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Nico Hischier had a goal and three assists, Jack Hughes added a goal and two assists and the Devils beat the Sharks.

New Jersey scored seven straight goals after falling behind 1-0 and improved to 16-10-2 on the road. The Devils, who had lost three of four, sit five points back of a playoff spot.

Jesper Bratt, Kevin Bahl, Colin Miller, Brendan Smith and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey. Timo Meier had two assists in his return to San Jose.

Nico Sturm and Justin Bailey scored for San Jose.

JETS 4, BLUES 2

WINNIPEG (AP) — Sean Monahan scored a goal and added an assist after missing a game because of an illness to help Winnipeg extend its win streak to four games.

Brenden Dillon, Kyle Connor and Alex Iafallo also scored for the Jets, which has won seven of their last eight. Josh Morrissey and Nikolaj Ehlers each contributed two assists and Laurent Brossoit made 36 saves.

Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues, who are 2-4-0 in their past six games. St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer made his first start in his hometown and stopped 28 shots.

Winnipeg has won all three games against the Blues this season.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, MAPLE LEAFS 2

TORONTO (AP) — Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist, William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and Vegas snapped Toronto’s seven-game winning streak.

Ivan Barbashev and Mason Morelli scored just over three minutes apart in the second period to build a 2-0 lead for Vegas, which got 28 saves from Adin Hill. Nicolas Roy added a late goal and Shea Theodore had three assists.

Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Reaves scored for Toronto and Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 shots.

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe was sent to the locker room by officials following a disagreement with 2:14 left in regulation.

HURRICANES 3, WILD 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Stefan Noesen scored a goal with his face midway through the third period and Carolina rallied to beat Minnesota.

Jordan Staal had a goal and assist and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, which won for the first time in three games and improved to 10-1-2 in their last 13 road games.

Connor Dewar and Jonas Brodin scored for Minnesota, which lost in regulation for just the second time in 10 games since the All-Star break. Ryan Hartman assisted on both goals and Gustavsson stopped 25 shots.

Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov made 28 saves and has allowed just 13 goals in eight games played this month.

RED WINGS 8, CAPITALS 3

DETROIT (AP) — Shayne Gostisbehere scored in each of the first two periods and Detroit beat Washington for their first six-game winning streak in nearly five years.

Lucas Raymond, Joe Veleno, J.T. Compher, Robby Fabbri, Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings. Alex Lyon finished with 18 saves.

Detroit leads the Eastern Conference’s wild-card standings and the franchise’s fans are clearly fired up about the team’s chances to make the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

Hendrix Lapierre, Michael Sgarbossa and Max Pacioretty scored and Charlie Lindgren stopped 23 shots for the Capitals, who had won four of their last five games to gain some ground on Philadelphia for the Metropolitan Division’s third guaranteed playoff spot.

FLYERS 6, LIGHTNING 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink each scored as Philadelphia defeated Tampa Bay after a power outage led to a nine-minute delay in the first period.

The Flyers also got goals from three defensemen, Travis Sanheim, Sean Walker, and an empty-netter from Cam York in the third period. Noah Cates also added an empty-netter and goalie Samuel Ersson made 21 saves to earn the win, just the second in the last six games for Philadelphia.

Nicholas Paul and Steven Stamkos each scored for the Lightning, who had their four-game road winning streak snapped. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots. Nikita Kucherov picked up an assist on Stamkos’ goal, adding to his league-leading point total. Kucherov has 103 points in 60 games.

With the Flyers leading 1-0 and 13:43 remaining in the first period, a section of the building lost power and the game was stopped. The emergency lighting remained on and the teams resumed play after the delay.

PREDATORS 4, SENATORS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Roman Josi had two goals and an assist as Nashville extended its winning streak to six games with a victory over Ottawa.

Gustav Nyquist had a goal and two assists, Michael McCarron also scored and Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. Nashville returned from a road swing in which it won all five games, the first time in franchise history it's gone 5-for-5 away from home.

Drake Batherson scored and Joonas Korpisalo made 32 saves for Ottawa, which failed to record a shot on goal in the third period and lost for the second straight night after falling 6-3 at Washington on Monday.

CANADIENS 4, COYOTES 2

MONTREAL (AP) — Sam Montembeault made 36 saves to help Montreal snap their five-game losing streak with a victory over Arizona.

Joel Armia, Jordan Harris, Tanner Pearson and Nick Suzuki, with an empty-net goal, scored for Montreal.

Alex Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad scored for Arizona.

Connor Ingram made 17 saves as Arizona’s losing streak was extended to 13 games.

FLAMES 4, KINGS 2

CALGARY (AP) — Yegor Sharangovich scored the go-ahead goal at 12:09 of the third period as Calgary earned its fourth straight win.

Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund, into an empty net, also scored for Calgary, while Chris Tanev chipped in a pair of assists. The Flames remain five points back of Nashville for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Jacob Markstrom had 21 stops and an assist.

Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala provided the offense for Los Angeles, which has dropped the first two of its three-game Western Canada road trip. The Kings are tied in points with Nashville, but hold down the first wild-card spot having two games in hand.

Making his first start in four games, former Flame Cam Talbot had 33 saves for the Kings.

PENGUINS 4, CANUCKS 3, OT

VANCOUVER (AP) — Erik Karlsson scored the winning goal at 1:42 of overtime to lift the Penguins over the Canucks for their third consecutive victory.

Rickard Rakell, with two goals, and Lars Eller added the others for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 32 saves between regulation and overtime.

J.T. Miller, with a goal and an assist, Nils Hoglander and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver with Tyler Myers grabbing an assist. Thatcher Demko stopped 36 shots.

Down 2-0 entering the second period, Rakell scored twice in just over seven minutes to tie the game.