Matthews scores in OT, Maple Leafs beat Jets to end skid

TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 21st goal of the season 59 seconds into overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 on Thursday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Ilya Mikheyev scored in regulation to help Toronto regain the overall NHL lead at 19-7-2. Frederik Andersen made 23 saves, and Matthews and Marner each added an assist.

Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals and an assist, and Paul Stastny also scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves.

Toronto got the winner at the end of a long shift when Matthews took a pass from Morgan Rielly and roofed a backhander to seal it.

The teams will complete the three-game series Saturday night.

CAPITALS 5, FLYERS 3

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 715th career goal to help Washington beat Philadelphia for its third straight victory and seventh in eight games.

Ovechkin moved within two goals shy of matching Phil Esposito for sixth on the NHL’s career goals list.

Conor Sheary, John Carlson and Nic Dowd scored three straight goals to build a 4-1 cushion and help the Capitals win for the seventh time in the last eight games. Dowd scored an empty-netter from about 198 feet in the final seconds

Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov and Scott Laughton scored for the Flyers.

ISLANDERS 5, DEVILS 3

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Matt Martin and Adam Pelech scored first-period goals, rookie Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves and New York welcomed back fans to Nassau Coliseum by beating New Jersey for its seventh straight victory.

The Islanders are 12-0-2 at the arena this year, and this win came with 1,000 frontline workers in the stands. They were the first fans at Nassau Coliseum since March 7, 2020, five days before last season was suspended due to the pandemic.

Noah Dobson, Josh Bailey and Brock Nelson also scored for the Islanders. Janne Kuokkanen, Mikhail Maltsev and Jack Hughes scored for the Devils.

HURRICANES 5, PREDATORS 1

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Morgan Geekie scored his first two goals of the season and Carolina used a rapid-fire scoring spree in the first period to beat Nashville for its seventh straight victory.

Geekie scored the game’s first and fourth goals. His opening tally began a span of three goals by the Hurricanes in less than 2 1/2 minutes.

Brock McGinn, Dougie Hamilton and Martin Necas also scored for the Hurricanes, and James Reimer made 15 of his 32 saves in the first period.

BRUINS 4, RANGERS 0

BOSTON (AP) — Jake DeBrusk returned to the Boston lineup after being benched one game for lack of effort and scored his first goal in almost a month, chasing New York goalie Alexandar Georgiev early in the second period.

David Krejci scored his first goal of the season and Brad Marchand had two assists — one of them after sliding the puck through his own skates to set up Patrice Bergeron’s short-handed goal that gave Boston a 2-0 lead after one. David Pastrnak also scored for Boston, and Jaroslav Halak stopped 28 shots for his second shutout of the year.

Georgiev stopped 10 of the 14 shots he saw before he was pulled five minutes into the second period after allowing back-to-back goals 1:21 apart to Krejci and DeBrusk. Keith Kinkaid stopped all 13 shots the rest of the way for New York,

RED WINGS 6, LIGHTNING 4

DETROIT (AP) — Anthony Mantha broke a tie goal late in the first period, Jonathan Bernier stopped a season-high 40 shots and Detroit beat Tampa Bay.

Brayden Point scored twice in a 1:14 stretch late in the game to pull the Lightning within one before they gave up an empty-net goal to Vladislav Namestnikov. Troy Stecher, Dylan Larkin also scored

Tampa Bay entered the game 19-0-1 against the Red Wings over the last five years, and its 20-game point streak was the longest in franchise history against a team. Detroit had lost four straight overall.

Mikhail Sergachev and Steven Stamkos also scored for Tampa Bay.

PENGUINS 5, SABRES 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Evgeni Malkin had a goal and assist and Pittsburgh beat free-falling Buffalo for its their fourth straight victory.

Jake Guentzel scored the go-ahead goal on the power play with 8:24 left in the second period. Brandon Tanev, Anthony Angelo and Bryan Rust, with an empty-netter, also scored in a game the Penguins never trailed.

Tristan Jarry stopped 21 shots and was assisted on Rust’s goal. Pittsburgh has won 11 of its past 14.

Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan became the NHL’s fourth U.S.-born coach to win 300 games, and 12th overall to have that many career victories and at least two Stanley Cup titles.

Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson scored for Buffalo.

The teams will complete the two-game series Saturday night.

PANTHERS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4, OT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Frank Vatrano scored 2:48 into overtime, Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves and Florida beat Columbus to sweep the two-game series.

The Panthers scored three times in the third period to erase a 4-1 deficit before Vatrano tipped in a rebounded shot from Jonathan Huberdeau to win it.

Patric Hornqvist, Ryan Lomberg, Owen Tippett and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers. They have won four of five.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two second-period goals, Patrik Laine and Max Domi also scored and Elvis Merzlikins had 27 saves for the Blue Jackets.

BLACKHAWKS 4, STARS 2

DALLAS (AP) — Carl Soderberg and Alex DeBrincat scored power-play goals in the second period and Chicago scored on four of its first eight shots against Dallas.

Thirty-seven-year-old defenseman Duncan Keith had his first goal in exactly a calendar year, Dominik Kubalik also scored and rookie Kevin Lankinen made 28 saves.

Roope Hintz and John Klingberg scored for the Stars.