Cancer survivor Boyle scores on special night in Devils' win
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Brian Boyle scored one of the most meaningful goals of his career to help the New Jersey Devils beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Friday night.
The Devils were marking ''Hockey Fights Cancer Night,'' a battle especially meaningful to Boyle, who was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia during training camp and missed the first 10 games of the season while undergoing treatment.
The Prudential Center erupted with cheers when Boyle, set up by a beautiful drop pass from Will Butcher, scored at 10:17 of the second period to snap a 1-1 tie.
Taylor Hall got the second assist as part of his big night. The Devils' leading scorer had a goal and two assists as the Devils picked up points in a third straight game (2-0-1).
Damon Severson also scored for New Jersey and Cory Schneider made 23 saves to improve to 6-1-2 against the team that made him a first-round draft pick in 2004.
PREDATORS 2, BLUES 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist, and Pekka Rinne earned his second shutout of the season as Nashville beat St. Louis.
Johansen's scored his third goal of the season early in the first, and Rinne made it hold up, stopping 34 shots as he shut out St. Louis for the third time in his career.
Austin Watson added an empty-netter. Johansen earned his 200th career assist on the insurance tally.
The Predators won their fourth straight game and improved to 9-2 in November.
Carter Hutton made 26 saves for the Blues, taking his first loss in just his sixth appearance as St. Louis was shut out for the second time this season. Hutton made the save of the game, sliding across the crease to rob Viktor Arvidsson midway through the third period.
The Blues went 0-for-3 on the power play, mustering just two total shots as the Predators put up a wall on their own blue line. St. Louis entered the game with the 24th-ranked power play in the league.
CAPITALS 3, LIGHTNING 1
WASHINGTON (AP) - Alex Ovechkin and Devante Smith-Pelly each scored a goal, Philipp Grubauer stopped 25 shots for his first victory of the season and Washington beat Tampa Bay to end the Lightning's six-game road winning streak.
Jay Beagle clinched the victory for the Capitals, scoring into an empty net with 2:08 to go.
Ovechkin's second goal in two games and 15th overall followed a six-game drought. His resurgence comes after coach Barry Trotz placed Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom on the same line Wednesday night for the first time this season.
Although the Lightning (16-4-2) are off to the best start in franchise history, they couldn't find a way to snap their run of poor outings against the Capitals, especially in Washington. Tampa Bay has lost five straight in the nation's capital and is 2-8 in its last 10 games against the Caps.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored the lone goal for the Lightning, a power-play tally in the opening two minutes. Tampa Bay was seeking to match the franchise record for consecutive road wins - seven straight from Jan. 7-Feb. 1, 2007.
COYOTES 3, KINGS 2, OT
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Christian Fischer scored on a rebound with 2:17 left in overtime to lift Arizona past Los Angeles.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brendan Perlini also scored for the Coyotes, who have won three of their past four. Arizona won at home for the first second time in 10 home games (2-7-1).
Anze Kopitar and Trevor Lewis scored the Kings, who have lost three straight and seven of eight.
Christian Dvorak took the initial shot, which Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper seemed to stop with his right pad. But the puck trickled behind him and Fischer pounced on it, scoring into the vacated net from 3 feet away.
Lewis pulled the Kings even at 2-2 with 17:08 remaining.
STARS 6, FLAMES 4
DALLAS (AP) - Tyler Seguin scored two of his three goals in the third period, and Dallas rallied to beat Calgary.
Seguin broke a tie with an unassisted goal, the 200th goal of his career, with 5:57 to play and added an empty-net goal with a minute to go.
After a turnover by Calgary's Michael Stone, Seguin took the puck down the slot and sent a wrist shot past goalie Mike Smith into the upper right corner of the net for the winner.
Sean Monahan's second goal of the game gave Calgary a 4-3 lead 6 minutes into the third period.
Dallas' Gemel Smith tied it at 4 at 12:12.
Antoine Roussel and Alexander Radulov also scored for Dallas, and Ben Bishop made 34 saves. Michael Ferland and Johnny Gaudreau also scored for Calgary, and Smith stopped 36 shots.
BLUE JACKETS 5, SENATORS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Cam Atkinson scored twice to lift Columbus over Ottawa, extending the Blue Jackets' league-high winning streak to six games.
Sergei Bobrovsky turned back 24 shots for his 14th win in 19 starts. Columbus improved to 15-7-1 and leads the Metropolitan Division with 31 points.
Ottawa's Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots as the Senators (8-7-6) lost their fifth straight.
Tom Pyatt got the scoring started off the Senators' second shot in the first period, taking a cross-crease pass from a driving Derick Brassard and going top shelf over Bobrovsky's left shoulder. It was Pyatt's fourth goal of the season, assisted also by Mark Stone.
Atkinson tied the score less than 30 seconds later, stealing the puck from Alex Burrows just inside the Jackets' blue line and creating his own breakaway. He slipped the puck under Anderson's left skate for his fifth goal of the season. It was Atkinson's first score in eight games.
SABRES 3, OILERS 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Robin Lehner stopped 29 shots and Buffalo snapped a seven-game skid with a win over Edmonton.
Jack Eichel, Jacob Josefson and Kyle Okposo, with an empty-netter, scored for Buffalo, which had gone 0-5-2 since beating Washington 3-1 on Nov. 7. Lehner's best save came six minutes into the third period when he lunged to his left to foil Matt Benning's one-timer from the right circle.
Lehner's shutout bid was broken with 20 second left, when Yohann Auvitu beat him with a shot just inside the left post.
Edmonton came out flat in managing just four shots on goal in the opening period before taking 15 of its 30 shots in the third.
The Oilers' inconsistencies also continued in failing to build off a 6-2 win at Detroit on Wednesday. Edmonton (8-13-2) dropped to 1-4 in its past five and has won consecutive games just once this season.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, HURRICANES 4
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - James Van Riemsdyk had a goal and an assist to help Toronto beat Carolina.
Van Riemsdyk was one of four goal scorers in the second period for the Maple Leafs (15-8-1), who won for the seventh time in nine games.
The Hurricanes (9-8-4) lost their second straight home game. It wasn't for a lack of effort early or late.
Coming off of a lackluster 6-1 home loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night, Carolina scored three goals in the third period and had a 47-25 advantage on shots. Noah Hanifin's goal with 4:11 to go cut Toronto's lead to one, but Frederik Andersen, who made 43 saves, held off a late Carolina flurry.
The Hurricanes opened the game in control with 14 shots to four for Toronto in the opening period. Andersen was solid, and then the Maple Leafs' offense picked up in the second period.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, SHARKS 4, OT
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Jonathan Marchessault took a pass from Shea Theodore and poked the puck past Aaron Dell to give Vegas an overtime victory over San Jose.
William Karlsson scored two goals for Vegas, and Theodore and James Neal had a goal apiece.
The Sharks came into the game with the fourth-worst goals per game average (2.45) but got goals from Brent Burns, Chris Tierney and Mikkel Boedker in the second period to tie the game at 4.
San Jose had a goal reversed early in the third period when Joonas Donskoi's skate collided with goalie Malcolm Subban's skate in the crease.
Subban started the third period, replacing Vegas starter Maxime Lagace, who stopped 19 of the 23 shots he saw in the first two periods.
RANGERS 2, RED WINGS 1, OT
NEW YORK (AP) - Mats Zuccarello scored 37 seconds into overtime to give New York the victory over Detroit.
Zuccarello scored his fourth goal of the season, off assists from Brady Skjei and J.T. Miller. The Rangers improved to 12-9-2 with their third straight victory and ninth in 11 games.
Chris Kreider also scored for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves.
Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit, and Jimmy Howard stopped 29 shots.
Tatar opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:05 of the third.
Kreider tied it at 10:17 when he knocked a rebound past Howard.
Tatar's seventh goal of the season came with two seconds left on a tripping penalty to Michael Grabner. Tatar ripped the puck past Lundqvist, with assists to Niklas Kronwall and Henrik Zetterberg.
BRUINS 4, PENGUINS 3
BOSTON (AP) - Matt Grzelcyk scored his first career goal, David Krejci had a goal and an assist and Boston stretched its season-long winning streak to four straight with a win over Pittsburgh.
David Pastrnak's goal on a breakaway 5:06 into the third broke a 3-all tie and Anton Khudobin shut out the Penguins the rest of the way to win his fourth straight start. Khudobin finished with 17 saves for Boston, which outshot Pittsburgh 33-20 and has its longest winning streak of the season.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to tie it with three goals in the second period. Jake Guentzel and Phil Kessel also scored for the Penguins, who lost their third straight.
After being outshot 14-4 in the first period, Pittsburgh pulled within 2-1 just 1:02 into the second on a one-timer by Jake Guentzel with assists by Crosby and Kris Letang.
ISLANDERS 5, FLYERS 4, OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Defenseman Nick Leddy snapped a shot past Philadelphia goalie Brian Elliott 2:44 into overtime to give New York the victory.
Rookie Mathew Barzal, Cal Clutterbuck, Jordan Eberle and Andrew Ladd scored in regulation and Thomas Greiss made 26 saves to help the Islanders win for the fifth time in six games. They moved six points ahead of the Flyers in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Ladd tied it with 7:49 left, scoring off a pass from Eberle from about 5 feet in front of the crease.
Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Couturier scored in the second period for the Flyers. They blew a 4-2 lead in the third to lose for the seventh straight time. The Islanders also beat the Flyers in overtime Wednesday night, a 4-3 decision in Brooklyn.
Elliott made 32 saves for Philadelphia.
JETS 4, DUCKS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Nikolaj Ehlers scored two goals in the game's first 5 minutes, and streaking Winnipeg went on to beat Anaheim.
The Jets have won six of their last seven.
Bryan Little also had a goal and two assists for Winnipeg. Ehler added an assist to his two goals. Kyle Connor scored an empty-net goal from the red line, his sixth goal of the season.
Conner Hellebuyck stopped 30 shots for the Jets.
Anaheim's lone goal came from Francois Beauchemin. John Gibson stopped 34 of 36 shots for the Ducks.
Winnipeg scored on two of its three power plays, while Anaheim was unable to score during its two man-advantage situations.
The Jets went up 3-1 on a power play midway through the second period, with Little slipping one past Gibson. Little assisted on Winnepeg's first two goals.
WILD 3, AVALANCHE 2, SO
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Charlie Coyle and Chris Stewart scored in the shootout to give Minnesota the victory over Colorado.
Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter scored in regulation to help Minnesota improve to 6-1-1 in its past eight. Alex Stalock made 28 saves.
J.T. Compher and Blake Comeau scored for Colorado, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 25 shots.
Coyle scored beat Bernier high in the second round of the shootout, and Stewart went low in the third round. Stalock stopped Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
Minnesota had all six shots in overtime, including two outstanding chances, but Bernier stopped Eric Staal alone in front and sprawled to stop Zucker with his right pad.
Colorado controlled much of the third period, including a 10-3 edge in shots, but was 0 for 2 on the power play and Stalock stopped Compher on a breakaway and a rebound.
