Killorn, Johnson lead Lightning in 6-4 win over Sabres
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Alex Killorn scored two goals, Tyler Johnson had a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-4 on Tuesday night for their fourth straight win.
Ondrej Palat and Anthony Cirelli each added a goal and an assist, Kevin Shattenkirk also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 18 shots as the Lightning opened a four-game road trip with their 12th consecutive win against an Atlantic Division opponent.
Conor Sheary had a goal and two assists, and Marcus Johansson had a goal and an assist for Buffalo.
The Sabres also got goals from Jack Eichel and Jimmy Vesey in losing their fourth in a row. Linus Ullmark made 16 saves.
HURRICANES 3, CANADIENS 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Erik Haula had a goal and an assist, leading Carolina over Montreal.
Sebastian Aho also scored and Teuvo Teravainen had two assists for the Hurricanes (24-14-2), who won their second straight game after a three-game losing streak. Ryan Dzingel scored into an empty net.
Max Domi scored for the seventh straight game for the Canadiens (18-16-6), who dropped their third straight and closed out a seven-game trip with a record of 3-4.
Petr Mrazek stopped 28 of 29 shots for the Hurricanes. Charlie Lindgren made 33 saves in his first start of the season for the Canadiens.
BLUE JACKETS 4, PANTHERS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Zach Werenski got his first career hat trick, Elvis Merlikins stopped 36 shots in his first NHL start and battered Columbus beat Florida.
Werenski and the Blue Jackets served up a rude homecoming for Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was making his first appearance in Columbus since leaving as a free agent last summer. Bobrovsky, who played in Columbus for seven seasons and won two Vezina Trophies, had 24 saves.
Boone Jenner also scored for the Blue Jackets, who are missing 10 players to injuries and may have lost another, forward Alexander Texier, on Tuesday. Texier left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period and didn’t return.
Columbus won for the first time in three games, but extended its points streak to 11 games (7-0-4).
Colton Scevior had the lone goal for Florida, which had a two-game win streak snapped.
DETROIT (AP) — Jonathan Bernier made 34 saves, Tyler Bertuzzi scored his 15th goal and Detroit snapped a six-game losing streak with a victory over San Jose.
It was Bernier’s first shutout of the season and 18th of his career. Filip Hronek also scored for Detroit, which had dropped all six games during its skid in regulation.
Martin Jones stopped 21 shots for San Jose, which has lost 11 of its last 13 (2-9-2).
MAPLE LEAFS 4, WILD 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Auston Matthews and William Nylander each had a goal and an assist and Toronto beat Minnesota.
Alexander Kerfoot also scored and John Tavares added an empty-net goal for Toronto, which improved to 7-0-1 in its last eight games. Toronto has won 13 of 18 games since Sheldon Keefe took over as coach. Frederik Andersen stopped 26 shots.
Ryan Suter had a goal and Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves for Minnesota. The Wild, 10-4-3 at home, lost the first two games of a stretch in which they play 16 of 19 games at Xcel Energy Center.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, DUCKS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, and Vegas beat Anaheim.
Vegas closed out December with a 9-4-2 mark, and on a 13-6-3 run since Nov. 17, and remained in sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division.
Mark Stone, Alex Tuch and Reilly Smith also scored for the Golden Knights, while Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves and improved to 15-4-0 against Anaheim. Fleury earned his 455th win to take over sole possession of sixth place all time, passing Curtis Joseph.
Korbinian Holzer and Jakob Silfverberg scored for the Ducks and John Gibson made 38 saves while dropping to 2-8-1 against Vegas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Casey Cizikas scored twice for the first time this season and Tom Kuhnhackl scored the go-ahead goal as the Islanders topped Washington.
Former Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped 36 shots in the victory. Brock Nelson also scored in the first period for the Islanders, who won their second straight to close a three-game trip.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his 14th and 15th goals for Washington, which lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season.
Tom Wilson also scored for the Capitals, and Braden Holtby made 18 saves.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Damon Severson scored in the sixth round of the shootout to give New Jersey a victory over Boston.
Severson beat Jaroslav Halak with a backhand and Mackenzie Blackwood clinched the win by stopping Patrice Bergeron.
Blake Coleman and Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils in regulation and Blackwood stopped 28 shots as New Jersey earned its second straight win.
Brad Marchand and Joakim Nordstrom scored for Boston and Jaroslav Halak stopped 42 shots. The loss snapped the Bruins‘ winning streak at three but they did extend their points streak to eight games (4-0-4).
