Landeskog scores in return, Avalanche beat Canadiens
MONTREAL (AP) — Gabriel Landeskog scored in his return from a lower-body injury and the Colorado Avalanche beat the slumping Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Thursday night.
Ryan Graves and Matt Calvert also scored and backup goalie Pavel Francouz made 39 saves to help the Avalanche win their fifth straight game and improve to 18-8-2.
Brendan Gallagher and Nick Cousins scored for Montreal The Canadiens have lost nine of 10 to fall to 12-11-6.
Cayden Primeau stopped 32 shots in his NHL debut. The 20-year-old son of former NHL player Keith Primeau played in the first of a back-to-back for Montreal, with Carey Price set to face the New York Rangers on Friday night.
BLACKHAWKS 4, BRUINS 3, OT
BOSTON (AP) — Jonathan Toews scored 54 seconds into overtime and Chicago recovered after blowing a three-goal, third-period lead to end Boston’s eight-game winning streak.
Toews picked up the puck after a turnover by David Pastrnak and skated in on Tuukka Rask before backhanding it between the goalie’s legs. The crowd, which thought Pastrnak had been tripped, began showering the ice with garbage.
Robin Lehner made 37 saves for the Blackhawks, who had lost six of their previous seven games. Ryan Carpenter and Dylan Strome scored 37 seconds apart at the end of the first period, and Alex DeBrincat scored off the opening faceoff of the third period to make it 3-0 — the first three-goal deficit Boston had faced all season.
ISLANDERS 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2, OT
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Ryan Pulock scored a power-play goal 3:20 into overtime to lift New York past Vegas.
Cal Clutterbuck and Brock Nelson also scored for the Islanders. They won their seventh straight at Nassau Coliseum and snapped Vegas’ four-game winning streak.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots for his ninth win of the season.
Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Golden Knights.
Marchessault was sent off for tripping at 3:10 of OT, giving the Islanders a 4-on-3 advantage. That led to Pulock’s goal after New York won the faceoff in the Vegas zone.
HURRICANES 3, SHARKS 2, SO
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov scored in the shootout, Petr Mrazek stopped San Jose cold in the tiebreaker and Carolina beat the Sharks.
Svechnikov had a goal and an assist in regulation, Jake Gardiner also scored and Warren Foegele added two assists for the Hurricanes. Mrazek stopped 28 shots.
Svechnikov had the only goal of the tiebreaker, beating Aaron Dell with a forehand to his stick side in the third round. Mrazek, who had stopped Kevin Labanc and Erik Karlsson in the first two rounds, then stuffed Logan Couture with his pads and stick to end it.
Marcus Sorensen scored and Couture added a deflected goal for the Sharks.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists and Minnesota beat Tampa Bay for its fifth straight victory.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Jason Zucker, Carson Soucy and Victor Rask also scored for the Wild, who have an 11-game point streak (8-0-3). Alex Stalock stopped 30 shots.
Tampa Bay, which is 1-3-1 over its last five games, got goals from Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev, Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Phil Kessel scored two goals to lead Arizona past Philadelphia.
Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves and Conor Garland also scored for the Coyotes. They improved to 10-3-3 on the road.
Matt Niskanen scored for Philadelphia. The Flyers had won five in a row and had points in seven straight games.
RANGERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored the decisive goal in his return to Columbus, leading New York past the Blue Jackets.
Panarin’s goal was his team leading 13th. He left Columbus after signing a lucrative free-agent contract in the offseason with New York.
Brendan Lemieux and Jacob Trouba also scored for New York, and backup goalie Alexander Georgiev made a season-high 45 saves. Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones scored for Columbus.
