NHL-leading Bruins beat Stars to end 2-game skid
BOSTON (AP) — Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist for his first points since Boston acquired him at the trade deadline to help the NHL-leading Bruins beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Thursday night.
Brad Marchand broke a second-period tie and Ritchie scored 1:27 later to make it 3-1. Then, after Denis Gurianov cut the deficit to one early in the third, Ritchie fed David Pastrnak in the slot to again make it a two-goal game.
Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots, and Charlie Coyle scored on a double-tipped swat out of the air for Boston. The Bruins snapped a two-game losing streak.
John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen also scored for Dallas.
BLACKHAWKS 5, LIGHTNING 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Dominik Kubalik scored three goals in the third period to help Chicago beat Tampa Bay.
later Koekkoek scored his first goal of the season and Brandon Saad added another score in Chicago’s first regulation victory over the Lightning since Dec. 13, 2009.
Chicago’s Corey Crawford finished with 37 saves.
Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, PANTHERS 3
SUNRISE, Fla (AP) — William Nylander scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to lift Toronto past Florida.
Auston Matthews, Kasperi Kapanen, Zach Hyman and Justin Holl also scored for Toronto. Frederik Andersen stopped 24 shots in his sixth straight start.
Mike Hoffman, Noel Acciari and Mark Pysyk scored for Florida.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Bobby Ryan had a hat trick in his first game in more than three months, leading Ottawa past Vancouver.
Ryan entered the joint NHL/NHLPA assistance program Nov. 20 after admitting to having a problem with alcohol. He last played on Nov. 16 in Buffalo, but had been skating on his own since late December.
Connor Brown and Rudolfs Balcers also scored for Ottawa and Marcus Hogberg made 32 saves.
J.T. Miller and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Canucks.
MONTREAL (AP) — Ryan Strome scored twice and added an assist and New York rallied to beat Montreal for its fifth straight victory.
Phillip Di Giuseppe, Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers and Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves. New York pulled into a tie with Carolina, two points behind Columbus for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth. The Rangers have won nine consecutive road games and are 9-1-0 in their last 10 overall.
Max Domi and Tomas Tatar scored for the Canadiens.
DETROIT (AP) — Defenseman Matt Dumba had two goals and an assist in Minnesota’s victory over Detroi.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and two assists, Ryan Hartman and Ryan Donato had a goal and an assist each and Jordan Greenway and Eric Staal also scored for Minnesota. Alex Stalock made 25 saves.
Anthony Mantha scored for NHL-worst Detroit.
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