Tanner Pearson scored the tiebreaking and game-clinching goals less than four minutes apart in the third period Tuesday night as the host Vancouver Canucks dumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3.
Pearson put Vancouver (18-18-3, 39 points) ahead 4-3 at 9:48 with a man-advantage tally. Pearson doubled the lead at 13:36 when he swiped the puck from Alexander Kerfoot and beat goalie David Rittich from a sharp angle in the left faceoff circle, recording his eighth goal of the season.
Brandon Sutter scored into an empty net at 19:24 for his second goal of the game and eighth of the season.
John Tavares scored twice for the Leafs (28-13-5, 61 points), who maintained a four-point lead in the North Division despite losing their fifth straight game (0-3-2).
Hurricanes 4, Lightning 1
Nino Niederreiter notched a goal and an assist in Carolina’s three-goal second period as the Hurricanes beat host Tampa Bay in a chippy game to split their back-to-back set. The victory gave the Hurricanes (30-10-5) 65 points atop the Central Division standings along with the Florida Panthers. Third-place Tampa Bay (30-14-2) has 62.
Each club was slow to leave the ice at the end of the first period after Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev slashed Trocheck as the buzzer sounded with the center possessing the puck at the red line.
In the second period, the edgy play continued — Martinook and Tampa Bay’s Barclay Goodrow fought at center ice after a puck-drop — but the Hurricanes scored two even-strength goals 25 seconds apart around the scrap to take a 2-0 lead.
Stars 5, Red Wings 2
Rookie forward Jason Robertson produced a goal and an assist to run his point-scoring streak to five games and lead host Dallas to a victory over Detroit.
Goaltender Jake Oettinger made 24 saves while Tanner Kero, Joe Pavelski, Jamie Oleksiak and Blake Comeau also scored for Dallas (19-14-12, 50 points).
Valtteri Filppula and Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings (16-25-7, 39 points). Detroit’s starting goaltender, Jonathan Bernier, surrendered four goals on 12 shots before being pulled.
Panthers 5, Blue Jackets 1
Sam Bennett scored twice and goalie Spencer Knight won his NHL debut as Florida beat visiting Columbus in Sunrise, Fla.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists for the Panthers, who also got goals from Aleksander Barkov and Ryan Lomberg. Anthony Duclair notched three assists.
Jack Roslovic collected Columbus’ only goal, and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 28 shots.
Islanders 6, Rangers 1
Josh Bailey scored twice for the host Islanders, who never trailed as they dented the playoff hopes of their rival New Yorkers in Uniondale, N.Y.
Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier scored in the second and Bailey’s second goal was sandwiched by tallies in the third from Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Jordan Eberle as the Islanders (29-13-4) won their second straight to move into a tie for first place in the East Division with the idle Washington Capitals.
Kevin Rooney scored in the second for the Rangers (23-17-6), who had their four-game winning streak snapped and fell six points behind the Boston Bruins in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East.
Bruins 2, Sabres 0
Boston’s Tuukka Rask made 32 saves to record his first shutout in more than a year and the visiting Bruins got goals from Brad Marchand and Connor Clifton to win their fifth game in a row.
Rask wasn’t severely tested, but he did make a stellar extended-pad save to keep Buffalo’s Dylan Cozens from tying the game midway through the first period. It was his third straight victory, but his first shutout since March 10, 2020.
Still in the mix for the East Division title, the Bruins (26-12-6, 58 points) have won five straight for the first time since the start of February, matching their longest winning streak of the season. It was also the fourth win in as many games this season against the Sabres, a team they have beaten nine consecutive times dating back to Dec. 16, 2018.
Penguins 7, Devils 6
Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which took a six-goal lead and held on to hand the visiting New Jersey its seventh loss in a row. The Devils were without defenseman P.K. Subban, who went on the NHL’s COVID protocol list.
The Penguins scored four times in the first period on 13 shots against Scott Wedgewood after Mackenzie Blackwood was a fairly late injury scratch. New Jersey brought Aaron Dell on after that, and he fared marginally better with 16 saves vs. 19 shots in the final two periods.
After it was 6-0 after two periods, when the Devils (14-25-6, 34 points) got goals from six different players, and Will Butcher had three assists. Still, Crosby’s 18th goal of the season for the Penguins made the score 7-3 11:15 into the third period, and New Jersey couldn’t close that gap.
Kings 4, Ducks 1
Blake Lizotte and Andreas Athanasiou each had a goal and two assists for Los Angeles in a win against visiting Anaheim.
Carl Grundstrom had a goal and an assist, Anze Kopitar also scored and Calvin Petersen made 24 saves for the Kings, who played in front of spectators at Staples Center for the first time this season.
Cam Fowler scored for Anaheim with 5:24 left in the third period to prevent Petersen’s second NHL shutout. Anthony Stolarz made 18 saves for the Ducks, who were looking for their fourth straight road win.
–Field Level Media
