THURSDAY AROUND THE NHL
Blue Jackets 2, Stars 1, SO
COLUMBUS
Artemi Panarin scored in the second round of a shootout, and Columbus beat Dallas. Joonas Korpisalo had 35 saves for Columbus (26-18-3), which returned from its five-day break after losing both ends of a back-to-back last week. Jordan Schroeder scored his first goal of the season in the first period. Korpisalo blocked a shootout try by Jason Spezza before Alexander Radulov and Tyler Seguin came up empty. Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop blocked Jussi Jokinen’s shootout attempt before Panarin beat him. Korpisalo got the start ahead of Vezina Trophy-winner Sergei Bobrovsky, who struggled in the recent losses. Dan Hamhuis scored for Dallas with 2:15 left in regulation. Bishop had 25 stops, including a terrific glove save on Alexander Wennberg with 30 seconds left in the third.
Devils 4, Capitals 3, OT
NEWARK, N.J.
Taylor Hall scored on a breakaway 34 seconds into overtime and New Jersey beat Washington. Sami Vatanen collected his third assist of the game on the winning goal, a shot over the shoulder of goaltender Braden Holtby. Drew Stafford, Andy Greene and Miles Wood also scored for the Devils. Keith Kinkaid had 16 saves and the Devils killed off all five Washington power plays. Brett Connolly scored twice and Dmitry Orlov had a goal for the Capitals, who lost for only the second time in eight games.
Bruins 5, Islanders 2
NEW YORK
Patrice Bergeron scored three goals to lead Boston to a victory over the New York Islanders, giving the Bruins at least a point for the 15th consecutive game. Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists as Boston improved to 11-0-4 since its last regulation loss Dec. 14 against Washington. Ryan Spooner had a goal and an assist, and Anton Khudobin stopped 22 shots. Jordan Eberle and John Tavares scored for New York, which has dropped seven of 10 — with each of the losses coming in regulation. Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves while facing fewer than 35 shots for the first time in his last 11 games.
Rangers 4, Sabres 3
NEW YORK
Pavel Buchnevich scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period, lifting the New York Rangers over Buffalo. Rick Nash scored twice for the second straight game and Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves for the Rangers, who won their second straight after three consecutive losses. Buchnevich knocked the puck past Robin Lehner at 16:02, a minute after the Sabres had tied it for the third time on a goal by Rasmus Ristolainen. The goal was the 12th of the season for Buchnevich, who also had two assists. The Rangers (24-17-5) have won 11 of their last 14 games against Buffalo.
Golden Knights 4, Lightning 1
TAMPA, FLA.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves, David Perron had a goal and an assist, and Vegas beat Tampa Bay in a matchup of conference leaders. James Neal, Nate Schmidt and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights, who swept the two-game season series with the NHL-leading Lightning. Tampa Bay, coming off its week off, got a goal from Ondrej Palat, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots. Vasilevskiy, an All-Star this season, has allowed 19 goals over his last four games. Fleury made a number of impressive stops, including a left-circle shot by Steven Stamkos and in-close chance from Nikita Kucherov during the second period.
Blues 4, Senators 1
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo and Brayden Schenn each scored in the second period, helping St. Louis past Ottawa. Alexander Steen scored into an empty net at 18:42 to close out the scoring for St. Louis (28-17-3), while Carter Hutton made 20 saves. The win was the second straight in Ontario for the Blues, who were 2-1 overtime winners over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. Bobby Ryan had the lone goal for the Senators (15-19-9), and Craig Anderson made 33 saves.
Associated Press