Matthews powers Maple Leafs past Panthers 6-1
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Carey Price stopped 36 shots in his 300th career win, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 2-1 victory over the slumping Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Paul Byron and Shea Weber scored as Montreal won the second game of a back-to-back for the first time in four tries this season.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for the Coyotes, who have lost seven of eight. Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots.
It was the first meeting between the teams since their offseason trade that sent Max Domi to Montreal and Alex Galchenyuk to Arizona.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — J.T. Miller scored in the seventh round of the shootout, lifting Tampa Bay to another victory.
Ondrej Palat, Steven Stamkos, Alex Killorn and Dan Girardi scored in regulation for the Lightning (27-7-2), who improved to 10-0-1 in their past 11 games. Louis Domingue made 33 saves.
Nikita Kucherov added two assists. Tampa Bay is 16-0-0 when Kucherov records a multipoint game this season.
Johnny Gaudreau and Sam Bennett each had a goal and an assist for the Flames (22-11-3), who led 3-1 after one. Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund also scored.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, PANTHERS 1
TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews had two goals and two assists to help Toronto to the runaway victory.
Matthews had his second four-point game of the season. John Tavares also scored twice for Toronto, and Morgan Rielly had four assists. Mitch Marner added a goal and two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves.
Matthews also had the 18th two-goal game of his career. Rielly is the first NHL defenseman to reach 40 points this season.
Henrik Borgstrom scored for Florida, and Roberto Luongo stopped 17 shots before getting the hook early in the third period. The Panthers beat Toronto 4-3 in overtime at home Saturday night.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, ISLANDERS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — William Karlsson and Paul Stastny scored 1:03 apart in the third period, and Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury earned his league-leading 20th victory.
Nate Schmidt had a goal and two assists and Brandon Pirri also scored as Vegas came back from two goals down near the midpoint of the second period.
Fleury made 19 saves in his 424th win, snapping a tie with Tony Esposito for ninth place on the career list.
Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson scored for New York, and Thomas Greiss stopped 43 shots.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Nikolaj Ehlers recorded his fourth career hat trick, Mason Appleton got his first career goal and Winnipeg won for the sixth time in seven games.
Dustin Byfuglien also scored to help the Jets bounce back from a loss at Los Angeles on Tuesday. Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves.
Evander Kane had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who had won five in a row. Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi also scored, and Martin Jones made 19 saves.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bryan Rust scored two goals to lead the Penguins to the win.
Rust put Pittsburgh ahead to stay when he scored his ninth of the season 8:12 into the third period. Rust has at least one goal in five of his last six games, including the game-winner one night earlier when the Penguins defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals on the road.
Pittsburgh's Jake Guentzel picked off a Greg Pateryn pass behind the net, and centered to the slot where Rust slipped a shot between Devan Dubnyk's pads.
Pittsburgh won for the fourth time in five games. Casey DeSmith stopped 40 shots for his eighth win in 12 home starts.
Jordan Greenway scored for the Wild, who lost their third straight game. Dubnyk made 35 saves.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Carter Hart made 31 saves for his second straight win in his second NHL start, helping Philadelphia to the victory.
Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek scored for the Flyers, who won their second straight under interim coach Scott Gordon. Gordon replaced Dave Hakstol, who was fired on Monday.
The 20-year-old Hart made 20 saves in his debut in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Detroit.
Nick Bonino scored for Nashville, which lost its ninth straight game on the road.
BLACKHAWKS 5, STARS 2
DALLAS (AP) — Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist, and the Blackhawks earned their first win streak in two months.
Alex DeBrincat had a goal and two assists for last-place Chicago, and defenseman Erik Gustafsson scored for the second straight game. Brendan Perlini added an empty-netter, and Cam Ward made 26 saves.
The Blackhawks matched a season high with their second straight win. They hadn't won two in a row since Oct. 23 and 25 against Anaheim and the New York Rangers.
Tyler Seguin and Taylor Fedun scored for Dallas, which lost for the fifth time in six games. Ben Bishop had 24 stops.
BOSTON (AP) — Jaroslav Halak stopped 24 shots for the Bruins, and David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists.
Torey Krug had a goal and an assist and David Krejci also scored to help Boston snap a nine-game losing streak to Anaheim and win for the fifth time in seven games.
Ducks defenseman Josh Mahura got his first career goal with 4:16 remaining to spoil Halak's bid for a second straight shutout.
John Gibson finished with 28 saves as Anaheim lost its second straight after winning nine of 10.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen each had a goal and an assist, powering the Canucks to the victory.
Adam Gaudette, Josh Leivo and Loui Eriksson also scored for Vancouver (17-17-4), and Alex Edler had two assists. Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves.
Vladimir Tarasenko put up the lone goal for St. Louis (13-16-4). Jake Allen stopped 24 shots.
Markstrom improved to 6-0 in six December starts.
RED WINGS 4, HURRICANES 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Niklas Kronwall had a goal and an assist and Jonathan Bernier stopped 38 shots, helping the Red Wings to the victory.
Jonathan Ericsson, Frans Nielsen and Dylan Larkin also scored to help Detroit win for the second time at PNC Arena this season. Larkin's empty-netter with 19 seconds left extended his point streak to nine games.
Andrei Svechnikov scored for Carolina and Petr Mrazek finished with 20 saves against his former team.
Nielsen gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead when he tipped Nick Jensen's shot past Mrazek with 7:41 left in the second period.
BLUE JACKETS 2, DEVILS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Cam Atkinson scored on a penalty shot and Sergei Bobrovsky had 29 saves, lifting the Blue Jackets to the win.
Nick Foligno also scored as the Blue Jackets won their second straight and ended a six-game homestand on a high note.
Taylor Hall scored for the last-place Devils, and Mackenzie Blackwood, making his first NHL start on the first night of a back-to-back, had 36 saves.