Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game with 58.8 seconds left in regulation to cap the Vancouver Canucks’ comeback from a three-goal deficit en route to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
The Canucks rallied after falling behind 3-0 and losing defenseman Tucker Poolman, who was removed late in the first period and placed in the NHL’s COVID protocol as the game continued. Poolman was the fourth Canuck to land in the COVID protocol on Tuesday, joining Juho Lammikko, Luke Schenn and Brad Hunt.
Vancouver ran its winning streak to five games, dating to when Bruce Boudreau took over as coach. The Canucks trailed 3-0 after the first period, but Horvat started and finished the comeback, with Elias Pettersson and rookie Vasily Podkolzin also scoring.
Eric Robinson scored twice and Max Domi registered his seventh goal for Columbus.
Maple Leafs 5, Oilers 1
Auston Matthews scored two goals and extended his point streak to 10 games as visiting Toronto dealt Edmonton its sixth straight loss.
Morgan Rielly added a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have won two in a row. Wayne Simmonds and TJ Brodie also scored for Toronto, Ondrej Kase added two assists and Jack Campbell made several big saves while stopping 35 shots.
Colton Sceviour scored for the Oilers, and Mikko Koskinen made 20 saves.
Blues 4, Stars 1
Justin Faulk scored the go-ahead goal in his first game out of COVID-19 protocol to lead visiting St. Louis past Dallas.
Colton Parayko, Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Blues, who snapped their six-game road winless streak. They have earned points in nine of their past 10 games (6-1-3). Charlie Lindgren made 33 saves to earn the victory.
Riley Damiani scored in his NHL debut and Jake Oettinger made 24 saves for the Stars, who lost their fourth straight game and saw their eight-game home winning streak end.
Sabers 4, Jets 2
Rasmus Dahlin scored twice and Buffalo snapped a seven-game slide with a win against host Winnipeg.
Jeff Skinner and Anders Bjork also scored for the Sabres, who were 0-5-2 during their skid. Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson each had two assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 34 saves.
Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist, Nikolaj Ehlers scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for the Jets, who are winless in their past two.
Penguins 5, Canadiens 2
Evan Rodrigues had a goal and two assists to lead Pittsburgh past visiting Montreal for its fifth straight win.
Kasperi Kapanen, Mike Matheson, Brian Dumoulin and Brian Boyle also scored and Sidney Crosby added two assists for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry made 28 saves to improve to 8-1-1 over his past 10 starts.
Jonathan Drouin had a goal and an assist and Jesse Ylonen scored for the Canadiens, who fell to 0-6-1 in their past seven. Jake Allen made 26 saves.
Flyers 6, Devils 1
Cam Atkinson produced three goals and an assist to lift host Philadelphia past New Jersey.
The four-point game tied Atkinson’s career high, and the hat trick was the seventh of his career. Travis Sanheim and Oskar Lindblom each added one goal and one assist for the Flyers, who won their third in a row following a 10-game losing streak. Justin Braun also scored, and Carter Hart made 26 saves.
P.K. Subban scored the lone goal for the Devils. Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood was pulled to begin the third period after allowing five goals on 22 shots. Akira Schmid stopped seven of the eight shots he faced in his second NHL game.
Senators 8, Panthers 2
Josh Norris scored two goals and Drake Batherson tallied four points in Sunrise, Fla., as Ottawa hammered the top home team in the NHL.
Anton Forsberg made 33 saves to win his fifth straight game. Batherson scored a goal and recorded three assists. Ottawa also got a goal each from Austin Watson, Dylan Gambrell, Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and Nick Paul.
Florida, which dropped to 14-2-0 at home, got goals from Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Reinhart, and rookie goalie Spencer Knight made 30 saves.
Lightning 3, Kings 2 (OT)
Mathieu Joseph scored at 3:25 of overtime as Tampa Bay beat visiting Los Angeles for the ninth straight time.
After goalies Jonathan Quick (27 saves) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (28 saves) made incredible one-on-one saves in the first half of the three-on-three session, Joseph led an odd-man rush from the right side and fired a shot on Quick. The netminder made the initial stop, but the puck hit his leg and trundled in for the winner.
Victor Hedman and Taylor Raddysh scored for the Lightning. Los Angeles got goals from Drew Doughty and Viktor Arvidsson.
Golden Knights 4, Bruins 1
Max Pacioretty scored twice to extend his goal streak to seven games and Chandler Stephenson had three assists as Vegas coasted past host Boston for its fifth win in six games.
Jonathan Marchessault and Shea Theodore added goals for the Golden Knights, and Robin Lehner made 23 saves. Pacioretty has scored 10 goals in seven December games, recording three multi-goal games.
Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins, and rookie Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 of 25 shots to take his third straight loss.
Red Wings 2, Islanders 1
Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 33 shots as host Detroit downed New York to end a three-game losing streak.
Dylan Larkin and Michael Rasmussen scored for Detroit, while Anders Lee scored for the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin made 37 saves for New York, which had won two of its previous three games following an 11-game losing skid.
The Islanders were missing center Mathew Barzal, who leads his team with 17 points, after he was placed in COVID-19 protocol.
Avalanche 4, Rangers 2
Valeri Nichushkin had two goals, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar also scored, and Colorado beat New York in Denver.
Nazem Kadri had three assists, Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves for Colorado, which has won five straight.
Ryan Strome and Julien Gauthier scored goals and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 27 shots for the Rangers.
Kraken 3, Sharks 1
Ryan Donato scored against his former team and Chris Driedger made 33 saves as expansion Seattle won at San Jose.
Brandon Tanev and Calle Jarnkrok also tallied for the Kraken, who snapped a three-game winless streak (0-2-1). Jarnkrok added an assist.
Logan Couture scored and James Reimer stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Sharks, who sustained their fourth loss in their past six games.
–Field Level Media