Vasilevskiy’s 28 saves lead Lightning to 4-1 victory over Leafs
TORONTO (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning topped Toronto 4-1 on Wednesday despite Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews adding to his NHL lead with the sniper’s 63rd goal of the season.
Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Nicholas Paul scored for Tampa.
Nikita Kucherov, who entered the night tied with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead with 127 points, added three assists.
Brandon Hagel also set up two goals for the Lightning, who moved within four points of the Leafs for third in the Atlantic Division.
RANGERS 4, DEVILS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal late in the third period and the New York Rangers rallied to beat New Jersey Devils in a game that started with a 10-player brawl.
Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal and an assist, and Kaapo Kakko also scored for the NHL-leading Rangers. Igor Shesterkin finished with 17 saves as New York won for the sixth time in seven games and 11th in its last 14.
Nico Hishier, Ondrej Palat and Brendan Smith scored in the second period for the Devils, and Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 37 shots. New Jersey has lost three straight and remained six points behind Washington for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Trailing 3-2 after 40 minutes, the Rangers tied it on Kakko’s 13th goal of the season at 5:32 of the third period. Kreider then put the Rangers back ahead as he deflected Adam Fox’s shot from the point past Kahkonen with 4:57 remaining for his 36th.
KINGS 5, KRAKEN 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Trevor Moore scored three goals in his second career hat trick, and Los Angeles snapped their three-game skid while eliminating Seattle from the Stanley Cup playoff race with a victory over the Kraken.
Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala also scored and Cam Talbot made 21 saves for the Kings, who pulled within one point of Nashville for the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference by ending their longest losing streak since the 1-6-4 midseason skid that cost coach Todd McLellan his job.
The Kings took control with two goals in just over four minutes of the second period by Moore, who then secured his first hat trick since November 2022 on a slick breakaway with 3:03 to play.
STARS 5, OILERS 0
DALLAS (AP) — Jake Oettinger stopped 35 shots for his second consecutive shutout, Radek Faska scored early and assisted on two of the four Dallas goals in a less than 7-minute span of the second period, and Dallas beat Edmonton to set a franchise record with their eighth win in a row.
The winning streak, which included their four previous games on the road, has put the Stars atop the Western Conference standings with 105 points. They are only one point behind the New York Rangers for the most in the NHL with six games remaining for both teams.
Wyatt Johnston and Sam Steele each also had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which six times previously had seven-game winning streaks they weren’t able to extend. Tyler Seguin added a power play goal and captain Jamie Benn scored his 19th goal for a group that already has seven 20-goal scorers.
Oettinger was coming off 17 saves Saturday at Seattle. He had to work a lot harder for this one, his 10th career shutout and the first time he held consecutive opponents without a goal.
CANUCKS 2, COYOTES 1
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Conor Garland scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:51 remaining and Vancouver beat Arizona.
Garland grabbed the rebound of Quinn Hughes’ missed shot and fired it past Connor Ingram to give the Canucks a seven-point lead in the Pacific Division with six games remaining.
Hughes scored on the power play midway through the second period and rookie Arturs Silvos had 22 saves for Vancouver.
Silvos, in just his second game of the season and eighth of his career, didn’t have much work in the first two periods as Arizona only managed eight shots. He was called up last month to replace No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko, who has been sidelined since March 9 with a lower-body injury but is expected back as soon as next week.