Stars’ Eaves records hat trick in 1st period

Patrick Eaves and the Dallas Stars put together an impressive response to their ugly home loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Eaves scored three of Dallas’ four goals in the first period, and the Stars beat the host Blackhawks 4-2 on Thursday night.

Eaves’ second career hat trick helped Dallas to its fifth win in six games.

Duncan Keith’s eighth goal 32 seconds into the third period stopped a scoreless streak of 123 minutes, 8 seconds for Chicago, which is 4-5 since its franchise-record 12-game win streak.

Connor McDavid had two goals and three assists and Jordan Eberle scored three times and added an assist as host Edmonton snapped a three-game losing streak.

Former Sharks goalie Thomas Greiss stopped 28 shots and host New York scored three times in the first 14 minutes against Los Angeles.

The Islanders improved to 15-4-2 against Western Conference teams and moved three points behind the Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan Division.

Alex Ovechkin scored three times in the second period for his 14th career hat trick as Washington improved to a league-best 20-5-2 on the road.

R.J. Umberger scored to snap a 50-game drought and Wayne Simmonds got his 20th goal as host Philadelphia ended a three-game skid.

Jarome Iginla had two goals and an assist and Blake Comeau had a goal and an assist as visiting Colorado ended a four-game losing streak.

Columbus signed defenseman Ryan Murray to a two-year, $5.65 million contract extension.

The NHL fined Toronto forward Nazem Kadri $5,000 for making a throat-slashing gesture at Calgary’s Mark Giordano on Tuesday.