NHL roundup: Novak caps Penguins comeback with OT goal in 5-4 win over Bruins

Pavel Zacha had his second career hat trick, and David Pastrnak also scored for Boston. The Bruins have lost five of their last eight. They have a three-point lead for the final wild-card spot in the East.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Sunday:

AVALANCHE 3 WILD 2 (SO)

DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored his NHL-leading 43rd goal and scored the winning goal in a shootout, lifting Colorado to a victory over Minnesota in a matchup between two of the NHL’s top four teams in points.

MacKinnon has 70 points in 55 career games against Minnesota, his most against any opponent.

Both teams converted on one of their first three shootout opportunities before Vladimir Tarasenko was stonewalled by Scott Wedgewood, giving MacKinnon the opportunity to deliver his team a win.

Wedgewood, who leads the NHL in goals against average and is second in save percentage, had 32 saves on 34 Minnesota shots.

Trailing 1-0 entering the third period, the Wild scored two goals in a stretch of 2:44, one on a power play and one short-handed, to take the lead. The Avalanche countered with a Nicolas Roy tip-in goal with 7:21 remaining to send the game into overtime.

STARS 4 BLACKHAWKS 3 (OT)

DALLAS (AP) — Defenceman Miro Heiskanen scored 22 seconds into overtime to give Dallas a victory over Chicago.

Second in the Western Conference, the Stars are 11-0-1 in their last 12.

Young Chicago star Connor Bedard forced the extra period by scoring with 1:20 left in regulation with the Blackhawks playing with an extra skater.

Mavrik Bourque had a goal and an assist for Dallas. Nathan Bastian and Justin Hryckowian also scored, and Casey DeSmith made 12 saves.

Tyler Bertuzzi and rookie defenceman Sam Rinzel also scored for Chicago, and Arvid Soderblom stopped 28 shots. The Blackhawks are 2-7-4 in their last 13.

The Stars turned a 2-1 deficit going into the third period into a 3-2 lead on Bourque’s goal 42 seconds in and Hryckowian’s power-play goal at 9:40.

The Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead in the first period on a deflection by Bertuzzi at 6:59 and Rinzel’s blast from the slot fewer than two minutes later. Bastian scored Dallas’ first goal late in the period.

Soderblom made consecutive starts for the first time this season with No. 1 Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight sidelined with an illness.

SABRES 8 LIGHTNING 7

Buffalo, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Doan opened and closed the scoring with power-play goals and Buffalo outlasted Tampa Bay in a wild and feisty showdown for the Atlantic Division lead.

Doan broke a tie with 4:17 left with his 21st goal of the season, helping the Sabres win their seventh straight and move two points ahead of the Lightning.

The teams combined for 100 penalty minutes in a game that included five fights and a post-game scrum. They’ll meet one more time in the regular season on April 6 in Buffalo.

Doan capped a two-goal, third-period comeback for Buffalo in a game the Sabres led by three goals.

Alex Tuch and Jason Zucker also scored twice for the Sabres. Sam Carrick and Rasmus Dahlin added goals, Tage Thompson had four assists and Bo Byram three. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 21 saves.

RED WINGS 3 DEVILS 0

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — John Gibson and Cam Talbot combined to make 31 saves, Dominik Shine scored his first NHL goal and Detroit beat New Jersey.

Opening a four-game trip, Detroit ended a two-game losing streak and stopped the Devils’ winning streak at four.

Gibson made 21 saves in first two periods, but was injured at the end the second. Cam Talbot stopped 10 shots in the third. They became the first Detroit goalies to combine for a shutout since Jonas Gustavsson and Jimmy Howard in 2014.

Moritz Seider and James van Riemsdyk also scored, and each assisted on Shine’s third-period goal. Seider scored on a wrist shot at 3:20 of the first. Van Riemsdyk tipped in a shot from the point on a power play at 6:37 of second.

Shine broke through on a snap shot with 9:36 left. The 32-year-old forward was playing his fifth NHL game of the season and the 14th of his career.

Defenceman Justin Faulk made his Red Wings debut after being acquired from St. Louis on Friday.

BLUES 4 DUCKS 0

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Joel Hofer made 22 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, Jonathan Drouin scored in his Blues debut and St. Louis beat Anaheim to sweep a four-game trip.

Jordan Kyrou, Jimmy Snuggerud and Pius Suter also scored to help St. Louis win for the fifth time in six games since the Olympic break.

Drouin was acquired from the Islanders on Friday at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Blues captain Brayden Schenn to New York. The left wing scored the second of three second-period goals, firing a slap shot past Ville Husso on a power play with 9:53 left.

Kyrou opened the scoring at 4:22, snapping a shot from the right side to the far post on a 3-on-1 break. After helping set up Drouin’s goal, Snuggerud added one of his own on a one-timer with 7:49 to go.

St. Louis failed to add to the lead on an extended power play that spilled into the third when Ross Johnston received a major penalty for boarding Justin Holl, the defenceman who also made his Blues debut after coming over from Detroit.

After Anaheim successfully challenged Snuggerud’s apparent goal midway through the third for offsides, Suter scored into an empty net with 4:02 to go.

OILERS 4 GOLDEN NIGHTS 2

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vasily Podkolzin, Leon Draisaitl and Kasperi Kapanen scored in the third period and Edmonton beat Vegas to tighten the Pacific Division race.

The Golden Knights, with 72 points, missed a chance to go back in front of Anaheim, which remained at 73 after the Ducks lost 4-0 at home to St. Louis. Third-place Edmonton has 70.

Vegas has lost five of six games, and the Oilers had dropped six of eight going into this meeting.

Trent Frederic also scored for the Oilers, and Connor Ingram made 24 saves. Connor McDavid had two assists and Evan Bouchard had one to extended their points streak to seven games.

Noah Hanifin and Jack Eichel scored for Golden Knights. Mitch Marner had two assists and Adin Hill stopped 15 shots.

Vegas winger Brett Howden played for the first time in two months. He had been out with a lower-body injury.

The teams traded goals in the second period, but a goal from Golden Knights winger Keegan Kolesar was successfully challenged by the Oilers.

Then in the third, Podkolzin scored an unassisted goal on a breakaway off a faceoff to put the Oilers ahead 2-1 just 2:34 into period. Draisaitl’s goal with 8:07 remaining came after Eichel failed to clear the puck out of his zone because teammate Rasmus Andersson’s broken stick was in the way.

The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

NHL roundup: Novak caps Penguins comeback with OT goal in 5-4 win over Bruins

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