Alexander Frolov scored a career-high three goals in the opening period and Craig Conroy had his second hat trick to lead the Los Angeles Kings over the Columbus Blue Jackets 8-2 in the NHL on Sunday.
Frolov bagged his hat trick in the first 12:35 on a power play, at even strength and short-handed.
"It was a great game for our team," Frolov said. "It doesn't happen very often -- we're just really excited about it, especially our line."
Conroy added two assists and Frolov had one. Eric Belanger and Michael Cammalleri also scored goals for the Kings, who have earned points in four straight games and six of seven. Conroy's five points, Frolov's four, and Pavol Demitra's four assists -- all in the first period -- were career highs for each player.
"I'd probably live a few years longer if we had more of them," Kings coach Andy Murray said of the lopsided win. "We knew it was imperative to get off to a good start and we certainly had some jump in our step. We were afraid of being embarrassed here if we didn't play hard."
The Blue Jackets' Todd Marchant scored his third goal in three games and Jason Chimera also had a goal.
Blackhawks 3, Oilers 1
At Chicago, Mark Bell scored two goals and Nikolai Khabibulin made 26 saves to lead Chicago over Edmonton.
Duncan Keith had a goal and an assist for Chicago, which converted its first two shots against Edmonton goalie Jussi Markkanen and was outshot 27-19.
Fernando Pisani converted a breakaway for Edmonton's only goal.
The Oilers killed all three Chicago penalties and have erased 17 straight opposing advantages. The Blackhawks' penalty killers were 8-for-8. The Blackhawks led 3-0 after the first period, despite being outshot 11-5.
Stars 3, Mighty Ducks 1
At Anaheim, California, Philippe Boucher and Jere Lehtinen scored 50 seconds apart in the first period, leading Dallas over Anaheim.
Bill Guerin added a goal shortly after an injury to Anaheim goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Marty Turco made 40 saves in his 200th NHL regular-season game, helping Dallas win for the fifth time in six tries. Sergei Zubov assisted on the Stars' first two goals, giving him 400 points with Dallas and 315 assists -- tying former Anaheim head coach Craig Hartsburg for the franchise record among defensemen.
Rookie Jonathan Hedstrom had the only goal for Anaheim, which has lost five straight following a four-game winning streak.
Giguere stopped five of seven shots before leaving the game at 4:28 of the second period with a cramp in his left leg.
Canucks 4, Red Wings 1
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Todd Bertuzzi's fourth career hat trick lifted Vancouver over Detroit.
Bertuzzi jammed in a rebound midway through the first period, and added his fifth goal of the season on a breakaway five minutes later. He completed his first three-goal game since March 2003 after coming in alone again on goalie Manny Legace with five minutes left in the second.
Anson Carter also scored for the Canucks, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the third time in eight contests.
Pavel Datsyuk scored for the NHL-leading Red Wings, who lost in regulation for just the third time this season (15-1-3). Two of those defeats have come against Vancouver.
RSS