Derek Stepan scored a pair of special-teams goals and completed a hat-trick into an empty net, Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves in his 600th NHL contest, and the New York Rangers won their eighth consecutive game, 3-1, spoiling the debut of the New Jersey Devils’ revamped coaching staff on Saturday night.
Stepan netted an unassisted short-handed goal in the first period and a power-play tally in the second for the Rangers (19-10-4), who have won 12 of 14 and earned at least one point in 22 of 29 (18-7-4).
Stepan’s empty-netter with 54.6 seconds left clinched the victory and his third NHL hat-trick.
Lundqvist, second to Mike Richter (666) in goalie games played with the Rangers, has a franchise record 325 wins.
He tied his personal best winning streak of seven games and became the ninth NHL goalie to play 600 games with one team.
BLUE JACKETS 6, BRUINS 2
Kevin Connauton had a goal and two assists and the Blue Jackets scored four times in the second period for a win against the Bruins.
Scott Hartnell, in his first game back after missing five games with a broken finger, scored the Blue Jackets’ first two goals for a 2-1 lead early in the second.
Nick Foligno and Connauton made it 4-1 before Craig Cunningham scored for the Bruins (18-15-3). Matt Calvert regained the three-goal lead with 51 seconds left in the second.
Jeremy Morin added a goal for Columbus in the third.
Patrice Bergeron scored in the first period for the Bruins, 20 seconds after Hartnell had given the Blue Jackets (15-16-3) a 1-0 advantage.
Columbus backup goalie Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves.
SABRES 4, ISLANDERS 3, SO
Tyler Ennis scored in a shootout in the Sabres’ victory over the Islanders.
The Sabres overcame a 3-0 deficit, with Nicolas Deslauriers, Zemgus Girgensons and Chris Stewart scoring in the third period to spoil Kevin Poulin’s shutout bid.
John Tavares scored twice and Nick Leddy added a goal for the Islanders.
Poulin was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Tuesday after Jaroslav Halak sustained a lower-body injury.
The Sabres snapped a four-game losing streak in sending New York to its second consecutive loss.
RED WINGS 3, SENATORS 2, OT
Gustav Nyquist scored at 4:12 of overtime to lift the Red Wings to a win over the Senators.
Nyquist circled the Senators’ net, carrying the puck around their zone for 10-12 seconds before launching a shot from the slot for the game winner.
The Red Wings (19-8-9) got their other goals from Justin Abdelkader and Henrik Zetterberg, but it was the work of netminder Jimmy Howard and his 31 saves that avoided a Detroit loss in regulation. He stopped Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson on a breakaway early in the overtime period to help keep the game tied.
Mike Hoffman and Clarke MacArthur scored in regulation for the Senators (14-14-7), while Craig Anderson turned aside 24 shots.
COYOTES 2, DUCKS 1
Shane Doan scored the only goal in the shootout with a broken stick, while Devan Dubnyk stopped 36 shots as the Coyotes beat the Ducks.
Arizona played well in its own end against one of the NHL’s most explosive teams and Dubnyk made some big saves when Anaheim picked up the pressure in the third period.
After both teams failed to score in the first three rounds of the shootout, Doan broke his stick while shooting on Frederik Andersen, sending the puck trickling toward the right post. Thrown off by the stick and slow-moving puck, Andersen couldn’t react in time to stop the puck from sneaking over the line.
Zbynek Michalek also scored for Arizona, who have won consecutive games for the first time since beating Vancouver and Edmonton on Nov. 14 and 16.
Andersen stopped 28 shots and Rene Bourque scored for Ducks, who are 17-0-6 in one-goal games this season.
FLAMES 4, OILERS 1
Rookie Johnny Gaudreau continued his torrid scoring on Saturday night with two goals to lead Calgary over Edmonton.
Gaudreau’s goals came 16 seconds apart early on as the Flames blew the game open with three goals in less than two minutes.
Coming off a natural hat-trick in Tuesday’s comeback victory over Los Angeles, the 21-year-old has six goals in his last three games and eight in his last 10. Gaudreau is second in rookie scoring with 29 points, behind Nashville’s Filip Forsberg.
Joe Colborne and Curtis Glencross also scored for Calgary (19-15-3), who have won consecutive games after ending an eight-game winless skid.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the lone goal for Edmonton (7-22-7), who are winless in their last nine (0-7-2).
In other games, it was:
‧ Lightning 2, Hurricanes 1
‧ Jets 4, Wild 3, OT
‧ Capitals 3, Penguins 0
‧ Blackhawks 5, Avalanche 2
‧ Predators 4, Flyers 1
‧ Stars 4, Blues 3
‧ Kings 3, Sharks 1
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