Nazem Kadri broke a tie with 3 minutes, 20 seconds to play on Saturday and Zach Hyman scored twice in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-3 victory over hosts the Minnesota Wild.
Hyman added an empty-net goal in the final minute to seal Toronto’s fourth straight victory and Minnesota’s third loss in a row. The Maple Leafs improved to 19-8-0, securing second on the league table.
Kadri’s goal bounced off Wild defenseman Nick Seeler, who was on the wrong end of two such plays. Seeler also had a puck deflect off of him and into his own goal when Tyler Ennis scored Toronto’s second goal of the night.
Photo: AP
Auston Matthews also scored, and Frederick Anderson made 38 saves for the Maple Leafs for his 15th victory of the season. Matthews scored Toronto’s first goal, his third in two games since returning from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for 14 games.
The win came after news broke that Toronto signed restricted free-agent William Nylander to a six-year extension, ending an impasse with his contract. Saturday was the deadline for a deal to be done.
Jason Zucker, Eric Staal and Jordan Greenway scored for Minnesota.
LIGHTNING 5, PANTHERS 4
Brayden Point scored a power-play goal 3 minutes, 12 seconds into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning overcame a 4-1 deficit to beat hosts the Florida Panthers.
Point took a pass from Nikita Kucherov across the front of the crease to the left side and flipped the puck past James Reimer. Tampa Bay improved to 19-7-1, a point ahead of Toronto for the overall league lead.
Kucherov had a goal and two assists. Cedric Paquette, Mathieu Joseph and Alex Killorn also scored, and Louis Domingue made 24 saves. Evgenii Dadonov and Jonathan Huberdeau each had a goal and an assist, while Frank Vatrano and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers.
SENATORS 6, SHARKS 2
Ben Harpur scored his first NHL goal, Craig Anderson stopped 36 shots and the Ottawa Senators beat the San Jose Sharks to spoil Erik Karlsson’s return to Canada.
Karlsson, the former Senators captain, was playing his first game in Ottawa since he was traded to San Jose in the off-season. The team honored the two-time Norris Trophy winner with a video tribute.
Ryan Dzingel, Mark Stone, Mikkel Boedker, Magnus Paajarvi and Bobby Ryan also scored to help the Senators win their third straight. Boedker added three assists for a four-point outing.
Joe Thornton and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Sharks, who have lost four in a row.
ISLANDERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2
Casey Cizikas scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the New York Islanders won in their return to the Nassau Coliseum, rallying to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier scored in the second period to tie the score, and Thomas Greiss stopped 28 shots. Markus Hannikainen and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for Columbus.
It was the Islanders’ first regular season game in three-and-a-half years at the Coliseum, the team’s home from their inception in 1972 until 2015. This was the first of 21 games at the arena as part of a unique arrangement with Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the Islanders’ home since the 2015-2016 season.
In Saturday’s other games, it was:
‧ Coyotes 6, Blues 1
‧ Flyers 4, Penguins 2
‧ Red Wings 4, Bruins 2
‧ Stars 2, Canucks 1
‧ Jets 4, Devils 3
‧ Predators 5, Blackhawks 2
‧ Canadiens 5, Rangers 2
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