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    Friday, October 04, 2024

    NHL roundup

    Pittsburgh goalie Casey DeSmith winds up at the bottom trying to protect the net moments before Minnesota's Matt Dumba (24) scored during the first period of Thursday's game in St. Paul, Minn. Pittsburgh won in overtime, 4-3. (Jim Mone/AP Photo)

    Penguins 4, Wild 3 (OT)

    Evgeni Malkin scored 3:57 into overtime and Rickard Rakell had two goals as the Pittsburgh Penguins halted Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak Thursday night with a 4-3 victory over the Wild.

    Jake Guentzel added his 32nd goal of the season for Pittsburgh. Rakell has three goals in six games since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks for three players and a second-round draft choice.

    Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith made 28 saves.

    Pittsburgh moved one point behind the idle New York Rangers for second in the Metropolitan Division. First-place Carolina, which beat Montreal 4-0 on Thursday, is six points ahead of the Penguins.

    “I thought we showed really good resilience,” DeSmith said after his team squandered a 3-1 lead. “Obviously, tie game in the third, I thought we did a great job bouncing back, not letting the momentum get away from us. I thought we carried it in overtime, which is great, great to see. Star players stepped up for us.”

    Kirill Kaprizov scored his 38th goal for Minnesota to tie the franchise record for points in a season with 83. Matt Dumba and Frederick Gaudreau also scored for the Wild, who wrapped up a nine-game homestand — longest in team history — by going to OT for the fourth time in the last five games.

    Minnesota was an NHL-best 7-0 in overtime coming in.

    “We really liked our resilience and our push back,” coach Dean Evason said. “It would have been easy to fold at 3-1 for sure. And guys just kept doing the right things. Didn’t lose their composure like us coaches, probably. And, you know, we were able to get a point.”

    Cam Talbot stopped 35 shots for Minnesota, which is second in the Central Division, four points ahead of St. Louis.

    Rakell scored for the second time in three games just 1:06 in. His second goal of the game and 19th of the season came midway through the second period on a 2-on-1 break. Sidney Crosby waited patiently and stayed wide before passing across Talbot to Rakell, who lifted the puck up high.

    Down 3-1, the Wild responded.

    They had an apparent goal by Jordan Greenway taken away after a video review showed Minnesota was offside on the play. The Wild answered just 14 seconds later as Gaudreau scored his 10th of the season.

    Kaprizov tied the game 1:02 into the third after Ryan Hartman won a battle for a loose puck behind the net and fed Kaprizov racing down the middle of the ice.

    Kaprizov matched Marian Gaborik (2007-08) for the most points in a season in franchise history. Kaprizov had 14 goals in 16 games in March, setting a club record for a calendar month.

    The sophomore's 38 goals are tied with Gaborik (2005-06) for the third-most in team history. Gaborik in 2007-08 and Eric Staal in 2017-18 each scored 42.

    “He never seems to score an insignificant point or goal,” Talbot said of Kaprizov. “He always gets us back in the game, ties the game late, scores the OT winner. … He comes to play when the game is on the line. That’s why he’s a superstar.”

    Penguins winger Jason Zucker returned to the lineup after missing 30 games due to core muscle surgery. But he left in the second period and didn’t return after crashing hard into the boards. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan didn’t have an update on Zucker’s condition after the game.

    “I feel for him,” Sullivan said. “He’s worked so hard to get back to this point. I know this was an important game for him coming back to Minnesota where he spent a lot of his career.”

    Pittsburgh wasn’t the only team welcoming Zucker back. It was his first game back in Minnesota as an opponent after he played the first nine years of his career for the Wild and scored 132 goals.

    Zucker was activated off long-term injured reserve before the game and forward Brock McGinn was placed on the long-term injured reserve list.

    Dumba scored on the power play in the first period after a video review showed the puck crossed the line before Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang sent it clear. It was the first power-play goal from a Minnesota defenseman in 66 games this season.

    Letang got his 500th career assist on Guentzel’s goal. He became the sixth active defenseman and 33rd in NHL history to reach the mark. Only Erik Karlsson (820 games) reached the plateau quicker than Letang, who played in his 928th game.

    Avalanche 4, Sharks 2

    Mikko Rantanen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 7:43 remaining, Pavel Francouz stopped 25 shots and Colorado Avalanche beat San Jose.

    Andre Burakovsky, Darren Helm and Alex Newhook also added goals for the Avalanche, who earned victory No. 27 at Ball Arena this season. They’re one away from tying the franchise record for home victories set in 2000-01 and matched in 2017-18.

    Timo Meier and Brent Burns had goals for a Sharks team that was on the second night of a back-to-back. Kaapo Kahkonen turned back 42 shots in his second game for the Sharks after being acquired from Minnesota on March 21.

    Colorado has beaten the Sharks at home seven times in a row.

    Kings 3, Flames 2 (SO)

    Lias Andersson scored the deciding goal in the shootout and Cal Petersen made 26 saves for Los Angeles.

    Alex Iaffalo and Viktor Arvidsson scored in regulation for Los Angeles, which moved within five points of Pacific Division-leading Calgary. The Flames have three games in hand.

    Johnny Gaudreau and Erik Gudbranson scored for Calgary, which lost consecutive games for the first time since early January. After a stretch of winning 15 of 17 home games, Calgary has won just two of its last six (2-2-2) at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

    The Kings and Flames meet again in Los Angeles on Monday night.

    Maple Leafs 7, Jets 3

    Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 50th goal of the season and Toronto beat Winnipeg.

    Matthews scored Toronto’s sixth goal of the game into an empty net with 2:06 left in regulation. He moved past Leon Draisaitl (49 goals) of idle Edmonton for the league goal lead and became the first Maple Leafs player to reach the milestone since Dave Andreychuk scored 53 in 1993-94.

    William Nylander had two power-play goals and an assist and Ilya Mikheyev scored short-handed and had a three-point game. Mark Giordano added a goal and an assist and John Tavares, and Timothy Liljegren also scored Toronto, which got 20 saves from Erik Kallgren. Mitch Marner added three assists.

    Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist, Blake Wheeler and Paul Stastny also scored for Winnipeg. Eric Comrie stopped 31 shots.

    Panthers 4, Blackhawks 0

    Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 37 shots for his third shutout of the season, leading Florida past Chicago.

    Aleksander Barkov scored twice, Gustav Forsling had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Lomberg scored his fourth goal in three games as the Panthers won their 28th home game, a club record for a season.

    Jonathan Huberdeau recorded his 71st assist, an NHL record for assists by a left winger. Huberdeau has 94 points, tied with Pavel Bure. He is closing in on the club record of 96 set by Barkov in the 2018-19 season.

    The Panthers could clinch a playoff spot as early as Saturday.

    Collin Delia stopped 40 shots for the Blackhawks, who lost their third straight game.

    Hurricanes 4, Canadiens 0

    Frederik Andersen made 32 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and Andrei Svechnikov scored twice as Carolina dominated Montreal.

    Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen each had a goal and an assist as the Hurricanes stretched their points streak to six games with their third win in the last four outings. Svechnikov’s second goal went into an empty net. Tony DeAngelo and Jaccob Slavin both assisted on two goals. Andersen faced 14 shots in the third period, when the Hurricanes killed off three penalties.

    The Canadiens were blanked for the fifth time this season, the last coming on Dec. 30 in the same building against Carolina. Jake Allen stopped 40 shots for Montreal, which has won just once in its last six games (1-3-2).

    Stars 3, Ducks 2

    Jamie Benn scored 53 seconds into overtime and Dallas completed a two-game sweep of skidding Anaheim.

    Benn skated past two Ducks and converted a pass from Miro Heiskanen for his 17th goal of the season for the Stars, who have won five of six overall. Dallas swept a two-game mini-series at Anaheim this week to stay in the thick of the playoff race.

    Kevin Shattenkirk scored a tying goal with 3:21 left in regulation, but the Ducks still lost their 11th consecutive game. John Gibson stopped 32 shots for Anaheim.

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