NHL Capsules: Jaden Schwartz has hat trick in Blues’ 5-2 victory over Blackhawks
ST. LOUIS – Jaden Schwartz had his third career hat trick to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Schwartz has four goals and six assists this season and has at least one point in six of the Blues’ first seven games. It was his 51st career multi-point game and fourth this season.
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, Kyle Brodziak also scored, and Jake Allen made 22 saves. The Blues snapped a two-game losing streak
Duncan Keith and Ryan Hartman had late goals for Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford made 28 saves.
Schwartz opened the scoring at 4:46 of the first period, tucking in a backhander off Tarasenko’s feed.
Schwartz left the game eight minutes later after going awkwardly head-first into the boards after getting tangled with Richard Panik on a partial short-handed break.
Schwartz returned in the second period, and gave the Blues a 2-0 lead at 5:59. Allen’s outlet pass off the boards created a 2-on-1 with Schwartz and Sammy Blais.
Schwartz completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal.
Maple Leafs 6, Red Wings 3
TORONTO – Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves in his season debut and Toronto scored four times in the first period in the victory over Detroit.
Starting in place of Frederik Andersen, McElhinney stopped 15 shots in the third period to hold off the Red Wings.
Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews, Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander scored to help Toronto improve to an NHL-best 6-1-0. The Maple Leafs were coming off a 2-0 victory at Washington on Tuesday night.
Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Ericsson scored for the Red Wings, and Nick Jensen had three assists.
Jimmy Howard gave up three goals on four shots before getting yanked in favor of Petr Mrazek late in the first period. Toronto scored on its first two shots and four of its first five.
Kings 5, Canadiens 1
LOS ANGELES – Adrian Kempe had his first career hat trick to lead Los Angeles over Montreal.
Michael Cammalleri scored the other two goals for the Kings, who have opened their season with their best six-game start (5-0-1) in franchise history.
Montreal (1-5-1) still hasn’t won in regulation this season.
Jonathan Quick made 36 saves for the Kings.
The 21-year-old Kempe scored the go-ahead goal on a 2-on-1 breakaway for the Kings at 7:34 in the third period. He scored again at 16:42 and added another at 18:24 as hats were thrown onto the ice.