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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

NHL roundup: Dallas races to early lead, beats Hurricanes 4-1

Dallas Stars’ Anton Khudobin (35) defends the net against Carolina Hurricanes’ Warren Foegele (13) during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. (Chris Seward / Associated Press)
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. – Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists and the surging Dallas Stars rode a three-goal first period to a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

Hintz posted a season-high three points and helped Dallas improve to 7-1-1 in its last nine games. The Stars are 6-0-2 in their last eight road games. The Stars also are 20-9-3 since Rick Bowness took over as interim coach after Jim Montgomery was fired on Dec. 10.

Denis Gurianov added a goal and an assist and Tyler Seguin and Jason Dickinson also scored for the Stars. Anton Khudobin stopped 40 shots for Dallas, which won despite being outshot 41-16.

Sebastian Aho scored his 36th goal of the season for the Hurricanes, who are 3-3-1 in their last seven games, including a pair of losses to the Stars. Alex Nedeljkovic, who was making just his second career NHL start after being recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League, made 12 saves for Carolina.

Capitals 4, Jets 3, SO

WASHINGTON – Alex Ovechkin scored his 701st goal and the shootout winner, and Braden Holtby made 30 saves in regulation and overtime to help Washington beat Winnipeg for its second straight win.

Ovechkin, Jakub Vrana and Garnet Hathaway scored to stake Washington to a 3-0 lead. The Capitals came away with two points anyway after that lead was erased on goals by Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele.

Ovechkin scored his 43rd of the season two minutes in after a pregame ceremony to commemorate the Russian superstar becoming the eighth member of the NHL’s 700 club.

Winnipeg dropped its third straight game.

Rangers 4, Islanders 3, OT

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Mika Zibanejad scored 28 seconds into overtime and the Rangers recovered after giving up a two-goal lead and beat the rival Islanders.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and Greg McKegg and Brett Howden also scored to give the Rangers their franchise-record eighth straight road win. They have also won eight of nine overall and 11 of 14 to close in on a playoff spot.

Alexandar Georgiev, starting for the first time in nine days, stopped 42 shots to beat the Islanders for the third time in four starts this season.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored and got into a fight in his Islanders debut one day after being acquired in trade-deadline deal with Ottawa. Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson also scored, Mathew Barzal had two assists as the Islanders lost for the fifth time in seven games (2-4-1). Semyon Varlamov finished with 24 saves.

Maple Leafs 4, Lightning 3

TAMPA, Fla. – One game after losing to a 42-year-old emergency goaltender on home ice, Toronto earned a bit of redemption with a win over Tampa Bay.

John Tavares scored twice, William Nylander scored his 28th and Fredrik Andersen stopped 26 shots for Toronto. Jake Muzzin also scored, though he missed the third period after taking a puck off his right hand late in the second period.

Nikita Kucherov scored his 30th of the season, Pat Maroon notched his eighth and Yanni Gourde picked up his ninth as Tampa Bay lost its season-long third consecutive game in regulation and had an 11-game home winning streak ended.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 19 saves.

Flyers 4, Sharks 2

PHILADELPHIA – Kevin Hayes had two goals and Travis Konecny and Nicolas Aube-Kubel also scored to lift Philadelphia to its fourth straight win.

Carter Hart stopped 26 shots and improved to 13-1 at home over his last 14 starts for a Flyers team suddenly looking for serious seeding in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers have won nine of 12 games and are fifth in the Eastern Conference.

First-year Flyers coach Alain Vigneault won his 684th game, tying Pat Quinn for 10th on the NHL career list.

Joel Kellman and Noah Gregor scored for San Jose.

San Jose captain Logan Couture, who had 36 points this season, returned from a broken ankle suffered on Jan. 7 but couldn’t help the Sharks avoid their fifth straight loss.

Flames 5, Bruins 2

BOSTON – Sean Monahan scored a pair of goals 1:12 apart in the second period and Calgary beat Boston.

Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists for the Flames and Erik Gustafsson picked up an assist in his debut for Calgary, a day after coming over in a deal with Chicago.

Mikael Backlund also scored twice for Calgary, helping seal the win on a goal with 1:30 left in the third and adding an empty-netter in the final minute. David Rittich finished with 26 saves for Calgary.

Brad Marchand scored a short-handed goal for the Bruins, who were playing their first home game since Feb. 15 and came out flat after a four-game road trip. The Bruins lost back-to-back games for the first time since a four-game skid in early December. Chris Wagner also scored for Boston and Tuukka Rask finished with 26 saves.

Canucks 4, Canadiens 3, OT

MONTREAL – Tyler Toffoli scored 1:35 into overtime and Vancouver beat Montreal.

Bo Horvat, Alexander Edler, and Jake Virtanen also scored for Vancouver.

Paul Byron, Shea Weber, and Jordan Weal scored for Montreal.

Thatcher Demko made 37 saves for his 11th victory of the season. Carey Price made 29 saves in the loss.

Devils 4, Red Wings 1

DETROIT – Cory Schneider made 27 saves for his first victory of the season, leading New Jersey past Detroit.

Joey Anderson, Jesper Bratt, Kyle Palmieri and Nikita Gusev scored for the Devils, who won for the seventh time in 10 games.

Detroit is 3-16-1 in its last 20. Valtteri Filppula had the only goal for the Red Wings.

Schneider improved to 1-6-1 on the season and won for the first time since March 25 of last year.

Blues 6, Blackhawks 5

ST. LOUIS – Zach Sanford had two goals and an assist, leading St. Louis to a wild win over Chicago and its fifth straight win.

Sanford scored the tiebreaking goal on a power play with at 13:35 of the third period, rallying the Blues from a 3-2 deficit after two periods.

Justin Faulk, Ryan O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn and Robert Thomas also scored for St. Louis. Thomas, David Perron, Jaden Schwartz each added two assists.

Brandon Saad, Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane scored power-play goals. Connor Murphy and Matthew Highmore also scored for Chicago.

Jordan Binnington had 25 saves in winning his fourth straight for the Blues. Corey Crawford recorded 31 saves for Chicago.

Predators 3, Senators 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ryan Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson scored power-play goals in the second period as Nashville rallied to beat Ottawa for its second straight win.

Colin Blackwell also scored as Nashville split the season series with the Senators. Juuse Saros made 33 saves and now is 8-3-0 over his last 12 appearances.

Thomas Chabot and Filip Chlapik scored for Ottawa.

Wild 5, Blue Jackets 4

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Mikko Koivu scored twice to snap a 30-game goalless drought, Eric Staal added his 18th goal and Minnesota held on to beat short-handed Columbus.

Alex Stalock made 24 saves and Ryan Donato and Kevin Fiala also scored as Minnesota won for the third time in five games under interim coach Dean Evason.

Nick Foligno, Emil Bemstrom, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Zach Werenski scored for Columbus, which was playing without goaltender Elvis Merzlikins and forward Riley Nash, who were injured a night earlier against Ottawa. Matiss Kivlenieks made the start in goal and stopped 35 shots in just his fifth NHL game.

Panthers 2, Coyotes 1

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 36 shots, Mike Hoffman scored for the third straight game and Florida spoiled Darcy Kuemper’s return with a win over Arizona.

Florida allowed 10 total goals in back-to-back losses to the Kings and Golden Knights before arriving in the desert, but played a much tighter defensive game against the Coyotes.

Kuemper was solid in his return after missing 28 games with a lower-body injury, stopping 23 shots. He gave up a goal to Frank Vatrano in the second period and Hoffman’s 25th of the season on a power play in the third.

Brad Richardson scored for Arizona, which lost for the third time in four games.

Ducks 4, Oilers 3

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Sonny Milano netted the game-winner in overtime and finished with two goals, leading the Ducks past Edmonton.

Nicolas Deslauriers and Adam Henrique also scored for the Ducks, who snapped a five-game losing streak. John Gibson had 29 saves for the Ducks.

Tyler Ennis, Draisaitl and Andres Athanasiou scored for the Oilers. Mike Smith had 17 saves on 21 shots for the Oilers.