Marchand’s shootout goal gives Panthers 5-4 win over Bruins
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brad Marchand scored in the fourth round of the shootout in his return to Florida’s lineup after missing two games to give the Panthers a 5-4 win over the Boston Bruins, his former team, on Wednesday night.
Anton Lundell had a goal and two assists for his second three-point game of the season, while Matthew Tkachuk and Uvis Balinskis had a goal and an assist each as the Panthers ended a four-game losing streak. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.
Michael Eyssimont scored twice for the Bruins, who have lost two straight games in Florida in a shootout, including Sunday’s NHL Stadium Series game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Mark Kastelic and Casey Mittelstadt also had goals and Joonas Korpisalo had 22 saves.
The Panthers trailed 2-1 after the first period despite taking the lead on a goal from Eetu Luostarinen at 4:22.
Eyssimont scored a pair of goals on breakaways — including one when he came racing out of the penalty box and got Bobrovsky to go down, leaving the net open enough for him to be able to tuck the puck in.
Florida scored three goals on special teams in the second, two on the power play and one short-handed.
Balinskis tied the score 30 seconds into the period. Tkachuk made it 3-2 at 2:22 on a power-play goal and the Panthers made it 4-2 with 1:27 remaining in the second, Sam Reinhart feeding Lundell off the rush while Florida was killing off a penalty.
BLUE JACKETS 4, BLACKHAWKS 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Zach Werenski became the first defenseman to score 20 goals before an Olympic break, Jet Greaves got his second shutout of the season and Columbus extended its winning streak to seven with a victory over Chicago.
Ivan Provorov, Danton Heinen and Sean Monahan also scored for Columbus, which has won 10 of 11 since Rick Bowness became coach on Jan. 12.
Columbus was seven games out of a playoff spot when Bowness was hired to replace Dean Evason. The Blue Jackets enter the Olympic break only two points behind the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Greaves stopped 21 shots for his fourth career shutout in 58 regular-season games. Charlie Coyle added two assists.
It’s the first time since 2020 that Columbus got shutouts in two straight games and the first time since 2019 that they’ve done it on back-to-back nights. The Blue Jackets defeated New Jersey 3-0 on Tuesday night.
CANADIENS 5, JETS 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson each had a goal and two assists, Samuel Montembeault stopped 36 shots to earn his first win since Jan. 17 and Montreal beat Winnipeg.
Rookie Oliver Kapanen, Lane Hutson and Phillip Danault, also scored for the Canadiens, who are 4-0-1 during a five-game points streak and 6-2-1 in their last nine.
Montembeault, who made his first start since Jan. 24, had given up three or more goals in five of his six previous starts.
Kyle Connor scored for the Jets and Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves.
Winnipeg took an early 1-0 lead when Connor scored his 25th goal on a one-timer during a power play at 6:07 of the first period.
Kapanen, who’s heading to the Olympics for Finland, got his 18th goal 10 minutes later when a rebound went off Jet Cole Perfetti’s stick right to him and he then flipped the puck past a sprawled Hellebuyck.
Montreal went ahead 3-1 at 6:44 of the second after goals 76 seconds apart by Anderson and Hutson.
WILD 6, PREDATORS 5, OT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Matt Boldy scored three times in the first 13 minutes and assisted on Jared Spurgeon’s goal with 45.1 seconds left on the clock in overtime to lead Minnesota over Nashville.
Yakov Trenin and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored and Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Wild, who have won five straight games.
Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists for Nashville, which is 2-0-3 in its last five. Filip Forsberg, Luke Evangelista, Erik Haula and Roman Josi also scored. Ryan O’Reilly had three assists and Juuse Saros stopped 38 shots.
All three games between the teams this season have gone to overtime.
In the extra period, Boldy slipped a pass to Spurgeon, who maneuvered to the low slot and beat Saros to the far side.
Tarasenko scored with 4:36 remaining in the third period. But just 34 seconds later, Josi tied it 5-all.
The teams combined for six goals in a wild first period.
MAMMOTH 4, RED WINGS 1
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller had a goal and an assist each, Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves, and Utah beat Detroit.
Sean Durzi and Dylan Guenther also had goals for Utah, helping the Mammoth improve to 8-1-1 on their home ice since the start of January.
Schmaltz tallied his 23rd goal of the season, matching a season-high set in the 2021-22 season with Arizona. He trails only Guenther, who has 25, in goals scored for Utah this season.
Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings, who lost for the fourth time in five games. John Gibson made 21 stops for Detroit.