NHL roundup: Sabres rout Islanders to halt 13-game skid

Beck Malenstyn scored just 2:07 into the game Monday night for the visiting Buffalo Sabres, who never trailed as they snapped a 13-game losing streak by routing the New York Islanders 7-1 in Elmont, N.Y.

Jiri Kulich posted his first career two-goal game while Rasmus Dahlin collected a career-high four assists for the Sabres, who set a season high for goals while winning for the first time since Nov. 23 — five days before Thanksgiving.

The Sabres, who were outscored 54-28 during their 13-game skid (0-10-3), scored the first six goals Monday as they posted their most lopsided win since a 7-0 blanking of the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 13 last season.

The four assists by Dahlin snapped his previous single-game best of three, set three times previously. Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves in the win.

Lightning 4, Panthers 0

Nikita Kucherov netted the game-winner before being ejected and Tampa Bay split its home-and-home set against Florida by blanking the Stanley Cup champions in Sunrise, Fla.

Lightning backup goaltender Jonas Johansson stopped 36 shots for his first shutout since October 2023.

Kucherov scored early but was assessed a game misconduct late in the first period after a kneeing incident on Matthew Tkachuk, who had to be helped to the dressing room but later returned.

Canucks 4, Sharks 3

Elias Pettersson scored twice and Quinn Hughes added two assists as Vancouver edged visiting San Jose.

Brock Boeser and Kiefer Sherwood also scored for the Canucks, who snapped a three-game skid (0-1-2) and won for the second time in six outings (2-2-2). Thatcher Demko made 26 saves to improve to 12-0-0 against the Sharks in his career.

William Eklund, Cody Ceci and Luke Kunin tallied for San Jose, which has lost five straight (0-4-1). Rookie Macklin Celebrini, a Vancouver native, picked up two assists in the loss. Yaroslav Askarov stopped 20 shots while opposing the Canucks for the first time.

Golden Knights 3, Ducks 1

Tomas Hertl scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and also had an assist as Vegas completed a four-game regular-season series sweep of Anaheim in Las Vegas.

The victory was the 119th for coach Bruce Cassidy with the Golden Knights, passing Gerard Gallant for the most in franchise history. Cassidy is 119-59-20 with the club. Gallant went 118-75-20. Tanner Pearson had a short-handed goal and Keegan Kolesar added a goal and an assist for Vegas, which won its fourth straight game and prevailed for the eighth time in nine games. Adin Hill made 31 saves for his 50th career win with Pacific Division-leading Vegas, which improved to 14-3-0 at home this season.

Mason McTavish scored a goal and Lukas Dostal, who entered the game with 2:28 to go in the first period after starting goaltender John Gibson was injured, finished with 19 saves for Anaheim. Gibson stopped all 11 shots he faced before Vegas center Tanner Laczynski, spinning around to race back up ice, inadvertently caught the goalie in the right eye with his stick. Laczynski earned an interference penalty.

Wild 4, Blackhawks 3

Brock Faber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Minnesota held on for a win over Chicago in Saint Paul, Minn.

Faber put the Wild on top 3-2 with 17:17 remaining in the third period. Kirill Kaprizov, Jared Spurgeon and Marcus Foligno each added one goal for Minnesota, which snapped a four-game losing streak. The Wild improved to 13-0-1 in their past 14 games against the Blackhawks.

Connor Bedard, Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson each scored for Chicago. The Blackhawks lost their second straight game after winning the previous three in a row.

Stars 3, Utah Hockey Club 2

Casey DeSmith made 24 saves in his first start since Dec. 2, helping Dallas end a two-game skid with a win against Utah in Salt Lake City.

DeSmith’s previous start also came at Utah, where he made 36 saves in a 2-1 win. Jake Oettinger started the next eight games, with DeSmith making one 18-minute relief appearance against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.

Colin Blackwell, Roope Hintz and Jamie Benn scored for Dallas. Kevin Stenlund and Barrett Hayton scored and Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for Utah, which had its eight-game point streak (6-0-2) snapped.

Penguins 7, Flyers 3

Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to match the Pittsburgh career record held by Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux as the host Penguins beat Philadelphia. Crosby and Lemieux each have 1,033 assists, tied for 12th in NHL history.

Michael Bunting scored twice, Rickard Rakell had a goal and two assists, Bryan Rust added a goal and an assist and Philip Tomasino and Blake Lizotte also scored for Pittsburgh. Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson had two assists apiece, and Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for the victory.

Egor Zamula, Noah Cates and Sean Couturier scored for Philadelphia. Scott Laughton had two assists. Samuel Ersson stopped nine shots and surrendered five goals before being replaced by Aleksei Kolosov, who made six saves on seven shots.

Devils 5, Rangers 0

Jack Hughes scored twice and collected an assist as New Jersey scored three power-play goals and rolled to a victory over sliding New York in Newark, N.J.

Hughes scored twice on goaltender Jonathan Quick three weeks after scoring twice on Igor Shesterkin in the Devils’ 5-1 rout of New York on Dec. 2. Timo Meier also scored a power-play goal while Stefan Noesen and Dawson Mercer scored in a span of 4:35 in the third for New Jersey.

Quick allowed five goals on 29 shots. The Rangers are 4-13-0 in their past 17 games.

Bruins 4, Capitals 1

Elias Lindholm and Charlie Coyle scored third-period goals within a span of 2:18 as Boston surged past visiting Washington.

Brad Marchand’s two goals and an assist led the Bruins, who will carry their first five-game point streak of the season (4-0-1) into the holiday break. The Boston captain now has points in 10 consecutive games for the third time in his career.

Jakub Vrana scored his third goal in as many games for Washington, which took only its fourth loss in a 14-game span (10-3-1). The Bruins played about half of the game without star winger David Pastrnak, who was hurt on a neutral-ice hit in the second period and was not on the team’s bench to start the third.

Blues 4, Red Wings 0

Dylan Holloway notched his first career hat trick and St. Louis Blues ended a three-game losing streak with a win at Detroit.

Jordan Binnington made 19 saves for his second shutout this season and the 17th of his career. Alexandre Texier also scored for the Blues, who had scored just one goal in each of their previous three games.

Cam Talbot made 17 saves for the Red Wings, who have lost three straight games.

Jets 5, Maple Leafs 2

Mark Scheifele had three goals and an assist as visiting Winnipeg defeated Toronto.

Kyle Connor added two goals and two assists, Gabriel Vilardi piled up three assists and Josh Morrissey had two assists for the Jets, who have won two games in a row. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots.

John Tavares scored twice for Toronto, notching his 200th goal as a Maple Leaf in the process. Including his time with the New York Islanders, Tavares has 473 career goals and is the fifth player in NHL history with 200 or more goals for two franchises.

Blue Jackets 5, Canadiens 4

Dmitri Voronkov lit the lamp twice and Kirill Marchenko scored the game winner with just over two minutes remaining to help host Columbus outlast Montreal.

Marchenko finished with a goal and two assists while Sean Monahan and Zach Werenski tallied three assists apiece.

Patrik Laine’s return to Columbus as a member of the Canadiens was cut short after he left the game following the end of the first period with an upper-body injury.

Predators 5, Hurricanes 2

Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist and Nashville won back-to-back games for the first time since October by defeating visiting Carolina.

Steven Stamkos, Ryan O’Reilly and Mark Jankowski also had goals for the Predators, who have won four of their past six games. Filip Forsberg provided three assists, and Juuse Saros made 25 saves.

Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost two of the past three. Dustin Tokarski yielded four goals on 24 shots in his second appearance for Carolina.

–Field Level Media