(The Sports Xchange) – Highlights of Friday’s National Hockey League games:
Golden Knights 5, Sharks 4
Jonathan Marchessault jammed in a goal from the left side of the net at 1:21 of overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 5-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.
It was the eighth straight home victory for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (14-6-1), which tied the NHL record for most consecutive wins by a team in an inaugural season set by the Toronto Arenas in 1917-18.
William Karlsson scored two goals for Vegas, which also snapped San Jose’s three-game road win streak.
Vegas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in first period on defenseman Shea Theodore’s first goal of the season and Neal’s power-play goal over the blocker of San Jose goalie Martin Jones, the 250th career goal for Neal.
Capitals 3, Lightning 1
Backup goalie Phillip Grubauer buckled down after allowing a goal only 82 seconds into the game by not allowing another goal in the Capitals’ win over Tampa Bay.
The win came a day before Grubauer’s 26th birthday on Saturday.
A demanding four-game road trip got off to a sluggish start for Tampa Bay,
Despite being outshot 30-16 in the first two periods, the first-place Lightning had a chance to tie the game in the third period before they pulled their goalie with the score 2-1.
Islanders 5, Flyers 4 (OT)
New York completed a home-and-home sweep of Philadelphia with a second straight overtime win.
Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy scored 2:44 into overtime to give the Islanders a come-from-behind win.
Forwards Mathew Barzal, Cal Clutterbuck, Jordan Eberle and Andrew Ladd scored goals in regulation for the Islanders, who trailed 4-2 entering the third period.
The Islanders won for the fifth time in six games. They are now six points ahead of the Flyers in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Goaltender Thomas Greiss turned aside 26 shots to earn the win.
Wild 3, Avalanche 2 (SO)
The Minnesota Wild prevailed over the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout.
Charlie Coyle and Chris Stewart scored the only goals of the shootout for the Wild, who came from behind to win their second game in a row and improve to 6-1-1 in their last eight.
The Wild (11-8-3) got an early goal from Jason Zucker and a power-play goal from Nino Niederreiter, along with 28 saves from Alex Stalock in the win. He stopped attempts by Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in the shootout.
J.T. Compher and Blake Comeau scored in the first period for Colorado (11-8-2), which got 25 saves from Jonathan Bernier but saw a two-game winning streak snapped.
Winnipeg 4, Ducks 1
Nikolaj Ehlers registered two goals and an assist, Brian Little recorded a goal and two assists, and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Anaheim Ducks.
Winnipeg (14-5-3) won its fifth game in six contests and improved to 2-1-0 on a four-game road trip.
Anaheim (10-9-3) lost its second straight game. Francois Beauchemin scored the lone Ducks goal. John Gibson made 31 saves.
Bruins 4, Penguins 3
Boston backup goaltender Anton Khudobin won his fourth straight game, a decision over slumping Pittsburgh.
Khudobin, who had 17 saves, has gone 12-0-2 in 14 starts dating back to last season.
Khudobin has stopped 129 of 136 shots during his four-game run, and that doesn’t count the 10 he handled in an 11-round shootout win at New Jersey. He is 7-0-2 on the season and has already matched his wins total from last season.
David Pastrnak scored the game-winner on a breakaway 5:06 into the third period, taking a long pass from Riley Nash between two defenders before going in and beating Matt Murray for his 11th goal of the season.
Devils 3, Canucks 2
Brian Boyle scored on an emotional night for him in the New Jersey Devils’ victory.
During training camp, Boyle was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid/Myelogenous Leukemia and missed the first 10 games of the regular season.
In his NHL return following the diagnosis, Boyle scored against the Canucks. On Friday, with the Devils hosting their Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness night, Boyle scored again after his wife Lauren, and children Declan and Isabella helped drop the ceremonial first-puck, for which Boyle took the faceoff.
Taylor Hall had a goal and two assists, and Damon Severson also scored, while Cory Schneider made 23 saves for New Jersey.
Sabres 3, Oilers 1
Jacob Josefson, Jack Eichel and Kyle Okposo scored, and Robin Lehner made 29 saves to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a win.
Lehner came within 19 of recording his second shutout of the season for Buffalo (6-13-4).
Josefson opened the scoring with 5:44 remaining in the second. After some good work by Josefson down low, Okposo found Josefson in the left circle for a one-timer into the top of the net. It was Josefson’s first goal as a Sabre; he has points (one goal, one assist) in consecutive games after missing 15 games with a lower-body injury.
Eichel made it 2-0 43 seconds into the third period. Skating through the right circle, Eichel picked up his seventh goal of the season on a shot to the short side.
Predators 2, Blues 0
Pekka Rinne made an early goal by Ryan Johansen stand up to give the Nashville Predators a win.
Rinne stopped 33 shots in earning his second shutout of the season and 45th of his career as the Predators won their fourth game in a row and improved to 9-1 in their last 10 games.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Blues, who were playing their first game against a Central Division opponent since Oct. 19. It was the first game between the Blues and Predators, who defeated St. Louis in the playoffs last season en route to reaching the Stanley Cup final.
Maple Leafs 5, Hurricanes 4
Goalie Frederik Andersen did most of his good work early in the game and in the final two minutes as the Toronto Maple Leafs held on to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes.
Andersen stopped 43 shots, denying Carolina on 26 of their 27 shots across the first two periods.
Zach Hyman, Josh Leivo, Ron Hainsey, James van Riemsdyk and Patrick Marleau scored for the Maple Leafs (15-8-1), who have points in eight of their last nine games.
Derek Ryan, Jordan Staal, Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin posted the Carolina goals. The last three came in the third period, including Hanifin’s with 4:11 to play.
Stars 6, Flames 4
Tyler Seguin had a hat trick and Ben Bishop stopped 34 of 38 shots for the Dallas Stars in a win over the Calgary Flames.
Seguin scored once in the second period and twice in the third. His second goal, the eventual game-winner with 5:57 remaining, was the 200th of his career. Seguin added an empty-netter with 1:00 remaining.
Antoine Roussel, Alexander Radulov, who added an assist, and Gemel Smith also scored for Dallas (12-10-1, 25 points), who also got two assists from John Klingberg. The Stars are now 9-2-0 at home.
Sean Monahan had two goals and an assist, Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists for Calgary (12-9-1, 25 points), who also got a goal from Michael Ferland.
Coyotes 3, Kings 2
Christian Fischer scored at 2:42 of overtime off a rebound of Christian Dvorak’s shot and the Arizona Coyotes overcame two blown leads to keep the Los Angeles Kings in their slump.
Scott Wedgewood stopped 23 shots while filling in for the injured Antti Raanta as Arizona finally won in the Western Conference after starting the season 0-8-2 against their rivals. The Coyotes also won for only the second time this season at Gila River Arena — both times in overtime — and now are 2-7-1 there.
Backup goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped Alex Goligoski on an unimpeded breakaway early in the overtime, but couldn’t make the save as Dvorak’s wrist shot deflected wide and Fischer, skating wide, put it into the net for his sixth goal.
Despite Kuemper’s 30 saves, the Kings lost their seventh in eight games after starting 11-2-2. They’ve scored only 11 goals during those seven losses.
Rangers 2, Red Wings 1 (OT)
Despite being outshot 41-31 by the Detroit Red Wings, the Rangers escaped with an overtime victory at Madison Square Garden, their seventh straight victory at home.
Mats Zuccarello’s goal 37 seconds into the extra period would not have been possible without Henrik Lundqvist’s heroics in regulation; the goaltender stopped 13 of 14 chances in the third period and all 17 he faced in the first period as the Rangers (12-9-2) sputtered during the first 20 minutes.
In his past four starts, Lundqvist has made 132 saves on 136 shots to raise his save percentage this season to .918, which is as close as he’s been to his career numbers since the season began.
Blue Jackets 5, Senators 2
With the score tied and the outcome hanging in the balance midway through the third period, the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets took control and kept their winning streak going.
Cam Atkinson’s second goal of the game broke the stalemate and sent the Blue Jackets on their way to a victory over the Ottawa Senators at Nationwide Arena.
Columbus (15-7-1) has won six games in a row, its longest streak since its team-record 16-game run last season.
Atkinson’s blast from the left circle at 10:40 gave the Blue Jackets (15-7-1) the lead in the third. He also scored Columbus’ first goal in the opening period.
