Nicolas Deslauriers’ first NHL hat trick was also the fastest hat trick in Ducks history, and Anaheim earned a 5-2 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
Known more for his toughness than his offensive prowess over his seven NHL seasons, Deslauriers had only 12 goals in 211 games heading into Tuesday’s play. Against Ottawa, however, the forward scored three consecutive goals within a span of 9:04 in the first period.
His third goal came 11:49 into the game, breaking the Anaheim record for quickest hat trick set by Teemu Selanne, who had three goals in the first 12:58 on Nov. 10, 1997, against the visiting San Jose Sharks.
Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell scored the Ducks’ other two goals, both on power plays. Rakell also had an assist, giving him seven points (two goals, five assists) over his last four games. Brady Tkachuk and Colin White each had a goal and an assist for the Senators.
Penguins 5, Devils 2
Evgeni Malkin scored two third-period goals and added an assist as Pittsburgh broke a two-game losing streak by wining in Newark, N.J.
Kris Letang had a goal and an assist, and Evan Rodrigues and Justin Schultz also scored for Pittsburgh, which had lost eight of its previous 10 but hit 40 wins for the 13th consecutive 82-game season.
Penguins goaltender Matt Murray made 20 saves. Miles Wood and Nikita Gusev scored for the Devils, who had won two in a row and were 6-1-2 in their previous nine.
Maple Leafs 2, Lightning 1
Auston Matthews scored on a power play early in the third period, and Toronto held on to defeat visiting Tampa Bay.
William Nylander also scored for the Maple Leafs. John Tavares and Mitch Marner each had two assists as the Maple Leafs ended a three-game losing streak.
Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning, losers of two straight.
Hurricanes 5, Red Wings 2
Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist, and Justin Williams scored for the fifth straight game as Carolina downed host Detroit for its third win in a row.
Morgan Geekie scored his third goal in his second NHL game. Williams has six goals during his hot streak. He scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, one of the Hurricanes’ four special teams tallies.
Nino Niederreiter also scored for Carolina, which got three assists from Jake Gardiner and two from Teuvo Teravainen. Tyler Bertuzzi and Christoffer Ehn scored for Detroit. Jonathan Bernier stopped 31 shots as the Red Wings saw their two-game winning streak end.
Canucks 5, Islanders 4 (SO)
J.T. Miller scored the lone goal in the shootout as Vancouver defeated visiting New York.
Goaltender Thatcher Demko made 45 saves through regulation and overtime and didn’t allow a goal on three Islanders shootout attempts as the Canucks won for just the second time in their past seven games (2-5-0). Adam Gaudette, Tyler Toffoli, Zack MacEwen and Bo Horvat scored in regulation for Vancouver.
Brock Nelson scored twice, and Andrew Ladd and Jordan Eberle also tallied for the Islanders, who took their season-high seventh consecutive defeat (0-3-4). Goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots through regulation and overtime.
Bruins 2, Flyers 0
Matt Grzelcyk and Patrice Bergeron scored goals to lift visiting Boston past Philadelphia.
Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made 36 saves for his 50th career shutout helping to snap the Flyers’ nine-game winning streak.
The Bruins improved to 44-14-12 for a league-best 100 points. Boston also pushed its road mark to 22-10-3.
Predators 4, Canadiens 2
Filip Forsberg had two goals with an assist during Nashville’s four-goal second period, and Juuse Saros made 32 saves while his shutout streak ended as the visiting Predators beat Montreal for their third straight victory.
Coming off back-to-back shutouts over Dallas, Saros went 181:07 without yielding a goal before Montreal’s Artturi Lehkonen scored amid heavy pressure at 2:45 into the third period.
Forsberg highlighted Nashville’s breakout second period, which also featured goals from Ryan Johansen and Calle Jarnkrok. Artturi Lehkonen and Lukas Vejdemo were the Canadiens’ goal-scorers, the latter producing his first NHL goal in his seventh game.
Rangers 4, Stars 2
Mika Zibanejad reached 40 goals for the first time in his career, rookie Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves, and New York opened a three-game road trip with the victory over slumping Dallas.
Zibanejad scored a goal for the 11th game in a span of 12 games, joining Andy Bathgate (1962-63) as the only players in team history to accomplish that feat, according to NHL Stats and Information. He has 16 goals in the 12-game span.
The Rangers got two goals from rookie Kaapo Kakko and a goal and an assist from Andy Fox. Dallas lost its season-high sixth straight game (0-4-2) despite third-period goals from Roope Hintz and Andrew Cogliano.
–Field Level Media
