NHL roundup: Stamkos moves to 7th in power-play goals as Predators beat Golden Knights 4-1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist to lead the Nashville Predators to a 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

Stamkos opened the scoring 40 seconds in and added a power-play goal in the first two minutes of the second period as Nashville raced to an early three-goal lead. Tyson Jost and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for the Predators, who won their third straight and for the fourth time in six games. Justus Annunen made 39 saves and improved to 8-9-2.

With his second goal of the game, the 36-year-old Stamkos broke a tie with Brendan Shanahan and moved into sole possession of seventh place in the NHL with 238 career power-play goals. Phil Esposito is sixth overall with 246 man-advantage goals. Stamkos has 33 goals and 55 points this season.

Shea Theodore scored for Vegas, which lost its third in a row and for the sixth time in eight games. Akira Schmid stopped 16 shots.

Vegas carried the play throughout, outshooting Nashville 40-20. But, the Predators made the most of their shots with leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the second period. The Golden Knights had a 20-4 edge in shots in the first period and a 10-5 advantage in the scoreless third.

Stamkos scored in the opening minute after Ryan O’Reilly won a faceoff and delivered a perfect feed in the slot.

Stamkos scored his 33 of the season on the power play at 1:24 of the second, with assists going to Filip Forsberg and Erik Haula. Tyson Jost made it 3-0 with the Predators’ third short-handed goal of the season at 11:56. O’Reilly has the team’s other short-handed scores this season.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:

PENGUINS 5 JETS 4 (SO)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell scored in a shootout and Pittsburgh beat Winnipeg.

Pittsburgh, which is jockeying for playoff positioning, earned an extra point in the shootout for the second time this season. The Penguins have points in seven of their last eight games and 21 of their last 25.

Arturs Silovs, who made 21 saves, stopped Jonathan Toews and Gustav Nyquist in the shootout.

Erik Karlsson scored two goals and has five in his last three games. Karlsson, who has four straight multi-point games, now has seven goals and 19 points in his last 12 games.

Egor Chinakhov earned his 100th NHL point with a goal and Rakell scored to continue a career-best eight-game point streak.

Parker Wotherspoon had two assists, while Bryan Rust, playing in his 700th NHL game, continued a six-game point streak with an assist.

Cole Koepke scored a short-handed goal, while Morgan Barron also scored for the Jets.

Brad Lambert had a goal and an assist, while Neal Pionk scored in his return after missing the last 23 games because of injury.

WILD 2 STARS 1 (OT)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Vladimir Tarasenko scored 3:06 into overtime and Minnesota beat Dallas in what could be a first-round playoff preview.

Bobby Brink also scored and Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves for the Wild, improving to 9-2-0 in his past 11 starts.

It is Minnesota’s second win in six games, a stretch that included three straight home losses. The Wild are in third place in the Central Division — five points behind Dallas and 14 up on Utah.

Jason Robertson scored and Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots for Dallas. The Stars moved within three points of Colorado, which clinched a playoff spot on Friday. Dallas is 1-1-1 in their last three games after a 14-0-1 run. Dallas beat the Avalanche 2-1 Wednesday in a shootout.

In overtime, a bounce off the half wall went to Brink, who quickly sent a pass across to Tarasenko alone in the right circle. His wrist shot found the far top corner and the Wild won its 15th game that has gone to extra time. Minnesota has played an NHL-high 28 overtime games.

SABRES 4 KINGS 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Zach Benson had a goal and an assist and Buffalo continued their white-hot play with a win over Los Angeles.

Tage Thompson, Sam Carrick and Rasmus Dahlin also scored for the Sabres. 

Carrick and Dahlin scored 59 seconds apart midway through the third period, and Benson added an empty-netter to give the Sabres their fourth straight win and 12th in the past 13 outings. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves.

Buoyed by significant and vocal support despite being the visitors, the Sabres continued their push for an Atlantic Division title as they are on their way to ending a 14-year playoff drought, the longest in the NHL.

Artemi Panarin scored, picking up a point for the fifth straight game. Anze Kopitar tied Marcel Dionne for the Kings franchise record for points on home ice, and Anton Forsberg made 28 saves.

Los Angeles came into the day as the second wild card in the Western Conference but dropped behind the Nashville Predators, who won 4-1 over the Vegas Golden Knights.

FLYERS 4 SHARKS 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Christian Dvorak scored a tiebreaking goal early in the third period and added an assist, Dan Vladar made 24 saves and Philadelphia beat San Jose to complete a three-game West Coast sweep.

Owen Tippett scored in the second period and defenceman Travis Sanheim and Noah Cates added empty-net goals in the final two minutes as the Flyers won their third straight and for the fifth time in six games. Philly was coming off a 3-2 overtime win over Anaheim on Wednesday and 4-3 shootout victory over Los Angeles on Thursday. The Flyers completed a California sweep for the second time in franchise history and extended their road winning streak to seven games.

Dmitry Orlov scored for San Jose, which lost its fourth in a row and for the seventh time in nine games. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 24 of 26 shots.

After a scoreless first period, Tippett got the Flyers on the board with his 24th of the season 2:26 into the second. Tippett took a pass from Trevor Zegras, got past the Sharks’ Nick Leddy and beat Nedeljkovic with a shot to the glove side.

Orlov evened the score with his third of the season on a power play at 13:12 with a shot from the slot off a feed from William Eklund. Macklin Celebrini also assisted.

Dvorak put the Flyers ahead 1:47 into the third, scoring on the power play after San Jose’s Mario Ferraro was sent off for roughing. The assists went to Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov, who picked up the 100th point of his NHL career.

BLUE JACKETS 5 KRAKEN 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus scored three times in the first period and beat Seattle, extending the Blue Jackets’ point streak to 12 games.

Danton Heinen, Damon Severson and Mathieu Olivier scored in the opening frame, and Zach Werenski assisted on all three. Cole Sillinger had a goal and two assists, Kent Johnson added a goal, and Elvis Merzlikins made 15 saves as Columbus won its fourth straight.

Kaapo Kakko had a goal and an assist, and Vince Dunn also scored for Seattle, which has lost three straight and fell two points behind Nashville for the final Western Conference wild-card spot. Joey Daccord stopped 23 shots.

CANADIENS 7 ISLANDERS 3

MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored three goals to push his season total to 43 and added two assists to help Montreal beat New York.

Caufield is second in the NHL in goals, two behind Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon.

The Canadiens are third in the Atlantic Division, while the Islanders are a point behind Detroit for the second wild card in the tight Eastern Conference.

Juraj Slafkovsky had two goals and two assists, and Nick Suzuki had four assists to bring his season total to 61. Kaiden Guhle added a goal and two assists, Alex Newhook also scored and Jacob Fowler made 19 saves.

Emil Heineman, Simon Holmstrom and Matthew Schaefer scored for New York.

SENATORS 5 MAPLE LEAFS 2

OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Ottawa had a dominant game against their provincial rivals beating Toronto.

Anthony Stolarz was expected to get the start but took a puck to the throat during warm-ups and was sent to hospital for precautionary imaging putting Joseph Woll back in action. Woll had faced 36 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina on Friday night.

Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux, Warren Foegele, Michael Amadio and Ridly Greig scored for Ottawa. Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence added two assists each, and Woll stopped 38 shots.

John Tavares and Easton Cowan scored for the Maple Leafs, who were without captain Auston Matthews who had knee surgery on Thursday. Linus Ullmark made 12 saves.

BLUES 3, CANUCKS 1

VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — Pius Suter and Pavel Buchnevich scored in a 1:19 span in the second period and St. Louis beat NHL-worst Vancouver to end a two-game losing streak.

St. Louis is six points behind Nashville for the final wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Blues have are 7-1-2 in their last 10.

Jordan Kyrou scored into an empty net on a power play with 48 seconds left to seal it. Jordan Binnington stopped 14 shots for St. Louis, allowing only defenceman Filip Hronek’s third-period goal on a power play.

Kevin Lankinen made 18 saves for the Canucks.

BRUINS 4 RED WINGS 2

DETROIT (AP) — Defenceman Nikita Zadorov broke a tie at 9:42 of the third period and Boston beat Detroit in an Eastern Conference wild-card showdown.

Jeremy Swayman made 41 saves to help Boston move two points ahead of Detroit for the first wild-card spot. David Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm and Marat Khusnutdinov also scored for the Bruins.

Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat scored for Detroit. John Gibson stopped 23 shots.

Zadorov put the Bruins ahead with a long wrist shot that seemed to surprise Gibson as it sailed past his blocker. The defenceman has two goals this season.

LIGHTNING 5 OILERS 2

EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists to take the NHL scoring lead from Edmonton star Connor McDavid in Tampa Bay’s victory over the Oilers.

Kucherov scored his 39th and 40th goals and had his 77th and 78th assists to push his season points total to 118. McDavid had his 38th goal to get to 116. Kucherov has 12 points in his last three games and 22 in his last eight.

Anthony Cirelli also scored twice, Jake Guentzel added a goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for Tampa Bay. Second in the Atlantic Division, the Lightning have won three in a row and four of five.

Josh Samanski also scored for Edmonton, and Connor Ingram stopped 22 shots. Second in the Pacific, the Oilers have lost two in a row.