Thompson’s hat trick powers Sabres past Canadiens 5-3

By Canadian Press on January 15, 2026.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tage Thompson scored three times, including the 200th of his career, and added two assists in the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

Josh Doan had a goal and assist, and Alex Tuch also scored as the surging Sabres improved to 15-2 in their past 17. Colten Ellis stopped 20 shots.

At 26-16-4, Buffalo’s win total and 56 points are the most through 47 games since the team went 30-11-6 over the same span in 2009-10.

Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki had a goal and assist each, and Ivan Demidov also scored. Rookie Jacob Fowler finished with 22 saves.

The Canadiens were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at Washington on Tuesday, and had gone 8-2-4 since last dropping consecutive outings.

After trading leads through two periods, Thompson scored the go-ahead goal 5:12 into the third. Peyton Krebs kept the puck inside the Montreal zone, with Doan tracking it down in the right circle. He fed a pass to Thompson who snapped a shot inside the left post.

Thompson capped his ninth career hat trick with an empty-net goal.

The Sabres have won 10 of 12 home games. And they snapped an 0-4-2 home skid against Montreal dating to Buffalo’s 4-1 win on Nov. 26, 2022.

BLUE JACKETS 4, CANUCKS 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson each had a goal and an assist, leading Columbus over skidding Vancouver for its third straight win.

Charlie Coyle scored for the third time in three games and Zach Werenski added his team-leading 18th goal, the most this season by an NHL defenseman. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 30 shots for his first win since Dec. 4.

Brock Boeser scored and Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves for Vancouver, which has lost nine straight (0-7-2) and 11 of 12 (1-9-2). The Canucks went 0-6 on their road trip and remain in the NHL cellar.

Coyle faked out Lankinen on a power play to put Columbus up 1-0 with 2:35 left in the first period. Marchenko doubled the lead at 5:49 of the second, scoring off a faceoff.

Werenski kept Columbus perfect with the man advantage, scoring at the period’s halfway mark.

The Canucks found their own power-play success, with Boeser beating Merzlikins with 5:51 left in the second, but Johnson restored the three-goal lead with 9:47 left in the third. Boone Jenner’s assist was the 200th of his career.

PENGUINS 6, FLYERS 3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored one of Pittsburgh’s three power-play goals in a win over Philadelphia.

Crosby also had an assist to become the eighth player in NHL history with at least 19 50-point seasons. Crosby, who reached 50 for the sixth consecutive season, has points in 29 of his last 34 games against the Flyers.

Justin Brazeau and Bryan Rust also scored power-play goals for Pittsburgh, which has nine with the man advantage in its last 12 games. Egor Chinakhov, Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar scored for the Penguins, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Evgeni Malkin had two assists for Pittsburgh, which has won eight of its last 12 overall.

Stuart Skinner stopped 30 shots for his fourth win in five starts. He has allowed seven goals in his last five starts.

Rodrigo Abols, Nick Seeler and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers, who lost their fifth straight. Philadelphia has lost nine of 14 overall and allowed at least four goals in eight of its last nine losses.

Samuel Ersson allowed three goals on 14 shots. He was replaced by Aleksei Kolosov, who made 13 saves. Kolosov was recalled from the American Hockey League because of an injury to Dan Vladar.

SHARKS 3, CAPITALS 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — Collin Graf and Pavol Regenda each had a goal and an assist and San Jose used a three-goal second period to top Washington.

Zack Ostapchuk also scored, tying the game with the first of the Sharks’ three goals in a span of 2:46. Alex Nedeljkovic made 21 saves for San Jose, which has won four of five.

Dylan Strome and Ryan Leonard scored for the Capitals, Alex Ovechkin had an assist and Logan Thompson made 23 saves.

Strome put the Capitals up 1-0 at 10:58 of the second period, but the Sharks took over from there.

Ostapchuk tied it at 1 at 13:27 and Graf gave the Sharks the lead at 14:53 when he tipped in a pass from Regenda. San Jose went up 3-1 on Regenda’s goal at 16:13.

Leonard made it a one-goal game at 9:11 of the third when beat Nedeljkovic.

BRUINS 4, KRAKEN 2

BOSTON (AP) — Marat Khusnutdinov and Viktor Arvidsson scored in the first 3:45 of the game, and Boston held on to beat Seattle after raising Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 to the rafters.

Mark Kastelic added a short-handed goal in the second period, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 26 shots for Boston, which swept a five-game homestand for the first time since 2019 and won for the seventh time in eight games. David Pastrnak scored an empty-netter with 15 seconds left after the Kraken picked up back-to-back penalties, then pulled the goalie to play five-on-four.

Chandler Stephenson and Eeli Tolvanen scored, and Joey Daccord made 20 saves for the Kraken, who have lost four of their last five games.

The Bruins began the night by honoring Chara, the Hall of Fame defenseman who was the captain of their 2011 Stanley Cup championship team. Hall of Famers Bobby Orr and current Bruins president Cam Neely were among those who took part in the ceremony, which ended with Chara’s children raising his number to the TD Garden rafters.

Khusnutdinov took a long pass from Charlie McAvoy, skated in on Daccord and slipped in a backhand to make it 1-0 54 seconds into the game. Less than three minutes later, Arvidsson tried to center the puck to Casey Mittelstadt, but it was deflected into the net by Seattle’s Jordan Eberle.

JETS 6, WILD 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists, Jonathan Toews scored for the fourth consecutive game and Winnipeg beat Minnesota.

Toews also had an assist, Gabriel Vilardi and Josh Morrissey each had a goal and an assist, and Tanner Pearson and Logan Stanley scored as Winnipeg tied its season high for goals.

Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves as the Jets won their fourth straight following an 11-game losing streak (0-7-4). Winnipeg is 9-1-1 in its past 11 games against the Wild, including six straight wins in Minnesota.

Danila Yurov and Marcus Johansson scored for the Wild, who are 1-3-2 in their last six games. Jesper Wallstedt made 14 saves in two periods; Filip Gustavsson had eight in the third.

Minnesota had the game’s first 10 shots on goal, but Winnipeg scored first when, with a two-man advantage, Toews poked in a rebound of Vilardi’s shot.

It was the 900th career point for Toews, who last had goals in four straight games in March 2014. He had three goals in his first 42 games this season.

FLAMES 3, BLACKHAWKS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Mikael Backlund and Yegor Sharangovich each had a goal and an assist as Calgary beat Chicago.

Devin Cooley made 22 saves and Matt Coronato added an empty-net goal for the Flames, who won for only the second time in seven games. They completed a 2-3 trip, improving to 8-16-2 on the road this season.

Nick Foligno scored early and Spencer Knight stopped 20 shots for the Blackhawks, outscored 7-2 while dropping the first two games of a four-game homestand. They have lost three of four following a four-game win streak.

Chicago star Connor Bedard was held without a point and finished minus-2 after missing Monday’s 4-1 loss to Edmonton with an illness.

Blackhawks forward Teuvo Teravainen sat out with an upper-body injury that prevented him from playing the final two periods against the Oilers.

Foligno, the Blackhawks’ captain, opened the scoring with his second goal of the season 2:38 into the first period. Sharangovich tied it 36 seconds later on a power play, assisted by Backlund and Connor Zary.

With the Flames killing a penalty, Backlund scored unassisted at 6:05 to give them a 2-1 lead. Backlund also had a goal and an assist Tuesday in a 5-3 loss at Columbus.

The Associated Press