NHL roundup: Avalanche defeat Penguins 6-2, Rantanen records 10th career hat trick

By The Associated Press on December 10, 2024.

Colorado Avalanche's Artturi Lehkonen, right, celebrates with Mikko Rantanen, left, after scoring during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mikko Rantanen collected his 10th career hat trick and added two assists as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Rantanen, playing in his 600th game, flipped in a puck over Tristan Jarry late in the first period, beat Jarry from in close early in the second and added an empty netter in the third.

Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and four assists for Colorado. Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen also scored for the Avalanche.

Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves for Colorado to win for the third time in four starts. Goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood, acquired in a deal with San Jose on Monday, was scratched due to an illness.

Michael Bunting scored his seventh goal for Pittsburgh. Cody Glass collected his first of the season. Jarry stopped 21 shots for the Penguins, who lost for just the second time in seven games.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

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FLYERS 5 BLUE JACKETS 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Travis Konecny scored twice in the second period and Philadelphia snapped a three-game slide with their first victory in December, beating Columbus.

Noah Cates, Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost also scored for Philadelphia. Matvei Michkov had two assists and Samuel Ersson made 15 saves.

Sean Monahan finished with a goal and an assist, Zach Werenski scored with a man advantage, and Kent Johnson added a goal for Columbus, which has lost four of its last five games. Elvis Merzlikins made 19 saves for the Blue Jackets.

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HURRICANES 3 SHARKS 2

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Jalen Chatfield scored with 2:39 left, and Carolina beat San Jose.

Chatfield caught a high clearing attempt at the top of the right circle, then dropped the puck and pushed a shot at the goal that snuck under Vitek Vanecek’s right arm. It was Chatfield’s third goal of the season.

Luke Kunin scored both of San Jose’s goals. Vanecek made 25 saves in the Sharks’ first game since they traded goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to Colorado on Monday.

Brent Burns and Shayne Gostisbehere also scored for Carolina. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 21 shots.

Gostisbehere gave Carolina a 1-0 lead 4:26 into the first period but his turnover in the second period led to Kunin’s second goal and a 2-1 San Jose lead.

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MAPLE LEAFS 2 DEVILS 1 (OT)

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Auston Matthews scored with 2:09 left in overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a win over New Jersey.

Matthews outskated Devils defenceman Brett Pesce, grabbing a loose puck near centre ice in for a breakaway, and beat New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom on the glove side for his ninth goal of the season.

Pontus Holmberg scored short-handed for Toronto at 10:42 of the third period and tied the game at 1.

Ondrej Palat gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 7:16 of the second, scoring off an assist from Jesper Bratt. It was Palat’s first goal since Nov. 12, against Florida, a span of 11 games.

Bratt has 10 points – three goals and seven assists – in New Jersey’s last six games.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 37 shots for the Maple Leafs. Markstrom had 11 saves.

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KINGS 3 ISLANDERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) – Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala scored, Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves and Los Angeles beat New York for their sixth straight win.

The Kings started a seven-game road trip, their longest of the season, with a strong performance. Mikey Anderson added an empty-net goal as Los Angeles improved to 17-8-3 with its eighth victory in 10 games.

Anders Lee scored for the Islanders, who won their previous two.

Kempe opened the scoring at 13:51 of the first period with his 14th goal. Kings captain Anze Kopitar, playing his 1,401st career game, assisted along with Trevor Moore.

The 37-year-old Kopitar leads the Kings with 32 points, including eight goals.

Fiala increased the lead, beating Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin with his 10th goal at 3:09 of the second.

Lee, the Islanders captain, narrowed the deficit with his team-leading 13th goal at 9:47.

Sorokin finished with 27 saves.

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FLAMES 4 PREDATORS 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Jonathan Huberdeau and Kevin Rooney each scored a goal and added an assist to lead Calgary to a comeback victory over skidding Nashville.

Brayden Pachal and Nazem Kadri also scored and Dan Vladar made 17 saves for the Flames, who had lost six of seven.

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and Tommy Novak had a goal for the Predators, who tied a franchise record with their eighth straight loss. Juuse Saros made 24 saves.

Predators captain Roman Josi did not play in the final two periods due to a lower-body injury. The defenceman logs by far the most ice time of any player on the team at 25:40 per game.

Nashville was already without regular defencemen Jeremy Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier, both sidelined due to injury.

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JETS 8 BRUINS 1

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) – Mark Scheifele scored two goals and added an assist to lead Winnipeg to a convincing victory over Boston.

Nikita Chibrikov, Mason Appleton, Alex Iafallo, Gabriel Vilardi, Kyle Connor and Vladislav Namestnikov scored the other Winnipeg goals.

Scheifele now has a 13-game point streak at home, totalling 20 points in that stretch.

David Pastrnak replied for the Bruins, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for Winnipeg. Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for Boston.

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OILERS 2 LIGHTNING 1

EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) – Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist and Edmonton won their third straight game, beating Tampa Bay.

Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers (16-10-2) who have won six of their last seven.

Jake Guentzel scored for the Lightning (14-10-2) who had their two-game winning streak halted.

Stuart Skinner made 21 stops for the Oilers. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 23 saves for the Lightning.

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WILD 5 UTAH 4 (SO)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Matt Boldy was the only scorer in the shootout and lifted Minnesota to a victory over Utah.

Minnesota’s Marco Rossi scored with 43.2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Kirill Kaprizov added his 18th goal of the season, and Marat Khusnutdinov and Marcus Johansson also scored for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson finished with 21 saves.

Clayton Keller scored twice in the third period to rally the Utah Hockey Club from a one-goal deficit. Kevin Stenlund and Juuso Valimaki also scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves.

Utah lost its fifth straight home game. Minnesota won for the sixth time in seven games.

The Wild erased a 1-0 deficit late in the second after scoring twice in a 36-second span. Khusnutdinov evened the score when he raced down the middle unobstructed and snapped the puck past Vejmelka. Minnesota went up 2-1 after Kaprizov swiped the puck from Olli Maatta and scored on a successful counterattack.

Keller rallied Utah with two third-period goals, both coming on the power play. Valimaki’s goal with 8:15 remaining gave Utah a 4-3 lead before Rossi forced overtime.

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PANTHERS 2 KRAKEN 1 (SO)

SEATTLE (AP) – Aleksander Barkov scored the tying goal late in the second period and then scored in the shootout, and Sam Reinhart scored the clinching shootout goal as Florida beat Seattle.

Reinhart also had the assist on Barkov’s equalizer.

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who had 17 saves through regulation and overtime, made stick saves on Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand in the shootout.

Chandler Stephenson’s third goal of the season gave the Kraken (14-14-2) a 1-0 lead with 4:21 left in the opening period. Jared McCann had the secondary assist, his 100th in a Kraken uniform.

Barkov’s ninth goal of the season on a shot from the right circle tied it for Florida (18-9-2) with 1:01 left in the second period, with Reinhart notching his 20th assist.

Kraken goalie Joey Daccord finished with 32 saves.

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BLUES 4 CANUCKS 3 (OT)

VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) – Dylan Holloway scored 1:40 into overtime and St. Louis beat Vancouver.

Robert Thomas had a goal and two assists for the Blues. Zack Bolduc and Jordan Kyrou also scored, and Joel Hofer stopped 22 shots.

Vancouver got a goal and an assist from Elias Pettersson. Dakota Joshua and Jake DeBrusk also scored, while Brock Boeser and Conor Garland each had two assists.

Thatcher Demko made 21 saves in his first start for the Canucks since injuring his knee April 21 at the beginning of the playoffs last season.