Panthers beat Oilers 4-3, take first place in Atlantic Division

By Canadian Press on February 27, 2025.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Nate Schmidt and Carter Verhaeghe had third-period goals, Anton Lundell had a goal and two assists and the Florida Panthers topped the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Thursday night.

Uvis Balinskis also scored for Florida, which jumped Toronto for first in the Atlantic Division.

Leon Draisaitl scored his 44th goal for the Oilers, who also got goals from Brett Kulak and Zach Hyman.

It was Edmonton’s first time on the Panthers’ ice since June 24, when Florida topped the Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers won the clubs’ first meeting earlier this season, prevailing 6-5 at Edmonton on Dec. 16.

Both teams had 12 players on the ice Thursday from the lineups that they used in Game 7 of the title series.

BLUES 5, CAPITALS 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — Philip Broberg scored twice to help St. Louis beat Washington, inching closer to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and handing the top team in the East a rare second loss in a row.

Dylan Holloway and Colton Parayko also scored and Jake Neighbours had an empty-net goal for the Blues, who have won three straight to stay in contention with the March 7 NHL trade deadline fast approaching. Moves general manager Doug Armstrong made last summer in signing Broberg and Holloway to offer sheets, poaching them from Edmonton, keep paying dividends for St. Louis, which got 16 saves from backup Joel Hofer.

Winger Tom Wilson was a late scratch because of illness for the Capitals, who dropped back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since Dec. 16-17 despite goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Connor McMichael. Charlie Lindgren allowed four goals on 18 shots, and Alex Ovechkin remains 12 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career record.

HURRICANES 5, SABRES 2

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist and Carolina beat Buffalo.

Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho, Taylor Hall and Seth Jarvis also scored for Carolina, which had lost its first two games after the league break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves.

Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo but it was a quick night for goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who gave up two goals in the first eight minutes and was replaced by backup James Reimer, who finished with 26 saves.

Rantanen set up Aho at 7:57 to give Carolina a 2-0 lead in the first period. Rantanen then scored on a power-play goal at 9:41 in the first for his first multipoint game with Carolina.

The Hurricanes led 3-0 and had a 17-3 shot advantage before Tuch scored with 56 seconds left in the first period. Peterka’s goal early in the third cut Carolina’s lead to 4-2.

LIGHTNING 3, FLAMES 0

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and the 38th of his career in Tampa Bay’s victory over Calgary.

Nikita Kucherov, Erik Cernak and Brandon Hagel scored to help Tampa Bay win its seventh consecutive game. The streak is the Lightning’s longest since a 10-game run Jan. 29 to Feb. 17, 2020. Tampa Bay is 8-0-1 in the past nine games.

Dustin Wolf made 20 saves for Calgary. The Flames were shut out for the third time this season.

Kucherov opened the scoring on a power play with 45 seconds left in the first period. His attempted pass through the slot deflected off the skate of Calgary defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.

Cernak made it 2-0 at 3:51 of the third period, and Hagel added an empty-net goal with 2:50 left.

ISLANDERS 2, BRUINS 1

BOSTON (AP) — Ilya Sorokin stopped 38 shots and Alexander Romanov and Kyle Palmieri scored to lead New York to a win over Boston.

Boston’s lone goal came from David Pastrnak, who made it a one-goal game with 9:56 remaining. The Bruins pulled goalie Jeremy Swayman with 90 seconds remaining, but couldn’t force overtime.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Islanders.

Swayman made 18 saves for Boston, which has dropped five straight including with the last three coming since the NHL season resumed following the 4-Nations Face-off.

BLUE JACKETS 5, RED WINGS 2

DETROIT (AP) — James van Riemsdyk scored twice and Columbus beat Detroit in a matchup of playoff contenders.

Sean Kuraly, Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko also scored for the Blue Jackets, who moved into a tie with Detroit at 66 points for the two Eastern Conference wild cards. Columbus captain Boone Jenner had three assists.

Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher scored for the Red Wings.

DeBrincat opened the scoring 27 seconds into the second period, beating Blue Jackets goalie Daniil Tarasov from the edge of his crease.

Van Riemsdyk pulled Columbus even, redirecting Jake Christiansen’s point shot past netminder Cam Talbot.

Kuraly gave Columbus the lead, jamming a puck past Talbot from close range.

CANADIENS 4, SHARKS 3, OT

MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored at 3:21 of overtime and Montreal beat San Jose for their third straight victory since the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

Caufield put the puck between his legs to get around Macklin Celebrini, then beat Alexandar Georgiev with a shot over his right pad. Caufield leads the Canadiens with 28 goals.

Montreal captain Nick Suzuki scored two first-period goals, and Alex Newhook had his first goal since since Feb. 4. Samuel Montembeault stopped 22 shots for his third win a row.

Fabian Zetterlund, Nico Sturm and Will Smith scored for San Jose, Last in the NHL, the Sharks have lost seven straight and 13 of 14.

PENGUINS 5, FLYERS 4, OT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored his second goal at 1:03 of overtime and Pittsburgh rallied to beat Philadelphia.

Malkin scored the tying goal in the third period and added two assists for Pittsburgh. Malkin has the 13th-most assists with one NHL franchise.

Erik Karlsson had two goals and Philip Tomasino also scored for Pittsburgh, which trailed 3-0 in the second period. Sidney Crosby also added an assist. Pittsburgh is 400-92-49 when Crosby and Malkin record a point.

Pittsburgh’s Michael Bunting missed the game and is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery to remove his appendix.

Alex Nedeljkovic allowed three goals on 15 shots and was pulled for the second time in three starts. Joel Blomqvist made 21 saves in relief.

PREDATORS 2, JETS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Juuse Saros made 23 saves and the Nashville Predators ended NHL-leading Winnipeg’s franchise-record winning streak at 11 games, beating the weary Jets 2-1 on Thursday night.

Filip Forsberg and Tommy Novak scored to help Nashville snap a two-game losing streak.

Neal Pionk scored and backup goalie Eric Comrie made 28 saves for the Jets, coming off a 4-1 victory over Ottawa on Wednesday night.

Forsberg opened the scoring at 4:26 of the opening period. Ryan O’Reilly won a faceoff at the left dot and Gustav Nyquist sent a touch pass to Forsberg at the top of the circle, where he snapped a quick wrist shot through traffic past Comrie.

Pionk tied it with 8:55 remaining in the first with a slap shot from the right point that beat Saros high to the far side.

Nashville regained the lead with 4:31 remaining in the first on Novak’s power-play goal.

The Associated Press