BOSTON (AP) — Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen scored short-handed in the first period, and the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 on Thursday night in a matchup of the NHL’s top two teams.
Linus Ullmark stopped 17 shots for his first shutout of the season. Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha also scored, and Charlie Coyle set up both short-handed goals as the Bruins bounced back from a 4-1 loss to Calgary at home Tuesday.
It was the eighth victory in 10 games for Boston, which tied Vancouver atop the league standings with 73 points.
Thatcher Demko made 21 saves for the Canucks, but his nine-game winning streak was snapped. Vancouver had won 10 of 12, with one loss coming in overtime and the other in a shootout.
HURRICANES 5, AVALANCHE 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a natural hat trick in the first 17 minutes, the first three-goal game of his career, and Carolina beat Colorado despite changing goalies twice.
The Hurricanes led 3-0 with 3:09 remaining in the first period thanks to Necas, whose hat trick was the fastest to begin a game in franchise history.
Michael Bunting and Seth Jarvis also scored, and Teuvo Teravainen had a career-high four assists as Carolina avoided what would have been its first two-game pointless stretch in two months.
Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 16 shots while playing the first and third periods. He was pulled in favor of Antti Raanta, who lasted only the second period before departing with a lower-body injury. Raanta was unscored upon in nine shots.
Zach Parise, a recent free-agent acquisition, and Samuel Girard scored in a seven-second span in the final minute of the first period for the Avalanche.
PANTHERS 4, CAPITALS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Ryan Lomberg scored the game-winning goal with 6:52 left, Matthew Tkachuk had three points and Florida defeated Washington.
The goal was Lomberg’s third of the season and his first since Nov. 14, snapping a 35-game drought with a quick shot from the slot off of a feed from Dmitry Kulikov. It gave the Panthers their fifth win in six games and their first since entering the All-Star break.
Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots, and Florida coach Paul Maurice got the 849th win of his regular-season career — tying Ken Hitchcock for fifth-most in NHL history.
Alex Ovechkin got the 833rd goal of his career and Anthony Mantha also scored for Washington. Darcy Kuemper made 37 saves.
Ovechkin has goals in three straight games since ending an eight-game drought on Jan. 27.
FLAMES 5, DEVILS 3
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jacob Markstrom made 37 saves, Connor Zary and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist, and Calgary beat New Jersey for its third straight win following a four-game skid.
Mikael Backlund, Kevin Rooney and Andrei Kuzmenko also scored for the Flames, who were coming off a 4-1 win Tuesday at Boston to start a four-game trip. Calgary defenseman Noah Hanifan had two assists.
Ondrej Palat scored twice, Nico Hischier also had a goal and Jesper Bratt contributed three assists for the Devils, who were coming off a 5-3 win at home over Colorado on Tuesday.
FLYERS 4, JETS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travis Konecny had a goal, an assist and a fight in the first period — known as a “Gordie Howe hat trick” — to lead Philadelphia over slumping Winnipeg.
Morgan Frost added a goal and an assist, and Ryan Poehling and Tyson Foerster also scored for the Flyers, who have won both games since the All-Star break after losing five in a row. Samuel Ersson made 28 saves. The rebuilding Flyers are a surprising third in the East’s Metropolitan Division.
Kyle Connor scored for the Jets, who have dropped five straight. Winnipeg has fallen to third place in the West’s Central Division.
ISLANDERS 6, LIGHTNING 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat each had a goal and an assist in New York’s victory over Tampa Bay.
Noah Dobson, Kyle Palmieri, Ryan Pulock and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders, who won their second in a row since the All-Star break. Ilya Sorokin finished with 16 saves in his 16th win of the season.
Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel scored for Tampa Bay, but the Lightning lost their second consecutive game. Jonas Johansson made 18 saves.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, COYOTES 2
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Jonathan Marchessault scored 19 seconds into the game, Adin Hill made 20 saves against his former team and Vegas topped Arizona.
Marchessault, Nicolas Hague and Chandler Stephenson had goals in the first 6:17 for the Golden Knights, who have won seven of nine and have points in eight of those.
Jason Zucker and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, who were playing for the first time since Jan. 27. They have lost four in a row.
Hill is 4-0 and has given up seven goals since returning from a lower-body injury sustained Dec. 17. He has won seven of his last eight starts and the other was an overtime loss. He had 19 wins in 49 games with the Coyotes from 2018-21.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
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