UNDATED (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored a hat trick, Steven Stamokos had a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-1 Tuesday night.
Anthony Cirelli had a goal and an assist, Ondrej Palat extended his scoring streak to four games, and the Lightning got three assists from Alex Killorn and two from Victor Hedman. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves for his 20th win of the season.
Tampa Bay (24-9-5) has won three of four following a three-game skid to keep pace with the Florida Panthers atop the NHL standings with 53 points.
In other ice action:
— William Nylander scored in regulation and got the winner in a shootout as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3. Auston Matthews and Ilya Mikheyev also scored in regulation as as Toronto improved to 5-0-1 on a six-game point streak, and 21-4-2 since opening the season 2-4-1. Jack Campbell made 31 saves. Keegan Kolesar, William Karlsson and Alex Pietrangelo scored for the Golden Knights. Robin Lehner stopped 15 shots for Vegas, which has now lost four of its last five games — all at home. In the tiebreaker, Cambell denied attempts by Evgenii Dadonov, Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault, and Lehner stopped Jason Spezza and Matthews before Nylander scored for the win.
— Logan Couture scored in overtime moments after a fan threw a fake octopus on the ice and the San Jose Sharks beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. The octopus — a longstanding fan tradition in Detroit — hit the ice less than a minute into overtime with play in San Jose’s end. Couture directed the linesman to grab it, and play continued, with the Sharks pushing the puck to the other end. Brent Burns sent the puck toward the net and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped it but couldn’t control it. As the puck sat near the goal line, Couture knocked it in.
— Evgeni Malkin scored twice and had an assist in his season debut, Jeff Carter added two goals and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Malkin had not played since undergoing right knee surgery in June. The four-time All-Star and 2012 Hart Trophy winner had been skating with teammates for several weeks and was a full participant in Monday’s practice. He centered the second line between Carter and Kasperi Kapanen, which was responsible for all four Pittsburgh goals. Kapanen added two assists and Tristan Jarry stopped 25 shots for the Penguins, who bounced right back from Saturday’s loss at Dallas that snapped a 10-game winning streak. Jakob Silfverberg scored Anaheim’s goal and Anthony Stolarz made 30 saves.
— Matt Duchene scored two goals, including the game-winner on a power play 3:01 into overtime, and the streaking Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4. Luke Kunin also scored twice, Tanner Jeannot added a goal and Juuse Saros made 40 saves to help Nashville win its fifth straight.
— Sam Reinhart had two goals and an assist and the Florida Panthers handed Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau his first regulation loss in 10 games with a 5-2 victory. Aleksander Barkov scored his team-leading 15th goal and also had an assist for Florida. Aaron Ekblad had a goal and two assists, Maxim Mamin also scored, and Frank Vatrano and Anton Lundell each had two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 42 shots. The Panthers move to 6-0-1 in their past seven games.
— Alex DeBrincat scored twice and Calvin de Haan got his first goal in nearly a year to lift Chicago to its second straight road win. Connor Murphy also scored for Chicago, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves for his 11th win.
Vegas’ Eichel back on ice for first time since neck surgery
UNDATED (AP) — Jack Eichel finally skated with the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time since being acquired from Buffalo and becoming the first NHL player to undergo artificial disk replacement surgery on his neck in November. Eichel said even though his new teammates were preparing for their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs while he wore a non-contact jersey as he skated around the team’s practice facility, he felt like he was part of a hockey team again.
Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said it’ll take some time — “a while” — before the 25-year-old All-Star center will be able to endure contact. Eichel said he has no target date.
In other NHL news:
— A person with knowledge of the deal says goalie Tuukka Rask is signing a prorated, $1 million contract for the rest of the season with the Boston Bruins. The deal had not been announced. The 2014 Vezina Trophy winner will make $545,000 for the rest of the season.
— The Minnesota Wild have agreed to terms with defenseman Jon Merrill on a three-year, $3.6 million contract extension. The deal runs through the 2024-25 season.
— The Detroit Red Wings have hired Nicklas Lidstrom as vice president of hockey operations and will be based in his native Sweden and involved in every aspect of helping run the organization.
— New York Islanders coach Barry Trotz and defenseman Ryan Pulock have been placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. Dallas goaltender Braden Holtby and forward Denis Gurianov also were placed in the protocol. Same for Chicago defenseman Jake McCabe and Blackhawks trainer Mike Gapski.
