NHL Roundup: Blues Score 5 Straight Goals to Upend Blackhawks

NHL Roundup: Blues Score 5 Straight Goals to Upend Blackhawks
St. Louis Blues center Jordan Kyrou (25) is congratulated by right wing Kevin Hayes (12) and left wing Jake Neighbours (63) after scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks during the third period at Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Dec. 23, 2023. (Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports via Field Level Media)
Field Level Media
12/24/2023
Updated:
12/30/2023
0:00

Justin Faulk scored the go-ahead goal with 2:07 left in the third period, and the St. Louis Blues stormed back for a 7–5 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

Jordan Kyrou tallied two goals for St. Louis, which trailed 5–2 before piling up the final five goals. Faulk and Robert Thomas each had a goal and an assist, and Kevin Hayes and Pavel Buchnevich tallied two assists apiece.

Nick Foligno scored twice for Chicago. Jarred Tinordi and Taylor Raddysh each had three assists.

The Blackhawks grabbed a three-goal lead with 14:44 remaining in the third period. Foligno scored his second goal of the game and his eighth of the season, and it also marked his first short-handed goal in 1,114 career games. Then came the comeback.

Stars 3, Predators 2

Dallas scored twice in the final 15 seconds of regulation, including Jani Hakanpaa’s winning goal with four seconds left, to edge host Nashville.

The winning marker came moments after Craig Smith scored his third goal of the season to tie the game with 15 seconds remaining. It came with an empty Dallas net, after netminder Scott Wedgewood made 19 saves.

Hakanpaa then scored his first goal of the season. The late victory allowed the Stars to avoid a fourth straight overtime game, while it also marked their third consecutive contest in which at least a single goal has been scored in the final 30 seconds of regulation or overtime.

While Wedgewood picked up his ninth win of the season, Juuse Saros stopped 31 shots in the loss.

Panthers 4, Golden Knights 2

Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored third-period goals on the power play to lead Florida to victory over Vegas in a rematch of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla.

Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist and Gustav Forsling and Sam Bennett also scored for Florida, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Montour each added two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves to pick up his 15th win of the season.

Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev scored goals for Vegas, which suffered its third consecutive regulation loss for the first time this season. Jiri Patera finished with 38 saves as the Golden Knights allowed a season-high 42 shots on goal.

Maple Leafs 4, Blue Jackets 1

Auston Matthews scored twice and added an assist while William Nylander had one goal and two helpers as Toronto defeated host Columbus.

John Tavares had the other goal for the Leafs, and Martin Jones made 27 saves to improve to 3–0–0 on the road this season. With the win, Toronto avoided a third straight loss and picked up its fifth win in its past six trips to Columbus.

Justin Danforth had the lone Blue Jackets goal, and Daniil Tarasov stopped 26 shots in his third start of the season.

Devils 3, Red Wings 2

Timo Meier scored two goals, and Tyler Toffoli scored the game-winner in the third period as host New Jersey edged Detroit.

The Devils snapped a three-game losing streak as Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves.

Patrick Kane scored his fourth goal in three games for the Red Wings, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back. They recorded a 7–6 shootout victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, in which Kane scored the clinching goal during the shootout after tallying twice in regulation.

Senators 5, Penguins 4 (OT)

Tim Stutzle scored 1:10 into overtime as Ottawa snapped a six-game losing streak with a win over visiting Pittsburgh.

After the Senators blew a pair of two-goal leads, Stutzle gave Ottawa the victory by lifting the puck over the stick of Pittsburgh goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who had attempted a poke-check.

Kris Letang had a goal and two assists and Lars Eller, Rickard Rakell and Drew O'Connor also scored for the Penguins, who had won two straight games.

Islanders 5, Hurricanes 4

Captain Anders Lee collected a goal and two assists to lift New York over Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.

New York’s Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat and defenseman Mike Reilly each recorded a goal and an assist, and defenseman Sebastian Aho also scored. Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal notched two assists apiece and Ilya Sorokin made 36 saves for the Islanders, who improved to 11–2–6 in their past 19 games.

The Hurricanes’ Teuvo Teravainen scored a goal for the second time in as many games, and center Sebastian Aho and Stefan Noesen each converted on the power play. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin also scored and Pyotr Kochetkov turned aside 23 shots for the Hurricanes, who saw their six-game point streak come to an end (3–0–3).

Rangers 4, Sabres 3 (OT)

Chris Kreider scored at 2:28 of overtime to lift New York over visiting Buffalo.

Kreider had an open net for the game-winner after Mika Zibanejad drew Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen out of the crease and went behind the net before dishing to Kreider in front.

Zibanejad had a goal and two assists, Ryan Lindgren and Artemi Panarin also scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves for the Rangers.

Kraken 3, Ducks 2

Oliver Bjorkstrand and Vince Dunn each scored in the opening 17 minutes and visiting Seattle extended its point streak to a season-best six games with a win over Anaheim.

Tomas Tatar added a third-period goal for the Kraken and Joey Daccord made 32 saves while improving to 4–1–3 since Dec. 9, when Philipp Grubauer departed with a lower-body injury. Seattle is 4–0–2 during its point streak.

Frank Vatrano and Trevor Zegras scored for the Ducks, while Lukas Dostal made 19 saves in his third consecutive start in place of John Gibson. Anaheim has lost consecutive games and has dropped 15 of its last 18.

Kings 5, Flames 3

Pierre-Luc Dubois snapped a 13-game goal-scoring drought and Quinton Byfield scored twice to lead host Los Angeles over Calgary.

Alex Laferriere and Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings, who snapped a two-game skid on their home ice. Goaltender Cam Talbot made 29 saves while Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar both collected two assists.

Blake Coleman scored twice and Rasmus Andersson added one goal for the Flames, who saw their season-best three-game winning streak snapped. Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 29 shots.

Wild 3, Bruins 2

Joel Eriksson Ek registered a goal and an assist in the second period as Minnesota came from behind to complete a season sweep of Boston in Saint Paul, Minn.

Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Foligno also scored for Minnesota, which has won three in a row and six of seven. Kaprizov has four goals and two assists over his last three games.

David Pastrnak opened the scoring for the Bruins, joining a 20-goal club that included three other NHL players entering Saturday. Morgan Geekie also tallied for the Bruins, who dropped their season-high fourth straight (0–2–2) despite Linus Ullmark’s 33-save effort.

Lightning 2, Capitals 1 (SO)

Victor Hedman rattled in the game-winning goal in the shootout as visiting Tampa Bay won its third straight game, nipping Washington in the first of three meetings between the teams this season.

In the fourth round, the Lightning defenseman lost control of the puck slightly on approach, collected it and beat Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren (19 saves) on the stick side for the game-winner as Tampa Bay moved to 7–3–0 in its past 10 matches.

The Lightning’s Luke Glendening scored the game’s first goal, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves. Anthony Mantha scored in the second period for the Capitals, whose three-game win streak ended. Brayden Point scored in the second round of the shootout for Tampa Bay.

Avalanche 4, Coyotes 1

Fredrik Olofsson had a goal and an assist, Josh Manson and Valeri Nichushkin also scored, and Colorado beat Arizona thanks to a dominant second period in Denver.

Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves and Logan O'Connor had two assists for Colorado. Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his point streak to 18 games, the longest in the NHL this season. He also has at least one point in all 18 home games.

Alex Kerfoot scored and Connor Ingram turned away 22 shots for Arizona, which lost defenseman J.J. Moser to an upper-body injury early in the game. Moser was hurt after a check along the boards by Avalanche forward Miles Wood.

Canucks 7, Sharks 4

Andrei Kuzmenko scored two goals and Quinn Hughes had a goal and an assist as host Vancouver extended its point streak to nine games by outscoring San Jose.

Nils Aman, Sam Lafferty, Dakota Joshua and Pius Suter also scored for Vancouver, which goes into the three-day holiday break with an NHL-best 49 points. Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland, Teddy Blueger and J.T. Miller each added two assists, and Thatcher Demko made 21 saves to improve to 11–0–0 in 11 career starts against San Jose.

Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist, Mario Ferraro had three assists and Tomas Hertl, Fabian Zetterlund and Jacob MacDonald also scored for San Jose, which suffered its fifth straight loss. Filip Zadina added two assists while Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 19 saves.