NHL roundup: Zucker scores the winner as surging Sabres pounce on Panthers 5-3

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jason Zucker broke a 3-3 tie on a power play at 5:31 of the third period and the Buffalo Sabres beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 5-3 on Monday.

The Sabres have won six of seven and took over the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference standings. They hold a 10-point lead over the Panthers. Florida, which has lost four straight, trails Boston by nine for the final playoff position with 27 games remaining.

Peyton Krebs had a goal and an two assists for the Sabres. Tage Thompson, Zach Benson and Josh Doan also scored for Buffalo, while Rasmus Dahlin had two assists. Alex Lyon, who has won 11 of his past 12 starts, made 38 saves.

Sandis Vilmanis, Evan Rodrigues and Uvis Balinskis scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:

SENATORS 3 PENGUINS 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Claude Giroux scored with just over five minutes remaining in the third period and Ottawa beat Pittsburgh.

Giroux skated in on goal, was tripped by Erik Karlsson and went hard into the post. The net lifted off its moorings, but officials determined the puck crossed the line first at 14:52.

Giroux, a longtime Philadelphia Flyer, tied Alex Ovechkin for the most points against Pittsburgh by an active player. He has 23 goals and 78 points in 72 games against the Penguins.

Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle scored in his third straight game and Michael Amadio scored his first goal since Dec. 11 at Columbus. Stutzle has four goals in his last five games.

Linus Ullmark made 14 saves for the Senators, who won their fourth straight game. Ottawa has points in nine of its last 11 games overall. Ullmark joined Tony Esposito and Bob Froese as the only goalies in NHL history to win each of their first eight games against Pittsburgh.

Tommy Novak scored for Pittsburgh, and Egor Chinakhov added a goal and an assist. Chinakhov has seven goals in 16 games with Pittsburgh since he was traded from Columbus. Evgeni Malkin continued a six-game point streak with an assist.

CAPITALS 4 ISLANDERS 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — Martin Fehervary and Anthony Beauvillier scored 31 seconds apart in the second period, and Washington beat New York.

Clay Stevenson won his second straight game in goal for the Capitals, who pulled within two points of the Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Stevenson has been forced into action with Washington’s top two goalies — Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren — both injured.

This was Stevenson’s third NHL game.

Nic Dowd also scored for the Capitals in his 500th game with the franchise. John Carlson scored into an empty net with 2:25 to play on a shot that travelled almost the entire length of the ice.

New York led 1-0 after one period on a goal by Mathew Barzal. Tom Wilson’s errant pass from the corner in his own zone ended up on Barzal’s stick right in front of the net.

WILD 4 CANADIENS 3 (OT)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov scored his second goal of the game on a power play at 3:38 of overtime to give Minnesota a victory over Montreal.

Minnesota got the power play when Phillip Danault hooked Kaprizov in front of the goal. Kaprizov took a feed from Quinn Hughes and fired a shot past Jakub Dobes from the high slot for his 32nd goal of the season.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Brock Faber also scored, and Hughes had three assists to reach 50 for the season. Filip Gustavsson made 17 saves.

Faber tied it at 3 at 7:05 of the third, racing onto the puck down the right side for a quick shot. Quinn assisted on the goal.

Hughes assisted on Kaprizov’s first goal to tie the Russian’s team-record assists streak at nine and push his franchise-record points streak for defenceman to nine. Kaprizov had assists in nine straight games in 2022-23.

PREDATORS 6 BLUES 5

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored twice in the third period to help Nashville rally for a victory over St. Louis.

Ryan O’Reilly also scored twice and Michael McCarron and Filip Forsberg added goals for Nashville. The Predators scored five straight goals to erase a four-goal deficit and win their second straight.

Earlier Monday, Predators general manger Barry Trotz announced his impending retirement. Trotz, who succeeded inaugural general manager David Poile in July of 2023, will stay in the position until his successor can be hired.

Pavel Buchnevich scored twice and Jake Neighbours, Philip Broberg, and Colton Parayko also scored for St. Louis, losers of seven of eight. Joel Hofer made 22 saves, and Jordan Kyrou had three assists.

BLACKHAWKS 6 SHARKS 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Ryan Donato had two goals and two assists, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Ilya Mikheyev added a goal and three assists in Chicago’s final home game before the Olympic break. Connor Bedard, Connor Murphy and Sam Rinzel also scored, and Spencer Knight made 25 saves.

The Blackhawks had lost five in a row. They improved to 3-6-2 in their last 11 games.

Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist for San Jose, which dropped to 1-2-1 on a five-game trip. Will Smith and Shakir Mukhamadullin also scored.

STARS 4 JETS 3 (OT)

DALLAS (AP) — Thomas Harley scored at 2:05 of overtime, and the Dallas Stars matched their longest winning streak of the season at five games with a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

The goal came moments after Jake Oettinger made a pad save on Mark Schiefele’s breakaway in a matchup of the top two goalies for Team USA in the second-to-last game before the break for the Milan Cortina Olympics. Oettinger and expected U.S. starter Connor Hellbuyck each stopped 24 shots.

Mikko Rantanen put Dallas ahead 3-2 with 7:43 left in regulation on a weaving play through two defenders, but Logan Stanley got the Jets even on a 6-on-5 goal with 1:43 to go.

Jason Robertson had his 199th career goal and team-leading 31st this season and Nils Lundkvist scored as the Stars won their 18th one-goal game, tying the New York Islanders for the NHL lead in that category.

Gabriel Vilardi and Cole Perfetti had a goal and an assist apiece for the Jets, and Scheifele had two assists.

RED WINGS 2 AVALANCHE 0

DENVER (AP) — John Gibson stopped 21 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and Lucas Raymond scored and had his team-leading 41st assist as Detroit beat Colorado.

Gibson improved to 22-11-2 with his 28th career shutout, which was Colorado’s first since Feb. 4, 2025, ending a run of 87 consecutive games with at least a goal.

Detroit was 0-14-1 in its previous 15 games against Colorado entering Monday, including a 5-0 home loss two days earlier in which Gibson allowed four goals on 17 shots.

After being shut out Sunday, the Red Wings scored 33 seconds into the first period, with Raymond finding a wide-open Marco Kasper on an odd-man rush.

It was the third time in the past nine games Kasper has scored after he was held without a goal in 44 of his previous 45 games. Before his assist, Raymond had gone three consecutive games without a point, his longest pointless stretch of the season.

Raymond scored his 19th goal of the season into an empty net with 30 seconds remaining.

MAMMOTH 6 CANUCKS 2

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Nick Schmaltz had his second hat trick of the season and added an assist for a four-point game in Utah’s victory over Vancouver.

Schmaltz had his third career NHL hat trick to push his season goals total to 22, one shy of his career high set with Arizona in 2021-22.

JJ Peterka scored his 20th of the season, John Marino had three assists and Mikhail Sergachev and Lawson Crouse also scored to help Utah end a two-game losing streak. Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves.

Schmaltz scored twice in the first as Utah took a 2-1 lead. In the second, Sergachev connected on a power play and Crouse and Peterka pushed the advantage to 5-1. Schmaltz completed the hat trick with 7:38 left in the third, scoring off a feed from Clayton Keller on a break.

Liam Ohgren and Teddy Blueger scored for Vancouver. Kevin Lankinen stopped 14 shots.

MAPLE LEAFS 4 FLAMES 2

CALGARY, Alta. (AP) — William Nylander scored on a breakaway 35 seconds into the game and added two assists that helped Toronto beat Calgary.

Matias Maccelli and defenceman Troy Stecher also scored as the Maple Leafs won their second straight following a six-game losing streak. Toronto halted an 0-5-1 slide by winning 3-2 in a shootout Saturday at Vancouver.

Bobby McMann’s empty-net goal sealed it with 25 seconds remaining. Joseph Woll made 28 saves, improving to 5-0-0 against Calgary.

Toronto has won eight in a row against the Flames, its longest active streak against any team.

Nazem Kadri and Joel Farabee each had a goal and an assist for the struggling Flames, who have dropped six of seven. They snapped a five-game skid (0-3-2) with a 3-2 victory Saturday against San Jose when Farabee scored a short-handed goal to break a third-period tie.

Dustin Wolf stopped 18 shots.