In a battle of the two top teams in the NHL, Valeri Nichushkin forced overtime in the final minute of regulation and then scored in the shootout for the visiting Colorado Avalanche, who ended the Dallas Stars’ 10-game winning streak with a 5-4 victory Friday night.
Martin Necas, who had a goal and three assists in regulation, beat Jake Oettinger for the shootout clincher. Nathan MacKinnon added his league-leading 42nd goal and two assists, while Cale Makar finished with a goal and an assist.
Scott Wedgewood was flawless in relief, stopping 10 shots and two more in the shootout to secure the Avalanche’s fourth straight win. He took over for Mackenzie Blackwood, who made only seven saves on 11 shots before leaving the game less than two minutes into the second period.
Miro Heiskanen, Wyatt Johnston, and Justin Hryckowian each scored a goal and added an assist for Dallas. Jamie Benn also scored, while Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque recorded two assists apiece. Jake Oettinger made 25 saves, but his personal winning streak ended at eight.
Panthers 3, Red Wings 1
Matthew Tkachuk collected the sixth hat trick of his career as Florida ended a four-game losing streak with a win in Detroit.
Tkachuk’s three-goal game was his first since Jan. 9, 2024, against St. Louis. Sergei Bobrovsky, whose name was prominently mentioned in trade rumors but remained with the Panthers through Friday’s deadline, made 28 saves for the win.
Alex DeBrincat scored his team-leading 33rd goal for Detroit and John Gibson stopped 20 shots. Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin appeared to injure his leg when he lost his balance while skating into the Florida zone during the third period. He did not return.
Canucks 6, Blackhawks 3
Brock Boeser scored the tiebreaker for one of his two third-period goals to help Vancouver snap a seven-game losing streak with a win in Chicago.
Jake DeBrusk had a goal and an assist, Drew O’Connor and Teddy Blueger also scored and Max Sasson added an empty-netter for the Canucks, who overcame blowing a 3-1 first-period lead to win for just the third time in 24 games (3-17-4).
Ilya Mikheyev and Frank Nazar each recorded a goal with an assist for Chicago, which is mired in a 2-7-3 rut. Vancouver broke a 3-3 tie on a power play 2:40 into the third. Off a rather awkward rebound of Arvid Soderblom’s save of Linus Karlsson’s puck to the net, Boeser was able to bat it home.
Ducks 6, Canadiens 5 (SO)
Chris Kreider scored the tying goal in the last minute of regulation and had three assists for host Anaheim, which recovered from blowing a 4-2 lead with less than 12 minutes left in the third for a shootout win over Montreal.
Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and Jackson LaCombe each had a goal and an assist and Alex Killorn scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of the shootout for the Ducks, who are 7-1-0 in their past eight games.
Cole Caufield had two goals and an assist while Lane Hutson had a goal and two assists for the Canadiens, who have lost three of four (1-1-2). Samuel Montembeault stopped 28 shots.
Hurricanes 6, Oilers 3
Jackson Blake scored two third-period goals and Carolina prevailed at Edmonton.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored his fifth goal in three games and added an assist for the Hurricanes, who have won seven of their last eight. Jordan Martinook, Jordan Staal and Shayne Gostisbehere also scored, K’Andre Miller recorded three assists, and Frederik Andersen made 13 saves.
Zach Hyman scored twice and Vasily Podkolzin tallied once for the Oilers, who have lost six of their past eight games. Tristan Jarry turned away 26 shots.
Blues 3, Sharks 2 (OT)
Robert Thomas scored his second goal of the night in overtime, leading St. Louis past host San Jose to win for a third straight time.
Jimmy Snuggerud collected one goal and one assist and Dylan Holloway posted three assists for the Blues, who responded to seeing captain Brayden Schenn and stalwart defenseman Justin Faulk traded away earlier in the day. St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington made 23 saves.
Macklin Celebrini and Kiefer Sherwood tallied for the Sharks, who saw their three-game winning streak end but still pulled themselves two points back of the Seattle Kraken for the Western Conference’s second wild-card position. San Jose also has one game in hand.
Wild 4, Golden Knights 2
Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves and Michael McCarron had a goal and an assist in his Minnesota debut as the Wild won in Las Vegas.
Mats Zuccarello, Zach Bogosian and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored goals for Minnesota, which completed a three-game sweep of the regular-season series with the Golden Knights. It was the second straight win overall and eighth in the past 10 games for the Wild.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored his 30th goal, the first player in Vegas history to have back-to-back 30-goal seasons, and also had an assist, and Mitch Marner also tallied for Vegas. Akira Schmid finished with 20 saves for the Golden Knights.
