The Boston Bruins scored five unanswered goals and came from behind en route to a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night at TD Garden.
David Pastrnak had two goals and an assist to help the Bruins earn their second straight victory after a four-game losing streak. Kevin Shattenkirk also scored two goals, including the 100th of his career.
However, Boston lost the services of its defenseman Charlie McAvoy late in the third period. McAvoy collided with Linus Ullmark after trying to block a pass while sliding and injured his left leg. After the game, head coach Jim Montgomery announced that McAvoy was fine.
Ullmark made 31 saves to sign his 10th victory this season.
Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle recorded two assists in the victory. Jake DeBrusk was the other scorer.
New Jersey lost for the first time in four games.
Nico Hischier opened the scoring on the power play with his eighth of the season. Rookie Luke Hughes doubled the lead in the second period.
For the Bruins, center Georgii Merkulov played his first game in the National Hockey League.
Karlsson and Crosby reach plateaus
Erik Karlsson recorded the 600th assist of his career and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 at PPG Paints Arena.
The veteran defenseman was complicit in Sidney Crosby’s insurance goal into an empty net late in the game. He becomes the 18th defenseman in NHL history to reach this mark.
Crosby’s goal is his 20th this season. Crosby therefore records a 16th season with more than 20 goals. Only three players selected first overall in a draft have done better; Alex Ovechkin (18), Mats Sundin (17) and Mike Modano (17).
Crosby is also one point away from tying Joe Thornton for 12th all-time in NHL scoring.
Evgeni Malkin scored a goal and had an assist. The Russian scored his 14th goal of the season on a power play. He has three goals in his last two games. Malkin also set up Drew O’Connor for the first goal of the game.
Jeff Carter scored his fourth of the season and Tristan Jarry stopped 25 pucks.
The Penguins have collected 13 points in their last eight games.
Robert Thomas scored his 15th goal of the season while Kasperi Kapanen was the other scorer against his former team.
Joel Hofer made 26 saves.
The Oilers escape in the shootout
Derek Ryan nailed the debate in a shootout and the Edmonton Oilers signed their fourth victory in a row by beating the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 at Crypto.com Arena.
In his 600th NHL game, captain Connor McDavid added a goal and an assist to his record. His assist allows him to overtake Peter Stastny (580 assists) in fourth position for the greatest number of assists amassed in his first 600 NHL games, behind Wayne Gretzky (925), Mario Lemieux (721) and Bobby Orr (591).
Leon Draisaitl was the other scorer for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner stopped 26 pucks.
The Kings took a 2-0 lead after one period. Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe had beaten Skinner towards the end of the first period. Kempe also collected an assist. Cam Talbot stopped 24 shots.
Aho steals the show
Sebastian Aho had a hand in all of his team’s goals as the Carolina Hurricanes won 3-2 over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Aho was the author of an empty-net goal in addition to being an accomplice on his team’s two other nets.
Two of the Hurricanes’ three goals were scored on power plays. Michael Bunting opened the scoring 2:24 into the first. Then in the second, Seth Jarvis added to the Canes’ lead.
Toronto heated Carolina in the third on Timothy Liljegren’s first goal.
Trailing by a goal, the Leafs removed their goalie Martin Jones in favor of a sixth attacker at the end of the game. The strategy failed as Aho cut a pass in the defensive zone to escape alone towards the abandoned cage for his 15th of the season.
Toronto made a final push that resulted in Nicholas Robertson’s goal after a video replay confirmed that goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov had stopped the puck while his glove was in the net.
Carolina and Toronto each shot 27 times on the opposing cage.
The last word to the Preds
Roman Josi scored his 166th goal, tying Shea Weber’s record for a defenseman in Nashville Predators history, in a 3-2 shootout victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O’Reilly made the red light shine in the shootout.
Josi scored shortly after Luke Evangelista in the first period to make it 2-0. Josi reached this plateau the day after a fight against Detroit Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat that his teammates and head coach Andrew Brunette enjoyed.
Yaroslav Askarov made 26 saves to sign the first victory of his career. It comes in his third match, but in his second start.
Alex Ovehckin scored the first goal of his career against goalie Yaroslav Askarov, who is also the 171st different goalie in the NHL to fall victim to the Tsar. Jaromir Jagr dominates this category with 178 different victims during his career.
The Capitals captain has scored 829 career goals and is now 65 goals away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the NHL’s all-time lead.
Beck Malenstyn was the other scorer for the Capitals, who lost their fourth straight game. Hunter Shepard stopped 33 pucks in the loss.
