Kevin Hayes scored his first career hat trick as the Philadelphia Flyers edged the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday.
The Flyers have just 19 wins since the start of the season but have won four of their last five outings. They’re 8-2 since an overtime win in San Jose on Dec. 29 and are playing hard under head coach John Tortorella.
Morgan Frost also stole the show by scoring a beautiful net to give his team a two-goal cushion.
Frost made it 3-1 with 39 seconds remaining in the second period with a superb maneuver. Positioned to the left of the net, he brought the puck between his skates before shooting over the shoulder of goaltender Anthony Stolarz from a tight angle.
Rasmus Ristolainen had restored the Flyers to a shorthanded lead earlier with his first goal since Jan. 22, 2022. It was the team’s ninth goal shorthanded this season, an NHL-high .
Kevin Hayes got the initial goal at 13:32 of the first period and scored twice in the third to nail the Ducks coffin 44 seconds from the end of the game in an empty cage, which suddenly sent his counter to 13 goals this season.
Adam Henrique and Frank Vatrano were the only ones to beat Samuel Ersson, who made 25 saves in just his sixth career start. Henrique tied the game 1-1 in the second period after a fine, well-constructed play by John Klingberg, who used patience, while Vatrano tried to keep the Ducks in the game by closing the gap to 4-2 in the last third.
However, this meeting was marked by controversy over defender Ivan Provorov who refused to take part in the warm-up period. He still played the match.
An acrobatic save saves the Wild
Filip Gustavsson had to make a great save to preserve the Minnesota Wild’s lead as they defeated the Washington Capitals 4-2.
One goal down in the third period, Evgeny Kuznetsov saw the puck end up on his stick to the right of the Wild goalie. He was able to send the puck towards the net, but at the last moment Gustavsson lifted his skate to make a save with his foot and deprive the Caps of the tying goal.
Moments later, Joel Eriksson Ek provided his team with a cushion which confirmed the victory. Jared Spurgeon scored twice for the Wild and Jonas Brodin scored the other.
Charlie Lindgren stopped 18 pucks in the loss. Martin Fehervary and Dylan Strome beat Gustavsson who finished the match with 34 saves.
The Preds thank their goalkeeper
Kevin Lankinen made 39 saves and the Nashville Predators defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1.
It was the first start since Jan. 6 for the Preds goaltender.
Cody Glass and Yakov Trenin each found the back of the net for Nashville. Gustav Nyquist was the only one to flash the red light for Columbus.
The situation is not getting better for the Jackets who have now suffered five losses in their last six games.
Glass gave Nashville the lead in the second period and teammate Trenin added to his team’s lead before the end of the period. Nyquist pulled one back in the third period, but Lankinen held on for the end of the game. He notably saved 15 pucks in the third period alone.
Seth Jones lifts the Hawks
Seth Jones scored two goals and an assist, including his second in overtime, to secure a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
It was Jones’ tenth overtime goal in his career. He is only the third fullback in NHL history to reach 10 after Brent Burns (16) and Scott Niedermayer (13).
Chicago came from a two-goal deficit to force overtime. Philipp Kurashev made it 3-2 first before seeing Jones level the odds.
Connor Murphy had given the Hawks the lead in the first with his fourth.
Buffalo then followed that up with three goals. Victor Olofsson hit the target with his 18th of the campaign before Tage Thompson’s 32nd of the campaign.
Peyton Krebs had put the Sabers ahead by two goals when he found the back of the net shorthanded.
Coyotes end long shootout drought
Nick Schmaltz and Nick Bjugstad both scored in the shootout to give the Arizona Coyotes a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
Connor Ingram was perfect against the shootout attempts of David Perron and Dylan Larkin, who finished the game with 37 saves.
The Coyotes have ended a nine-game losing streak, while the Wings have just suffered a third straight loss. The latter had however largely dominated in terms of shots on net (40-23) in addition to having held a 3-1 lead.
Bjugstad also had a goal and an assist in regulation time. Travis Boyd and Dylan Guenther scored 1:10 apart in the third period to close a 3-1 deficit for the Coyotes.
Lawson Crouse picked up three assists in the win.
Larkin, Perron and Pius Suter were regular scorers for the Wings.
