For the first time this season, the Boston Bruins suffered a second straight loss, suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers.
The Bruins thought they were heading for a win, but a goal from Aleksander Barkov with less than three seconds left forced overtime. Barkov also had two assists.
It was finally a goal from Sam Reinhart after only 17 seconds that ensured this victory for the Panthers.
The Panthers’ No. 13 shot on one reception, and the puck went over Jeremy Swayman’s shoulder and into the net.
Craig Smith had given the Bruins the lead in the first period. Brandon Montour tied the game for the Panthers in the second before watching Charlie Coyle put Boston back on top.
The Panthers, winners of the NHL Presidents’ Trophy last season, earned their first victory this season after entering the third period with a deficit. In such situations, the Panthers were 0-17-1 since the start of the season.
Going into the game, the Bruins were 26-0-1 when they took the lead after 40 minutes.
Barkov and Montour for their part extended their series of games with at least one point to 11.
In the third period, Sam Bennett brought both clubs back to square one until David Pastrnak put the Bruins in the driver’s seat again with 49 seconds left in regulation.
Goalkeeper Alex Lyon stopped 36 shots.
A 12th straight home win for Tampa
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist to guide the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Victor Hedman, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Corey Perry and Ross Colton also scored for the Lightning, which set a team record with a 12th straight home win.
Nick Perbix assisted in three goals for his team while Andrei Vasilevskiy blocked 26 shots for the Lightning, which won its last three games.
The Lightning improved on their record set in the 2019-20 season and defeated the Kings at Amalie Arena for the seventh straight time.
Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Phillip Danault scored for the Kings, who had won their last three games. Jonathan Quick made 20 saves.
Carrier misses a penalty shot in overtime and bites his fingers
Mathew Barzal’s 12th goal of the season with 32 seconds remaining in overtime secured a 2-1 victory for the New York Islanders over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Moments before, still in overtime, William Carrier was unable to materialize a penalty shot that would have secured victory for the Knights.
Carrier nonetheless managed a goal, his 12th this year, to tie the game before the end of the second period.
Anders Lee had given the Islanders the lead at 3:52 of the middle period. It’s the 231st career goal for Lee, who is just four behind Bobby Nystrom for ninth in Islanders history.
In front of the Islanders goal, Semyon Varlamov made 45 shots while his vis-à-vis Logan Thompson was challenged 37 times.
The Wild dazzle in the shootout
Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Frédérick Gaudreau all scored great shootout goals, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Buffalo Sabers 3-2.
The Sabers (26-19-4) thus saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
In turn, the Minnesota shooters (27-17-4) served as skilful feints to goalkeeper Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to allow their club to pocket the extra point.
In the other net, Marc-André Fleury was foiled by Tage Thompson, before making the save in front of Jack Quinn.
That same Quinn, along with Zemgus Girgensons, were Buffalo’s scorers in regulation.
The retort came from Joel Eriksson Ek and captain Jared Spurgeon.
5 point party for Logan Couture
With two goals and five points, Logan Couture treated himself to an offensive feast in a 6-4 victory for the San Jose Sharks against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Logan Couture gave the Sharks the win by breaking a 4-4 tie midway through the third period with his 18e and 19e goal of the season.
Kaapo Kahkonen stood out in front of the Sharks net by stopping 37 of 41 shots he faced in the win.
The Penguins have had success on special teams. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby hit the target on the power play in the first period. Ryan Poehling blackened the scoresheet with a shorthanded goal.
With an assist on Malkin’s goal with the man advantage, Crosby passed Stan Mikita for 15th all-time scoring in NHL history with 1,468 points.
Bad in the system for the Jets
Forward Noah Cates scored a goal and added an assist to guide the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Kieffer Bellows, Owen Tippett and Tony DeAngelo also hit the mark for the Flyers. Rasmus Ristolainen added two assists.
At the other end, goaltender Carter Hart stopped 40 shots and earned his first shutout of the season.
The Flyers (21-21-9) are 7-1-1 in their last nine road outings.
Connor Hellebuyck blocked 26 of 30 pucks he received in net for the Jets (31-19-10), which suffered a third straight loss. David Rittich completed the game and only had to make three saves.
The Jets are 17-8-0 at home.
Seattle inflicts a 2nd loss in a row on the Jackets
Alex Wennberg scored against his former team to help the Seattle Kraken defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Saturday night.
Wennberg, who was selected in the first round by the Blue Jackets in 2013, scored his 10th goal of the season, in his 600th career NHL game.
Morgan Geekie and Eeli Tolvanen also flickered the red light for the Kraken. Former Blue Jackets Oliver Bjorkstrand had an assist as Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves.
Kent Johnson was the lone scorer for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins saved 28 pucks.
After Wennberg gave the Kraken a 2-0 lead, Johnson pulled back late in the second period. Tolvanen, however, dealt a blow to the visitors by putting on the needle at 5:39 of the final third.
Trevor Zegras, heroic against Arizona
Trevor Zegras played heroes by scoring the game-winning goal in overtime as the Anaheim Ducks beat the Arizona Coyotes 2-1.
Nick Ritchie opened the scoring late in the first period with his ninth goal of the season. Max Jones then forced overtime by leveling the score midway through the game.
Travor Zegras scored the winning goal in extra time with his 18th goal of the season.
Coyotes goalie Connor Ingram shone in the loss, stopping 43 of 45 shots he faced.
