A power play goal from Mason Lohrei with less than five minutes to play allowed the Boston Bruins to save face over the Vegas Golden Knights with a 5-4 victory on Thursday.
The Bruins let a three-goal lead slip away only to see the visitors gradually chip away at their lead. The meeting saw Morgan Geekie experience a first in the National League for Boston when he scored the first hat trick of his career, which allows him to reach 13 goals this season. Geekie scored two of his three goals in the first period before completing his feat at 16:32 of the second period.
The Bruins moved quickly to take control of the game when they scored three times in a span of 2:20 in the first period to take a lead that seemed comfortable at first glance, but against the Stanley Cup champions in title, nothing should be taken for granted. Besides Geekie’s two goals, Jesper Boqvist got the other in the first.
This victory allows the Bruins to stop a series of three losses.
Kevin Shattenkirk and David Pastrnak each had two assists in the victory.
Paul Cotter, Alex Pietrangelo, Michael Amadio and Chandler Stephenson, with a seventh career shorthanded goal, provided the fightback for the Golden Knights.
Pietrangelo’s 144th career goal allows him to reach 600 career points, becoming the ninth active defenseman in the NHL to reach this plateau.
For his part, Jonathan Marchessault, who obtained a point in a fourth straight game by collecting an assist on Pietrangelo’s goal, became the first player to reach 400 points with the Golden Knights. Since arriving in the gambling city, he has scored 182 goals and now has 218 assists.
Jeremy Swayman faced 36 shots in front of the Bruins cage while Adin Hill was tested 32 times.
Another setback for the Lightning
Times are tough for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jon Cooper’s men suffered a 3-2 overtime defeat against the Buffalo Sabres, a fifth defeat in their last seven games.
In control after 40 minutes of play thanks to goals from Brayden Point and Mitchell Chaffee, the Lightning lost their slim one-goal lead in the third period to eventually lose in overtime.
After being an accomplice in Tage Thompson’s equalizing goal, Rasmus Dahlin played the hero after 1:42 of extra time. During a power play, Dahlin slipped into the slot and redirected a pass from Casey Mittelstadt behind Andrei Vasilveskiy.
Alex Tuch also hit the mark for the Sabres.
Unlike the Lightning, the Sabers are having good times recently with four wins in their last five games. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 21 pucks to earn a sixth victory in his last eight starts.
In the defeat, Victor Hedman had an assist to reach the 50 assist plateau as well as the 60 point plateau this season.
For his part, Vasilveskiy allowed three goals on 23 shots.
Barzal and Nelson take charge of the Islanders
Mathew Barzal broke a tie with 6:02 remaining in the third period and Brock Nelson scored twice in a 5-3 victory for the New York Islanders against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Barzal scored his 18th goal of the season to give the visitors the lead. Patrick Kane could have tied the game afterwards, but he missed the target while in front of an empty cage.
The Red Wings then removed Alex Lyon in favor of a sixth skater, but Pierre Engvall scored in an empty cage. The Michigan team suffered its first defeat in seven games.
Casey Cizikas also scored in the first period. Ilya Sorokin stopped 22 pucks.
Olli Maatta equaled a personal mark with two goals. Kane made it 2-2 10 seconds into the third period.
Lyon made 22 saves for the Red Wings.
The Islanders are 6-5-3 since they fired Lane Lambert and replaced him with Quebecer Patrick Roy. The New York club is six points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are the second team drafted in the East currently.
Stankoven continues to turn heads
Rookie player Logan Stankoven scored in a third straight game and the Dallas Stars defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1.
Joe Pavelski collected a goal and an assist for the Stars, who climbed to first place in the Central section.
Pavelski and Stankoven scored within 96 seconds of a three-goal first-period spurt by the Stars. Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz also found the back of the net.
Jake Oettinger stopped 25 shots to get his 100th career NHL victory, in his 177th game. He has a 5-0-1 record in six games against the Jets.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored the only goal for Winnipeg, which saw its four-game winning streak end.
Connor Hellebuyck finished the game with 32 saves for the Jets.
Called up Saturday to make his debut against the Carolina Hurricanes, Stankoven led the American Hockey League with 57 points.
The Hurricanes defeat the Blue Jackets
Teuvo Teravainen scored the first goal of the game less than a minute into the second period, Spencer Martin blocked 20 pucks against his former team and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2.
Sebastian Aho, Brady Skjei and Seth Jarvis also lit the red light for the Hurricanes, who won their second game in three days and six of their last eight games.
Martin, who was claimed off waivers from Columbus on Jan. 19, improved to 4-0-1 with the Hurricanes.
Alexander Nylander collected a goal and an assist, his first two points with the Blue Jackets. Cole Sillinger was the other goal scorer for the Ohio team and Daniil Tarasov made 28 saves.
The Blue Jackets were playing a second game in as many nights on the road after a 4-1 loss at the hands of the New York Rangers the day before.
The two teams in the Metropolitan section are following diametrically opposed trajectories. The Hurricanes are second and chasing the Rangers, while the Blue Jackets are last.
