NHL roundup: Luke Hughes shines with goal, assist as Devils dump Hurricanes 4-2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Devils defenceman Luke Hughes had a goal and an assist, Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves and New Jersey defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night.

Ondrej Palat, Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer also scored for New Jersey, which has won three straight National Hockey League games and six of seven.

Eric Robinson and Brent Burns scored for the Hurricanes, who lost for the third time in four games. Carolina had 31 shots on goal, after the Devils permitted 20 or fewer in each of their previous seven games.

Robinson opened the scoring at 10:03 of the first period by poking the puck past Markstrom, who was coming off consecutive 12-save shutouts.

Palat tied it at 16:14, followed by Hischier’s team-best 18th goal 42 seconds later to put New Jersey ahead 2-1.

Burns tied it for Carolina just 22 seconds into the middle period.

Hughes, the 21-year-old brother of Devils star centre Jack Hughes, then scored at 4:15 followed by Mercer at 8:47 to put New Jersey ahead 4-2.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves for the Hurricanes.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Friday:

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MAPLE LEAFS 5 RED WINGS 2

DETROIT (AP) — Mitch Marner’s third career hat trick spoiled Todd McClellan’s Detroit coaching debut as Toronto won.

David Kampf scored his first goal of the season in his 500th career game and Nicolas Robertson also scored for the Maple Leafs. John Tavares had two assists and Joseph Woll made 23 saves.

Derek Lalonde was fired by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman on Thursday and replaced by McClellan, who previously coached San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles.

Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson had third-period goals for Detroit, which has lost four straight. Cam Talbot started and gave up five goals on 21 shots, and Alex Lyon started the third period and finished with two saves.

Marner scored two at even strength and another on a power play, all in the first two periods.

An upper body injury sidelined Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews for a third consecutive game.

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BLUE JACKETS 6 BRUINS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Sean Monahan scored twice in his 800th NHL game, helping Columbus beat Boston and extending their home win streak to three games.

Dmitri Voronkov added two goals and an assist, extending his point streak to six games. Kirill Marchenko’s goal and two assists gave him points in a career-high seven straight. Adam Fantilli also scored, and Elvis Merzlikins made 23 saves for Columbus.

Zach Werenski had four assists for the second time in his career, setting a franchise record with points in 12 straight home games.

Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle scored, and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 27 shots for Boston, which lost its second straight on the road. Brad Marchand’s assist on Coyle’s goal extended his point streak to 11 games.

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SABRES 6 BLACKHAWKS 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Alex Tuch recorded a hat trick for Buffalo in a win against Chicago.

Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn each had a goal and an assist in the first period. The Sabres also got goals from Zach Benson and Tuch to build a 4-0 lead, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen needed to make just two of his 15 saves in the opening period.

Tuch scored twice in the third period after Seth Jones cut the Sabres’ lead to 4-2

Buffalo’s victory was its second in a row following a 13-game winless streak (0-10-3) that briefly put the Sabres below the Blackhawks for the worst record in the NHL.

Rasmus Dahlin had two assists after tallying four in Buffalo’s 7-1 win against the New York Islanders on Monday.

Tyler Bertuzzi had the other goal for Chicago. Goaltender Petr Mrazek was pulled after allowing four goals on 11 shots in the first period. Backup Arvid Soderblom made 22 saves.

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WILD 3 STARS 2 (OT)

DALLAS (AP) — Defenceman Brock Faber scored a wraparound goal 35 seconds into overtime and Minnesota rallied from two goals down midway through the third period to beat Dallas.

Jonas Brodin and Marcus Foligno scored 57 seconds apart in the third to tie the score for the Wild, whose 29 road points (13-3-3) are tops in the league. Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves.

Evgenii Dadonov and Wyatt Johnston each had a goal and an assist giving Dallas a 2-0 lead through two periods. Jake Oettinger, a Minnesota native, stopped 15 shots for the Stars, who are 0-2-1 in their last three home games.

Faber took a pass from Matt Boldy near centre ice on the first overtime shift, skated in and behind the net as Oettinger appeared to lose sight of the puck behind him and didn’t leave the left post.

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BLUES 7 PREDATORS 4

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Robert Thomas scored twice, Jordan Kyrou had a goal and an assist, and St. Louis beat Nashville.

Joel Hofer made 26 saves for the Blues, and defenceman Cam Fowler added a goal and two assists.

Zack Bolduc, Philip Broberg and Colton Parayko also scored for St. Louis. Dylan Holloway had two assists.

Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist for Nashville. Mark Jankowski and Nick Blankenburg also scored.

Predators goalie Juuse Saros was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 15 shots.

Thomas scored the first goal of the game and got another one on a power play at 15:10 of the third period off assists from Kyrou and Fowler to make it 6-4.

Parayko added an empty-netter with 1:15 remaining.

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AVALANCHE 4 UTAH 1

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen scored three goals, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 34 shots and Colorado beat Utah.

Mikko Rantanen also scored and Nathan MacKinnon had three assists for Colorado, which has won four straight.

Blackwood has four wins in five starts since being acquired from San Jose on December 9th. He signed a five-year, $26.5 million contract extension with the Avalanche earlier Friday.

Nick Schmaltz scored for Utah, which has lost eight of its last nine at home. Karel Vejmelka finished with 33 saves.

Following a scoreless first period, Colorado struck first when a wide-open Lehkonen tapped in the puck off a feed from MacKinnon with 8:08 left in the second.

Utah finally got on the board when Schmaltz tapped in a power play equalizer with at 3:42 of the third off Mikhail Sergachev’s blast down the middle.

Lehkonen answered with 5:16 left when he tapped in the puck around Vejmelka’s outstretched skate. Mikko Rantanen and Lehkonen capped the scoring with a pair of empty-netters in the final two minutes.

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GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6 SHARKS 3

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Brayden McNabb and Jack Eichel scored pivotal short-handed goals just seconds apart in the third period, and Alex Pietrangelo had three assists as Vegas beat San Jose.

Mark Stone, Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofeyev and Noah Hanifin each had a goal for the Golden Knights, who scored four unanswered in the third.

The Sharks were led by rookie Will Smith, who had a goal and an assist. Shakir Mukhamadullin and Tyler Toffoli also scored.

San Jose led 3-2 early in the third and was on a power play, but Vegas quickly seized the momentum when McNabb tied it at 1:03 and Eichel scored the go-ahead goal 23 seconds later.

The Sharks broke a 2-all tie late in the second when Toffoli scored his team-leading 14th goal on a bank shot from behind the net. Toffoli’s shot ricocheted off the back of Vegas defenceman Nicolas Hague’s skate and slid past goalie Adin Hill.

Hill made 22 saves and Alexandar Georgiev turned back 30 shots for San Jose.

The Associated Press