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NHL roundup: Avs rout Blackhawks in Rantanen’s return

Joonas Donskoi and Nazem Kadri had two goals apiece, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and three assists in his first game in more than a month, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 in Denver on Saturday night.

Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and two assists, Tyson Jost also scored and Philipp Grubauer stopped 26 shots for the Avalanche, who swept the back-to-back set against Chicago. Colorado won 5-2 in Chicago on Friday night.

Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad and Dominik Kubalik had goals, and Corey Crawford finished with 13 saves in relief of Robin Lehner for the Blackhawks, who played without defenseman Duncan Keith due to a groin injury.

Rantanen missed 16 games with a lower-body injury sustained at St. Louis on Oct. 21. He sat out the third period Saturday for what is believed to be precautionary reasons.

Flyers 4, Canadiens 3 (OT)

Ivan Provorov's near end-to-end rush in overtime gave visiting Philadelphia a win over Montreal.

Provorov's sixth goal of the season gave Philadelphia its second overtime victory over the Canadiens this season, as the Flyers also needed the extra frame in a 3-2 result over Montreal on Nov. 7.

The victory caps an outstanding November for the Flyers, who led the NHL with 24 points in the month by earning points in 14 of 16 games (10-2-4). The Flyers have won four straight games and are unbeaten (5-0-1) over their last six contests.

Islanders 2, Blue Jackets 0

Thomas Greiss and Semyon Varlamov combined for 39 saves in a rare two-goalie shutout for host New York, who snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Columbus.

Greiss made the first nine saves before exiting for undisclosed reasons with 5:54 left in the opening period. The combined shutout is the third in Islanders history and the first since April 4, 1998. Greiss, who exited with a 1-0 lead, is the first Islanders goalie to ever earn a win after playing less than one period.

Anders Lee scored early in the first period, and Mathew Barzal scored late in the second for the Islanders, who went 0-2-1 on a three-game West Coast road trip. Goalie Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have alternated wins with losses over the last six games.

Sharks 4, Coyotes 2

Logan Couture scored two goals and Martin Jones finished with 21 saves as San Jose rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat Arizona in Glendale, Ariz.

Dylan Gambrell and Timo Meier also scored goals and Tomas Hertl had two assists for San Jose, which tied a franchise record with 11 wins in the month of November. The Sharks also extended their NHL record of winning when allowing two goals or less to 45 games.

Nick Schmaltz and Derek Stepan scored goals for Arizona, which had a nine-game point streak against Pacific Division teams snapped. Antti Raanta finished with 26 saves.

Capitals 5, Red Wings 2

A battle between the best and worst teams in the NHL had the predictable outcome, as Alex Ovechkin notched a hat trick and added an assist to lead Washington past host Detroit.

The Capitals lead the NHL with 43 points and have won five of their last seven games. Detroit has a league-worst 17 points and is winless in its last nine, including seven straight regulation losses.

T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson also scored for the Capitals, and Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves. Robby Fabbri and Luke Glendening scored for the Red Wings, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 29 shots.

Blues 5, Penguins 2

St. Louis got third-period goals from Ivan Barbashev, Mackenzie MacEachern and Jaden Schwartz to win its third straight game, knocking off visiting Pittsburgh, which has lost two in a row.

Justin Faulk and Nathan Walker also scored for St. Louis, which is 5-1-1 in its past seven. Jordan Binnington stopped 29 of 31 Penguins shots.

Sam Lafferty and Kris Letang scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its second straight. Matt Murray made 22 saves. The Penguins played mostly with five defensemen. Brian Dumoulin was helped off the ice in the first minute after St. Louis' Zach Sanford fell on his right leg as the two pursued the puck behind the Pittsburgh net. There was no information on his status.

Rangers 4, Devils 0

Mika Zibanejad and Jesper Fast scored short-handed goals in the third period and Alexandar Georgiev made 33 saves as New York blanked New Jersey in Newark, N.J.

The Rangers improved to 4-0-1 in their last five games and 10-4-2 in their last 16, with Zibanejad missing a significant amount of that stretch with an upper-body injury. New York overcame being penalized for 34 minutes.

Zibanejad scored his second goal since returning on Wednesday. Adam Fox and Brady Skjel also scored in Georgiev's third career shutout. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 19 saves for New Jersey.

Hurricanes 3, Lightning 2

Sebastian Aho and Jaccob Slavin each had a goal and an assist and Carolina held off host Tampa Bay's third-period rally to win for the first time in their past 10 trips to Tampa.

Jordan Martinook also scored for Carolina, which snapped a two-game losing streak, and Dougie Hamilton had two assists. Goaltender James Reimer made 36 saves.

Braydon Point and Tyler Johnson scored for the Lightning, whose winless streak reached three games (0-2-1). Curtis McElhinney stopped 21 of 24 shots. The Lightning also had its 13-game point streak in the series against Carolina snapped (11-0-2).

Flames 3, Senators 1

Elias Lindholm's late third-period goal, his first of two goals on the night, came just after his team saw a lead disappear and proved to be the game winner as host Calgary beat Ottawa in Calgary's first game after coach Bill Peters resigned.

Goaltender David Rittich made 26 saves for the Flames, who recorded the 1,000th home victory in franchise history.

Peters resigned after investigations began regarding claims that he directed a racial slur at a player while coaching in the minors and also kicked one of his players while coaching the Carolina Hurricanes a couple of seasons ago. Saturday was Geoff Ward's first official game as the Flames' interim coach.

Maple Leafs 2, Sabres 1 (OT)

John Tavares scored his 10th goal of the season at 1:45 of overtime, and host Toronto defeated Buffalo, its fourth win in five games under new coach Sheldon Keefe.

Tavares scored on a wrist shot from the left side on a pass from Kasperi Kapanen. William Nylander also scored for Toronto, while Frederik Andersen made 29 saves.

Rasmus Ristolainen scored for Buffalo, and Carter Hutton stopped 41 shots. The Sabres won the first game of the back-to-back set 6-4 Friday afternoon in Buffalo.

Panthers 3, Predators 0

Chris Driedger earned a shutout in his first NHL start, and defenseman Anton Stralman scored twice, leading host Florida to a win over Nashville.

Center Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers, who snapped a three-game losing streak. The win marked a successful start to Florida's nine-game homestand.

Driedger made 27 saves in his fourth NHL appearance and his first since Oct. 28, 2016. The 25-year-old Driedger -- the Ottawa Senators' third-round pick in 2012 -- earned this opportunity because of his stellar statistics in the American Hockey League this season -- a 2.09 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.

Kings 2, Jets 1

Joakim Ryan and Nikolai Prokhorkin scored first-period goals as Los Angeles started fast and hung on for a victory over Winnipeg to set a franchise record for home victories in November.

Jack Campbell made 33 saves as the Kings won for the seventh time at home in the month, but the success was neutralized by an 0-4-1 record on the road. Campbell made a point-blank save on Mark Scheifele as time expired.

Jack Roslovic scored a third-period goal for the Jets, who were unable to complete the comeback. Winnipeg went 10-3-1 in November and had to settle for matching a franchise record for victories in a single month.

Canucks 5, Oilers 2

Tanner Pearson scored twice in a four-point game while Loui Eriksson scored his first goal of the season as Vancouver collected a road victory over Edmonton.

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves, while Bo Horvat netted three assists for the Canucks, who snapped a two-game losing streak. The clubs meet again Sunday night in the second half of a home-and-home series.

The victory came at a cost for Vancouver, as defenseman Alex Edler suffered an upper-body injury in the second period.

--Field Level Media