Friday in the NHL | Rangers beat Penguins 5-1

Rangers score three first-half goals to secure victory

Chris Kreider scored two goals, Mika Zibanejad had three assists and Igor Shesterkin stopped 20 shots as the New York Rangers edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Friday night.

Alexis Lafrenière, Frank Vatrano and Andrew Copp scored the other goals for Rangers, who struck three times before they were even five minutes into the game. An unexpected start against Penguins goaltender Tristian Jarry who is riding a five-game winning streak and is 7-1-0 in his last eight outings.

Jeff Carter was the lone hit for the Penguins in the third period.

The Rangers rebounded well after suffering a 7-4 loss to the Devils by taking the measure of the Penguins that they could well find in the first round of the playoffs.

The New York squad have won five of their last seven games and eight of their last 12 duels. The Blue Shirts continued their dominance at Madison Square Garden, where they are 8-2-1 over the last 11 games.

Lafrenière opened the floodgates at 2:07 by putting on his 14^and goal of the season. Filip Chytil and Barclay Goodrow had assists. For Lafrenière, it is his best career streak as he has collected a point in his last five games.

Kreider then lifted the Garden crowd less than two minutes later by accepting a pass from Zibanejad before unleashing a shot that beat Jarry.

This help was worth a 500^and career point at Zibanejad.

Then, Vatrano needed just 18 seconds to put the hosts three goals ahead. It is already a second goal for him since joining Rangers on March 16.

Kreider added his second of the game in the top of the second when shorthanded. Kreider has six goals in six games.

Copp, acquired from the Jets on Monday, scored his first goal for the Rangers late in the third period.

Allan Kreda, Associated Press

Ovechkin settles Sabers case in shootout

Alex Ovechkin scored the tying goal in regulation before deciding the shootout to give the Washington Capitals a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabers on Friday night.

The win ended a short two-game losing streak for the Capitals. Anthony Mantha and Nick Jensen netted the other goals for the winners in regulation time. Ilya Samsonov blocked 20 shots and stopped two of three Sabers shooters in the shootout.

Jeff Skinner twice and Victor Olofsson found the back of the net for the hosts who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. The Sabers haven’t lined up four wins since their 10-game winning streak in November 2018.

Dustin Tokarski stopped 37 pucks. He notably distinguished himself by frustrating John Carlson in a two-on-one descent just before the end of overtime.

In the shootout, Tage Thompson for the Sabers and Evgeny Kuznetsov for the Capitals took turns scoring, then Ovechkin closed the books as the Caps’ third shooter. Ovi approached from the right side, then faked a shot from his strong side before going to his backhand to lodge the puck high to the left of Tokarski.

The two teams had traded the lead twice in the game before Ovechkin scored his 41st of the season to tie the game 3-3 with just over three minutes left in the second half.

Kuznetsov won a face-off in the right circle and Ovechkin leapt onto the puck with a slapshot that deflected off Rasmus Dahlin’s stick and landed over Tokarski’s right shoulder.

Picking up an assist, Kuznetsov saw his one-point streak extend to 11.

John Wawrow, Associated Press

Jets win 4-3 in overtime against Blue Jackets

Nikolaj Ehlers scored on the breakaway just 21 seconds into overtime to give the Winnipeg Jets a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

Kyle Connor, who extended his one-point streak to 10 with a shorthanded goal earlier in the game, kicked Ehlers alone past goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.

Dominic Toninato had a goal and an assist for the Jets. Josh Morrissey was the other scorer for the Manitoba team.

Eric Comrie stopped 32 of 35 shots for the Jets (31-25-10).

Oliver Bjorkstrand forced overtime with a power play goal as the final seconds ticked away.

Brendan Gaunce and Adam Boqvist also scored for the Blue Jackets.

Merzlikins made 28 saves for the Blue Jackets (32-29-4).

Forward Patrick Laine played his first game in Winnipeg since being traded to the Blue Jackets in 2021. He was greeted with a round of applause.

The Canadian Press

Flames win 4-2 over Coyotes

Johnny Gaudreau scored his 30^and goal of the season and two assists on Friday to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

Matthew Tkachuk, also his 30th, Elias Lindholm and Rasmus Andersson all scored for the Flames (39-17-8), who improved to 16-2-2 in their last 20 games at the Saddledome. The Flames will continue their six-game home stint on Saturday by hosting their Alberta rivals, the Edmonton Oilers.

Michael Carcone and Vladislav Kolyachonok both scored their first National Hockey League goals for the Coyotes (20-40-4), who suffered a fourth straight loss.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 16 shots for a 30th victory. He became the first Flames goaltender to reach that milestone since Miikka Kiprusoff’s 35-game season in 2011-12.

Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves in the loss.

With Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Lindholm and Mangiapane all hitting the 30-goal mark, the Flames have four scorers in the third ten since the 1993-94 season. At the time, Gary Roberts (41), Theoren Fleury (40), Robert Reichel (40) and Joe Nieuwendyk (36) were flying sparks on offense.

After an uneventful first period, the Flames exploded with three goals in eight minutes early in the second period. From the 33rd second, Tkachuk was forgotten at the mouth of the net and shot on reception while welcoming a pass from Gaudreau.

Three minutes later, the power play had only been on the ice for 15 seconds when Lindholm completed a tic-tac-toe initiated by Gaudreau and Tkachuk. With his two-point night, Tkachuk hit a new career-high 78 points this season.

Gaudreau made it 3-0 at 8:14 on a two-man run against the goalie. Flanked by Blake Coleman, Gaudreau chose to keep the puck and fire a wrist shot into the top of the net.

This is the 200^and goal of Gaudreau’s career. He became the sixth player drafted in 2011 to reach that milestone. He was selected in the fourth round, 104th overall, by the Flames.

The Coyotes came to life in the final seconds of the period as Carcone cut the deficit to 3-1, stealing the puck in the face-off circle before beating Markstrom on the mitt side.

Andersson, however, gave the Flames a three-goal lead on the power play early in the third. He grabbed the disc in the neutral zone before rushing into Flames territory, cutting between the two defenders before thwarting the goalkeeper with a backhand and falling heavily into the boards.

Kolyachonok gave the Coyotes one last hope at 18:07 by beating Markstrom with a one-timer, but the die was cast.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press