Saturday in the NHL | Brayden Point plays heroes in overtime against the Red Wings

Lightning edge Red Wings 2-1

Brayden Point flashed the red light two minutes 28 seconds into overtime, on the power play, and the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Saturday. .

Point pounced on Steven Stamkos’ return shot to score. Stamkos hit the target late in the third period to tie the game. Anthony Cirelli had an assist on each of the Lightning’s goals.

Brian Elliott, who started his first game since March 12 and only his fifth since December 31, stopped 26 shots.

Oskar Sundqvist was the Red Wings’ lone scorer and Alex Nedeljkovic had 34 saves. Sundqvist scored his second goal in three games since acquiring the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

The Lightning have scored two or less in seven of their last eight games.

Dana Gauruder, Associated Press

Dadonov completes Golden Knights comeback in overtime

Evgenii Dadonov flashed the red light in overtime and the Vegas Golden Knights came from behind to erase a three-goal deficit and beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on Saturday.

The Golden Knights trailed 3-0 when both teams entered the third period. Goals from Chandler Stephenson, William Karlsson, Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo forced extra time.

Dadonov then scored for the second straight game since returning to the Golden Knights. He was traded to the Anaheim Ducks earlier this week, but the NHL vetoed the deal given the roster of teams Dadonov refused to be traded to.

Logan Thompson stopped 30 shots for the Golden Knights.

Dominik Kubalik, Jonathan Toews, Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat hit the target for the visitors. Kevin Lankinen blocked 29 shots for the Blackhawks.

Two-time Stanley Cup champion Alec Martinez has made a comeback for the Golden Knights. He has been sidelined since November 11 due to a facial laceration. The 34-year-old American has missed 53 games.

Panthers beat Senators in shootout

Aleksander Barkov tied the game late in the third period before giving the Florida Panthers the shootout victory. A 4-3 win at the expense of the Ottawa Senators who had control of the game.

The Panthers forced overtime when Barkov hit the target with 2:16 left in the game. A net that put the finishing touch to a comeback of three goals.

Anthony Duclair and Patric Hornqvist also moved the ropes for the Panthers (44-14-6), who strengthened their hold on the Eastern Conference No. 1 spot. Newcomer Claude Giroux had two assists and goaltender Sergei Bobrovski made 19 saves.

Alex Formenton, Artem Zub and Dylan Gambrell scored the goals for the Senators (23-36-6) in regulation time. Drake Batherson picked up an assist on his return after missing 28 games with an ankle injury.

Anton Forsberg would undoubtedly have deserved a better fate. He was solid in net for the Sens stopping 46 shots.

Forsberg made several key saves in the third period to preserve the Senators lead, but Barkov beat him on a slap shot past the blue line that smashed through traffic.

In the second period, Gambrell had given the Sens a 3-0 lead by taking advantage of a turnover, but the Panthers found a way to recover. Before the end of the second, the gap was only one goal.

Giroux joined Duclair on the power play and the latter shot on reception to put on his 26^and of the season at 8:55. Just over a minute later, Hornqvist carried the puck to the net before firing a backhand shot. Forsberg made the first save, but Hornqvist collected the return to score from a tight angle.

On the play, it was initially believed that Forsberg had made a spectacular save with the mitt, but after long minutes of video review, it was determined that the mitt was behind the goal line. So it was 3-2.

In the first period, Formenton opened the scoring at 7:54 after recovering a loose puck to lodge it in the upper part.

Zub made it 2-0 by collecting a throwback from Josh Norris to beat Bobrovski with a wrist shot.

The Canadian Press 

Canucks beat Stars 4-1

Elias Pettersson scored two goals that helped him reach two important goals on Saturday, but more importantly helped the Vancouver Canucks beat the Dallas Stars 4-1.

Pettersson’s second of the game took him to the 20-goal mark this season as well as a 200^and career point in the National Hockey League.

What’s more, that second goal from the Swedish forward sparked a three-goal flurry for the Canucks in the third period. Bo Horvat and Conor Garland imitated him to confirm the victory for the Canucks while Thatcher Demko was busy fending off 35 shots.

Jacob Peterson scored the Stars’ lone goal in the second period and Jake Oettinger suffered the loss with 27 saves.

The Canucks ended the game with two goals in the final 66 seconds. Horvat first sent the puck into an empty net, then Garland added more by recovering his own throw return.

After a scoreless first period, the Stars took the lead on Peterson’s success at 5:42 in the second period. The Canucks tied the game about ten minutes later when Oliver Ekman-Larsson picked up the puck in the defensive zone before passing it to Pettersson who carried it from end to end before beating Oettinger from a shot from the wrists at the height of the right circle.

Ranked 32^and shorthanded, the Canucks were able to hold their own against three power-play opportunities from the Stars.

Associated Press

Capitals defeat Devils 4-3

Nicklas Backstrom scored a goal and added an assist to help the Washington Capitals defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on Saturday night.

Backstrom had something to celebrate since the Capitals organization highlighted his 1,000 career points on the sidelines of the game.

Alex Ovechkin contributed to the victory with his 42^and goal of the season on a power play in the third period. Leading 3-2, this goal allowed the Caps to breathe a little better by offering a cushion of two goals.

Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson scored the other goals for the winners, who already held a 14-point lead over the Blue Jackets as the second team drafted into the Eastern Conference playoffs. Vitek Vanecek stopped 29 shots.

Backstrom now has 1,006 career points. The Capitals celebrated reaching that milestone in a pre-game ceremony. The attacker had collected his 1000^and point in a March 9 loss in Edmonton.

Jack Hughes scored his 22^and goal of the season in addition to adding a 30th assist. Damon Severson and Jesper Bratt completed the Devils scoring. Nico Daws made 18 saves.

Ian Nicholas Quillen, Associated Press

Hurricanes edge Blues 7-2

Andrei Svechnikov celebrated his 22^and anniversary with a two-goal night and a resounding 7-2 victory for the Carolina Hurricanes over the Saint-Louis Blues.

Antti Raanta won his Finnish goalkeeping duel with 30 saves. At the other end of the rink, Ville Husso blocked 21 of the 26 shots he faced. The Hurricanes added two empty-netters when Husso was called up to the bench with 5:30 to go.

Third-best team in the NHL, the Hurricanes improved their record to 44-15-7, which earned them 93 points and first place in the Metropolitan Division. However, the formation went through a difficult sequence having won only once in its last six duels.

Martin Necas, Seth Jarvis, Brett Pesce, Nino Niederreiter and Ian Cole also hit the mark for the Canes. Pesce, Necas and Cole also had one assist apiece.

Pavel Buchnevich was the only one to reply for the Blues, scoring twice. He also reached the plateau of 100 career goals.

Leading 1-0 after 20 minutes, the Canes added three goals in the second period to lead 4-1.

Buchnevich tried to get the Blues back in the game with a second goal in the third period, but the Canes netted three more to dash any hopes of a comeback.

Warren Mayes, Associated Press

Marc-André Fleury obtains a first victory with the Wild

Jared Spurgeon scored on an assist and went 1:24 into overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2, allowing Marc-André Fleury to savor his first victory in his new uniform.

Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and fourth-ranked player in playoff wins, stopped 23 shots in net for the Wild to win a fifth straight game.

Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, including the equalizer with 1:03 left in the game to force extra time. The Wild hold a three-point lead over the second-placed St. Louis Blues in the Central Division.

Jake Bean and Jakub Voracek scored the goals for the Blue Jackets as goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made 35 saves.

Fleury’s debut in the Wild uniform was somewhat delayed due to Cam Talbot’s performance in goal. The Quebec goalkeeper had to wait while watching his teammate win two victories in net. Fleury was obtained from the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline.

The 37-year-old Vezina Trophy holder Fleury didn’t take a shot until the fifth minute as the Wild outshot the column 14-8 in the first period.

Kaprizov launched the Wild ahead midway through the period. Then, Bean and Voracek turned things around in favor of the Jackets in the second, but the Wild had not said its last word.

Brian Hall, Associated Press