Thursday in the NHL | Alexis Lafrenière scores two goals in Rangers victory

Rangers win 5-1 against Devils

Quebecer Alexis Lafrenière scored a double and the New York Rangers signed a ninth victory in a row by defeating the New Jersey Devils 5-1 on Thursday.

This is Rangers’ longest winning streak in the last eight campaigns. They are one win away from matching the longest streak in their history, which came in 1939-40 and 1972-73.

Artemi Panarin had three assists in the victory. Igor Shesterkin stopped 39 pucks and got his first assist of the season.

Mika Zibanejad hit the target on the power play, Chris Kreider scored his 29^e net of the campaign and Vincent Trocheck found the back of the net late in the third period.

The Rangers, who haven’t lost since January 26 at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights, are at the top of the Metropolitan Division. They spent their five sequences shorthanded, including one of five minutes by virtue of a major penalty awarded to rookie Matt Rempe.

Jack Hughes denied Shesterkin a shutout with 2:07 remaining. Nico Daws stopped 13 pucks for the Devils, who have lost three of their last four games.

Tom Canavan, Associated Press

Nazem Kadri decides in overtime for the Flames

Nazem Kadri scored in overtime and the Calgary Flames defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Thursday.

Kadri recovered the puck after a save from teammate Jacob Markstrom, crossed the ice, and beat Linus Ullmark with a wrist shot with 1:04 left in the overtime period.

Oliver Kylington and Martin Pospisil also scored for the Flames, who won their two duels against the Bruins this season. They defeated them 4-1 on February 6.

Markstrom stopped 32 pucks in front of the Flames, who have won two games in a row after losing three in a row.

Charlie Coyle scored both goals for the Bruins, who had at least one point in an 11^e consecutive road game (7-0-4). David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy saw their streak of five games with at least one point come to an end.

Former Montreal Canadiens Anthony Richard collected his second assist of the campaign. He scored one goal and three points in seven games with the Bruins this season.

Ullmark made 27 saves.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press

Two goals from Josh Norris secure victory for Senators

Josh Norris led the charge with two goals and the Ottawa Senators defeated the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Thursday.

The Senators scored three unanswered goals while limiting the Stars to four shots in the second period.

Quebecer Thomas Chabot also hit the target for the team from the Canadian capital, which has won two of its last three matches. Shane Pinto was the other scorer. Anton Forsberg blocked 14 shots.

Drake Batherson collected two assists in the victory, which allowed him to reach the plateau of 200 career points in the National Hockey League.

Joe Pavelski scored the only goal for the Stars, who lost a fourth straight game.

Jake Oettinger started the game in front of the Stars cage, but he was removed from the game after giving up three times on 11 shots. In relief, Scott Wedgewood repelled 18 shots.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press

The Capitals win 5-3 against the Lightning

Rasmus Sandin scored the game-winner with 4:59 left in the third period and the Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday.

Connor McMichael scored twice in the victory, including once into an empty net. Anthony Mantha and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel also scored, while Tom Wilson had two assists.

Capitals forward TJ Oshie left the game in the third period due to an injury not related to contact with another player.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots for the Lightning. Brandon Hagel, Nicholas Paul and Tyler Motte scored in the loss.

Hagel got at least one point in an 11^e game in a row, the longest such active streak in the NHL.

Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves for the Capitals.

Alexander Ovechkin saw his streak of games with at least one point end at nine. The attacker was trying to become the 12^e player aged 38 or over to achieve a streak of at least 10 consecutive games with at least one point.

Aubé-Kubel, who had been left out of the previous two games, and McMichael scored in the first period.

Nikita Kucherov, the circuit’s top scorer, assisted on Hagel’s goal and now has 95 points.

Mark Didtler, Associated Press

The Hurricanes win 1-0 against the Panthers

Sebastian Aho found the back of the net with 18.9 seconds left in regulation and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Florida Panthers 1-0 on Thursday night.

Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 44 shots to record his third shutout of the season. The Hurricanes won their fourth straight game.

The Panthers had won their last 11 road trips, one win shy of tying the league record.

Sergei Bobrovsky blocked 28 pucks.

Kochetkov made a nice glove save against Evan Rodrigues during a two-on-one at 3:30 in the third period. The goalkeeper was brilliant on several occasions for his team in the game.

Bobrovsky was also spectacular for the Panthers, in addition to getting help from his net. A shot from Jordan Martinook in the first period ended up hitting the post, as did Tony D’Angelo’s in the second period.

Forward Matthew Tkachuk and defenseman Gustav Forsling did not play the last two periods for the Panthers.

Associated Press

The Red Wings defeat the Avalanche 2-1

Patrick Kane scored at 3:42 of overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin threw a back pass to Kane, who quickly fired a shot past Justus Annunen. It was his 10^e net of the countryside.

Larkin scored the Red Wings’ other goal. Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring for the Avalanche.

The victory ended the Red Wings’ 10-game losing streak against the Avalanche. The Michigan club hadn’t won in nearly eight years against Colorado, which dominated 47-21 in goals during that stretch.

Annunen blocked 28 pucks. At the other end of the ice, Alex Lyon made 30 saves.

The Red Wings have now won three straight and are 4-0-1 in their last five home games. The Avalanche are 1-4-1 in their last six road games.

Robert Duff, Associated Press

Blues shut out Islanders

Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad combined to score three goals in 32 seconds in the second period, allowing the St. Louis Blues to defeat the New York Islanders 4-0 on Thursday.

These were the three fastest goals in the history of the organization. The old mark was 36 seconds, achieved on April 15, 1993 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Buchnevich also scored midway through the third period, completing his fourth career hat trick. Robert Thomas had three assists and Jordan Kyrou, two.

Jordan Binnington blocked 38 pucks to record his third shutout of the season and his 15^e in career. It was also his 137^e win in the National Hockey League, which places him third in team history, tied with Curtis Joseph.

The Blues had lost two games in a row and three of their last four before this meeting.

Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves for the Islanders, who have won just one of their last five games.

Joe Harris, Associated Press