Consult the reports of the games played Thursday in the NHL.
Lightning win over Leafs 5-3
Steven Stamkos hit the target in the first twenty and prepared his last three goals on Thursday and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3.
Despite the absence of four important players, the Lightning (17-5-4) managed to sign a fifth straight victory, in front of 18,919 spectators at Scotiabank Arena.
For their part, the Maple Leafs (18-8-2) lost for the third time in four outings since Mitch Marner suffered a shoulder injury on Friday.
The Maple Leafs showed up on the ice without Jason Spezza (suspension), Travis Dermott (shoulder) and Rasmus Sandin (knee).
However, the Lightning had to make do without forwards Nikita Kucherov (lower body), Brayden Point (upper body), Anthony Cirelli (upper body) and defenseman Erik Cernak (foot).
Against the Torontonian team, the Lightning displayed his tight forward failure, generator of turnovers, which helped him win the Stanley Cup in the last two seasons.
With the score 2-2 after 20 minutes, Stamkos stole the disc from veteran defenseman Jake Muzzin early in the second period.
The Lightning captain then spotted Ondrej Palat, who received a stroke of luck when right winger William Nylander deflected Palat’s pass attempt into his own net.
Five minutes later, Stamkos and Palat joined forces again when they forced defenseman TJ Brodie to make a mistake along the ramp in the Maple Leafs’ zone.
Palat then passed a pass to rookie Taylor Raddysh, who doubled the Lightning’s lead.
Ondrej Kase got the Maple Leafs close to a Lightning goal midway through the third period, but Palat confirmed the win with an empty net.
The Maple Leafs were outscoring 38-27 on goal.
Kase gave the Maple Leafs the lead in the first period before goals from Pierre-Édouard Bellemare and Stamkos, scored in less than three minutes, put the Lightning ahead.
Nylander tied the score at 19:53.
Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press
Ducks beat Blue Jackets in shootout
PHOTO PAUL VERNON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rickard Rakell, Trevor Zegras and Kevin Shattenkirk
Trevor Zegras and Rickard Rakell hit the target in a shootout and the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on Thursday night.
Isac Lundestrom put the needle on in regulation to help the Ducks secure a second straight victory.
John Gibson stopped 33 shots for the California team and posted a fourth straight win over the Blue Jackets.
Alexandre Texier provided the answer for the Blue Jackets, who have lost six of their last seven games. Elvis Merzlikins blocked 25 pucks.
Texier opened the scoring when he accepted an assist from Eric Robinson to score his ninth goal of the campaign, a career high for him. Texier has amassed 12 points in his last 16 games.
The lead lasted just over two minutes, when Lundestrom grabbed a bouncy puck before outwitting Merzlikins.
Nicole Kraft, The Canadian Press
Nathan Walker’s hat trick in Blues win over Red Wings
PHOTO JEFF CURRY, USA TODAY SPORTS
Nathan Walker
Nathan Walker recorded a first career NHL hat trick and the St. Louis Blues easily defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 on Thursday night.
The Blues recalled Walker from their American Hockey League school club on Wednesday. He had previously played 25 career NHL games, recording three goals and two assists.
Fourth Blues goalie Charlie Lindgren made his first start since March 7, 2020 and took the opportunity to clinch the victory with 29 saves.
Colton Parayko, Ivan Barbashev and Marco Scandella also moved the strings for the Blues, who secured a second consecutive victory.
Robby Fabbri was the scorer of the two goals for the Red Wings, which conceded a second loss in a row.
Alex Nedeljkovic started the game for Detroit and allowed three goals on 18 shots. He was replaced by Thomas Greiss to start the third period and the latter gave up twice in seven shots.
Warren Mayes, The Canadian Press