Read reports from Tuesday’s NHL games.
Posted at 10:19 p.m.
Updated at 11:13 p.m.
Brock Nelson reached a new career high with his 32and goal of the season, Semyon Varlamov stopped 42 shots and the New York Islanders held on to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Tuesday.
Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier and Zach Parise also scored for the Islanders, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Vladimir Gavrikov scored twice for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four straight. Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored and Elvis Merzlikins blocked 25 shots.
The Blue Jackets had to deal with the absence of their head coach, Brad Larsen, who had his name added to the COVID protocol earlier in the day on Tuesday, as did assistant coach Steve McCarthy.
Associated Press
Rangers beat Penguins
Chris Kreider signed a 45and goal and the New York Rangers earned their third straight win on Tuesday, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2.
Kreider converted a rebound at 1:06 in the third period on the power play.
Frank Vatrano and Braden Schneider scored the other New Yorkers 3:32 apart in the second period.
Second in the Metropolitan section, the Rangers will play again on Wednesday evening in Detroit.
Igor Shesterskin made 22 saves, being beaten only by Sidney Crosby and Brian Boyle.
Crosby collected his 25and countryside fillet. He has had at least one point in his last 13 home games.
Tristan Jarry blocked 23 shots. In his last eight starts, his only two losses have come at the hands of Rangers.
Will Graves, Associated Press
Lightning beat Hurricanes in overtime
Steven Stamkos scored a power-play goal 52 seconds into overtime to cap off his three-pointer night as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Tuesday.
Stamkos, who had two assists in regulation time, scored on a play from Nikita Kucherov. The Russian had three assists in the win.
Alex Killorn, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point also rattled the strings. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves for the Lightning.
Nino Niederreiter, Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho flashed the red light for the Hurricanes. Antti Raanta blocked 28 shots.
The troop of Rod Brind’Amour will resume the necklace Thursday when it receives the Montreal Canadiens.
Associated Press
Leafs win against Bruins
The league’s top scorer, Auston Matthews scored a 49and net and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Boston Bruins 6-4 on Tuesday.
Toronto took a 6-1 lead with five unanswered goals, the penultimate of which came from Matthews late in the second period.
Colin Blackwell, Morgan Rielly, Alexander Kerfoot, Mitchell Marner and David Kampf scored the other game-winning goals.
John Tavares provided two assists.
Erik Kallgren blocked 23 shots in relief to Petr Mrazek, replaced in the first period (the nature of his injury was not disclosed).
The Maple Leafs will prepare to host Winnipeg on Thursday.
David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk, Curtis Lazar and Taylor Hall scored for the Bruins.
Jeremy Swayman allowed six goals on 25 shots, giving way to Linus Ullmark after two periods.
Boston had won four straight.
Doug Alden, Associated Press
The Wild sign a seventh consecutive victory
Kirill Kaprizov scored a 37and goal and the Minnesota Wild won their seventh straight game on Tuesday, losing the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1.
Kaprizov gave the team a 2-1 power play lead late in the first period.
He beat Martin Jones with a veiled shot with Ivan Provorov in the dungeon for a collision.
Matt Dumba, Jordan Greenaway and Kevin Fiala also scored for the Wild.
Frédérick Gaudreau had two assists, as did Joel Eriksson Ek.
Marc-André Fleury blocked 32 shots for the Wild, whose next game is Thursday at home against Pittsburgh.
Morgan Frost got the goal for the Flyers, who were losing for the third time in a row.
The Canadian Press