Read the reports from Wednesday’s NHL games.
A victory for the Panthers signed Evan Rodrigues
Evan Rodrigues matched his career-high with a four-point performance and the Florida Panthers defeated the Dallas Stars 5-4 on Wednesday.
Rodrigues finished the game with two goals and two assists. He had a first four-point game on October 14 against the Winnipeg Jets.
However, it was his teammate Aleksander Barkov who gave the local favorites the lead when he took advantage of a rebound in the third period to find the back of the net.
Sam Reinhart scored once and added two assists for the Panthers, who ended a three-game losing streak at home. Carter Verhaeghe was the other scorer, Niko Mikkola had two goals and Sergei Bobrovsky blocked 30 shots.
Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov scored 3:36 apart early in the third period against their former team to make it 3-3.
Radek Faksa and Thomas Harley were the other players to turn on the red light for the Stars, and Jake Oettinger made 26 saves.
Colby Guy, Associated Press
The Lightning defeats the Penguins 3-1
PHOTO CHRIS O’MEARA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) and Nikita Kucherov (86)
The NHL’s leading point scorer, Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist to help the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 on Wednesday.
Kucherov collected at least one point during an 11e consecutive match. He now has 44 points in 26 games since the start of the season.
Anthony Cirelli and Tanner Jeannot also threaded the needle for the Lightning, who won a fourth straight game after losing four in a row.
In his sixth game of the season after a long recovery following back surgery, Andrei Vasilevskiy blocked 23 pucks. He notably rejected two scoring chances from Sidney Crosby during a single presence in the second period.
Vasilevskiy blanked the Dallas Stars 4-0 in his last start on Monday. This time, he lost his shutout when Jake Guentzel cheated his vigilance with 53 seconds left in the match. The goalie himself lost the puck behind his net and was unable to reposition himself in time in front of the cage.
At the other end of the ice, Tristan Jarry stopped 25 pucks.
The Penguins have failed to score in four power play opportunities, so they have failed in their last 33 opportunities spread over 12 games.
Quebec defenseman Kris Letang appeared to injure his left shoulder when he fell into the boards following a check at the end of the first period, but he returned to the game afterwards.
Mark Didtler, Associated Press