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Matthews scores his 53rd goal as Maple Leafs send Coyotes to 14th straight loss

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Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie (39) celebrates with teammates after scoring in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 53rd goal and the Toronto Maple Leafs topped Arizona 4-2 on Thursday night to send the Coyotes to their 14th straight loss.

Matthew Knies had a goal and an assist, Tyler Bertuzzi also scored and William Nylander added an empty-netter to go with two assists for Toronto, which had its seven-game winning streak stopped Tuesday by Vegas. Joseph Woll made 30 saves in his return from a high ankle sprain that sidelined him 35 games.

Alex Kerfoot and Logan Cooley scored for Arizona, which dropped to 0-12-2 since its last victory on Jan. 22. Connor Ingram stopped 22 shots.

The Coyotes entered 10-0-2 over their 12 previous visits to Scotiabank Arena/Air Canada Centre, with Arizona’s last regulation loss in Toronto dating to Oct. 17, 2002 — the day Knies was born in Phoenix.

STARS 4, JETS 1

DALLAS (AP) — Stars rookie Logan Stankoven scored for the third time in his four NHL games, Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist, and Dallas beat Winnipeg to take over the top spot in the Central Division.

Pavelski and Stankoven scored 96 seconds apart late in a three-goal first period for the Stars, who had won only once in their previous seven games. Jason Robertson got them started with his 20th goal, which was assisted by Pavelski. Roope Hintz added a late empty-net goal and had an assist.

All-Star Jake Oettinger had 25 saves for his 100th win in 177 career regular-season games. Oettinger is 5-0-1 in six games against the Jets.

Vladislav Namestnikov had a power-play goal for the Jets, whose four-game winning streak was snapped.

ISLANDERS 5, RED WINGS 3

DETROIT (AP) — Mathew Barzal had a tiebreaking goal with 6:02 left in the third period, Brock Nelson scored twice and New York ended Detroit's six-game winning streak.

Detroit pulled Alex Lyon to add an extra skater and Pierre Engvall took advantage, sealing the victory with an empty-net goal — the Islanders’ first of the season — in the final minute.

Casey Cizikas scored in the first period and Nelson’s second goal broke a tie early in the third period. Ilya Sorokin finished with 23 saves for the Islanders.

Olli Maatta matched a career high with two goals, and Patrick Kane had the other goal for Detroit.

BRUINS 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4

BOSTON (AP) — Mason Lohrei scored the winning goal on the power play with less than five minutes to play, Morgan Geekie had his first NHL hat trick, and Boston snapped a three-game losing streak.

Lohrei fired a one-timer from inside the right circle and the Bruins held on after surrendering leads of 3-0 and 4-2.

Jesper Boqvist also scored for Boston, which won for just the second time in regulation in February, while David Pastrnak had two assists to help the Bruins complete a season sweep of the defending Stanley Cup champions. Jeremy Swayman had 32 saves.

Paul Cotter, Alex Pietrangelo, Michael Amadio and Chandler Stephenson scored for the Golden Knights and Adin Hill finished with 27 saves.

PREDATORS 6, WILD 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Roman Josi had a goal and two assists an Nashville extended its winning streak to seven games with a victory over Minnesota.

Yakov Trenin, Cole Smith, Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Ryan McDonagh also scored, and Juuse Saros made 33 saves for the Predators. Gustav Nyquist and Colton Sissons each had two assists.

Connor Dewar scored and Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves for Minnesota, losers of two straight.

SABRES 3, LIGHTNING 2, OT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Rasmus Dahlin scored a power-play goal in overtime and Buffalo rallied to beat Tampa Bay.

With Nikita Kucherov off for hooking, Dahlin scored from in-close 1:42 into overtime.

Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson also scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 21 shots.

Brayden Point and Mitchell Chaffee scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves, and NHL points leader Kucherov had an assist to give him 104 this season.

PANTHERS, CANADIENS 3, SO

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored twice and became the fourth player in Florida franchise history to reach 40 goals as the Panthers beat Montreal in a shootout.

In the shootout, Reinhart failed to score for Florida, and Montreal’s Jesse Ylonen and Nick Suzuki failed to convert before the Panthers closed out the win with scores by Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell.

Barkov also scored in regulation for the Panthers, who became the second team in the NHL — after the New York Rangers — to hit the 40-win mark. Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves for Florida (40-16-4), which is tied with the Boston Bruins (35-12-14) for the most points in the league at 84.

Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Alex Newhook scored in regulation for the Canadiens, and Cole Caufield connected in the shootout. Samuel Montembeault made 32 saves. The Canadiens became the first team to score more than two goals against the Panthers since Jan. 19, when Minnesota beat Florida 6-4.

HURRICANES 4, BLUE JACKETS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Teuvo Teravainen scored the game’s first goal less than a minute into the second period, Spencer Martin stopped 20 shots against his former team and Carolina rolled past Columbus.

Sebastian Aho, Brady Skjei and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes, who won for the second time in three days and sixth time in their last eight games. Martin, who was claimed off waivers from Columbus on Jan. 19, improved to 4-0-1 for Carolina.

Alexander Nylander had a goal and assist, his first points with Columbus. Cole Sillinger also scored, and Daniil Tarasov made 28 saves for the Blue Jackets.

AVALANCHE 5, BLACKHAWKS 0

CHICAGO (AP) — Zach Parise had two goals and an assist and Colorado beat lowly Chicago.

Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, giving him 100 points in 61 games this season. Ross Colton and Devon Toews also scored, and Justus Annunen made 24 saves in his first career shutout in nine NHL appearances.

The Avalanche improved to 2-1 against the Blackhawks this season. The teams play again on Monday night at Colorado.

Last-place Chicago dropped its fifth consecutive game and is now 5-20-4 in its last 29 games. Petr Mrazek made 29 saves.

KRAKEN 2, PENGUINS 0

SEATTLE (AP) — Philipp Grubauer made 33 saves and posted his first shutout of the season, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Alex Wennberg scored and Seattle beat Pittsburgh.

Grubauer was terrific for the second straight game and recorded his 21st career regular-season shutout.

The Kraken have won three of their last four and have points in six of their past seven games.

Pittsburgh had its three-game win streak snapped and remained seven points behind Philadelphia in the division race and eight points back of Tampa Bay for the wild card. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for the Penguins.

KINGS 5, CANUCKS 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Drew Doughty and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and two assists and Los Angeles snapped a two-game skid.

Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore both had a goal and an assist for the Kings. Rookie Brandt Clarke scored his second career goal, and Quinton Byfield had two assists. Cam Talbott stopped 22 shots.

Brock Boeser scored on the power play for Vancouver, which has lost two in a row and six of its last seven (1-5-1) but continues to lead the Western Conference.

DUCKS 6, SHARKS 4

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Adam Henrique had a goal and two assists, Frank Vatrano scored his team-leading 27th goal and Anaheim beat San Jose to snap a three-game skid.

Leo Carlsson, Brett Leason, Alex Killorn and Isac Lundestrom also scored for the Ducks, who have beaten the Sharks in three of four meetings this season.

With the game tied late in the second, Vatrano and Henrique scored power-play goals 66 seconds apart.

Anthony Duclair scored twice for the Sharks, who also got goals from Mike Hoffman and William Ecklund.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Associated Press

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