Auston Matthews scored twice, including the game tying goal with just 14 seconds remaining in the third period, but it wasn’t enough on the night to get a Toronto Maple Leafs victory, after losing out to Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in a shootout at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
Matthews became the first United States born player and the first Leafs player to score at least 30 goals in each of his first four NHL seasons.
John Hynes started his coaching campaign with Nashville Predators with a 6-2 loss to Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
It was Bruins first win in four games, with David Pastrnak scoring his 32nd goal of the season and extending his points streak to 11 games.
Carter Verhaeghe grabbed his first NHL hat trick on Tuesday to help Tampa Bay Lightning extend their winning streak to eight games with a convincing 9-2 victory over Vancouver Canucks at Amalie Arena.
Lightning hit six goals in the middle period including three in a 56 second spell.
Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves in his NHL debut for New York Rangers on Tuesday in their 5-3 victory against Colorado Avalanche at Madison Square Garden.
Rangers line of Artemi Panarin 1+2, Ryan Strome 1+1 and Jesper Fast 0+3 combined for eight points in the victory over Avalanche.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice in Washington Capitals 6-1 win against Ottawa Senators on Tuesday evening. The Russian has now tied with Teemu Selanne for 11th place on the NHL’s all-time goal list.
Ovechkin has hit 26 goals for the season and 684 in his NHL career. It was a good night also for TJ Oshie who bagged a brace for Rangers who have won three straight and 14 out of their last 19 games.
Ilya Kovalchuk claimed an assist in his debut for the Montreal Canadians in their 3-2 loss to Winnipeg Jets at Bell Centre on Monday. Kovalchuk icing in his first game since November 9th, had an assist on Ben Chiarot’s second goal in the defeat.
Columbus Blue Jackets extended their road point streak to eight games with a 4-2 win over Los Angeles Kings at Staples Centre on Monday.
Elvis Merzlikins made 35 saves for Blue Jackets, who are currently 9-1-4 in their past 14 games.
Peter Laviolette became another casualty in the NHL Coach sacking season after receiving his marching orders on Monday after the Preds had lost four out of the last five games. He was fired along with his assistant Kevin McCarthy after six seasons with the Predators. The experienced Laviolette has overseen 451 regular games, including a Stanley Cup Final defeat in 2017 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
