Avery Hayes lit the lamp twice in an unforgettable NHL debut as the Pittsburgh Penguins put a stop to their two-game losing streak with a 5-2 road victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
Fellow rookie Ben Kindel also found the back of the net twice for the Penguins. Pittsburgh’s Tommy Novak scored the other goal and Arturs Silovs made 26 saves.
Tage Thompson tallied his 30th goal of the season and Jason Zucker scored early for the Sabres, who are 1-2-1 in their past four games. Alex Lyon stopped 27 of the 31 shots he faced in the Sabres’ crease.
With the Penguins trailing 1-0, Hayes scored a beauty on his first career shot. He sped around a defender to pick up a loose puck and fired it past Lyon to knot the contest at 1-1 with 10:42 left in the first period. His one-timer with 1:13 left in the opening gave Pittsburgh the lead for good.
Lightning 6, Panthers 1
Erik Cernak scored his first goal, Nikita Kucherov stretched his point streak to 10 games, and Tampa Bay headed off to the Winter Olympics break by earning its 10th straight home win by blowing out Florida.
Brandon Hagel, Zemgus Girgensons, Pontus Holmberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored at even strength and Jake Guentzel added a power-play goal. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots in the win.
The Lightning won three of the four matches in the season series and moved to 19-1-1 in their past 21 matches overall. The feisty match featured 167 penalty minutes.
Senators 2, Flyers 1 (OT)
Tim Stutzle scored an overtime game-winner in Philadelphia for the second time this season, lifting Ottawa to a victory over the Flyers.
Stutzle, who also tallied in OT in a 3-2 road win over the Flyers on Nov. 8, raced past Travis Sanheim in this one before deking Dan Vladar (25 saves) with a nifty move to his backhand 47 seconds into the extra frame.
Nick Cousins also scored and James Reimer made 15 saves for the Senators, who head into the Olympic break having won five of their past six games. Philadelphia, which earned a point thanks to Jamie Drysdale’s goal late in regulation, has lost five of six entering the break.
Hurricanes 2, Rangers 0
Rookie Brandon Bussi made 16 saves in a successful homecoming as visiting Carolina downed New York.
Andrei Svechnikov scored early as Hurricanes improved to 8-0-2 in their past 10 and earned their second shutout win on the Rangers’ home ice this season. Jordan Staal added an empty-net tally in the final minute.
Bussi, a Long Island, N.Y., native, won his seventh straight game. Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick registered a season-high 41 saves.
Islanders 3, Devils 1
Bo Horvat scored the go-ahead goal with 3:27 left to play to lead New York past host New Jersey in Newark, sweeping the four-game season series against from the Devils.
Casey Cizikas and Mathew Barzal each added a goal for the Islanders, while Horvat assisted on Barzal’s empty-netter for a two-point night. Ilya Sorokin saved 23 of the 24 shots he faced.
Nico Hischier scored the Devils’ lone goal and he was assisted by Jesper Bratt and goaltender Jake Allen. New Jersey will go into the Olympic break on a three-game losing streak.
Golden Knights 4, Kings 1
Mark Stone recorded a goal and two assists and the hosts jumped out to a four-goal first-period lead en route to an easy victory over Los Angeles in Las Vegas.
Adin Hill made 32 saves to pick up his 100th career win (100-67-16). Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist, Ivan Barbashev had two assists and Mitch Marner also scored for Vegas, which won its second straight game.
Trevor Moore scored for Los Angeles, which took its fourth loss in five games (1-3-1). Anze Kopitar picked up an assist for his 1,300th career point, the 39th skater in NHL history to accomplish that feat.
Capitals 4, Predators 2
Jakob Chychrun scored twice in a three-point performance and Pierre-Luc Dubois recorded one goal and one assist in his first game in more than three months as host Washington defeated Nashville.
Tom Wilson also scored for the Capitals, who have won four of five games, while Dylan Strome notched two assists. Logan Thompson made 27 saves for the win, but Washington lost John Carlson in the first period due to a lower-body injury.
Jonathan Marchessault and Michael McCarron tallied for the Predators, who were defeated in two games on successive nights. Justus Annunen stopped 26 shots and Adam Wilsby collected two assists.
