Hanifin and Hurricanes start fast in 4-1 win over Predators

By JIM DIAMOND
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A fast start by Carolina spelled an early exit for Pekka Rinne.

Noah Hanifin had a goal and two assists to lead an early outburst that carried the Hurricanes past the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Thursday night.

Derek Ryan had a goal and an assist, and Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won four of five. Cam Ward made 28 saves.

Kevin Fiala got the goal for Nashville, which has lost two straight.

"We're not playing hard enough and we're undisciplined," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's a bad combination."

Carolina scored four times in the first 6 1/2 minutes to chase Rinne.

"It was important that we got off to a good start and I think it couldn't have gotten off to a better start with the way it went in the first period," Ward said. "That's a team that's not going to quit even though it was 4-0."

Ryan scored the opening goal 37 seconds into the game on a power play. Just seven seconds after Nashville's Nick Bonino was sent to the penalty box for hooking, Ryan was able to tip Hanifin's shot from the left circle low to the far side of Rinne.

"Definitely one of those periods where everything we touched seemed to be going in," Ryan said. "We talk about that in lots of game plans, especially tonight against a good goaltender like Nashville has, so we want to get pucks and bodies to the net and make sure we make it hard on him. I thought we did that."

Lindholm doubled the lead at 3:11 with a deflection of Jeff Skinner's wrist shot from above the right circle. Skinner had two assists.

Hanifin made it 3-0 at 4:47 when his slap shot from above the left circle deflected off the skate of Nashville defenseman Roman Josi and by Rinne on a Carolina power play.

The Hurricanes finished 2 for 6 with the man advantage.

Rinne's night ended at 6:29 when Rask's seemingly harmless backhand from the right boards took a bad hop in front and then squeezed between Rinne's right leg pad and blocker. Rinne, who stopped just two of six shots, was replaced by Juuse Saros.

"We got some power-play opportunities and capitalized on those and then got a bounce, too. We got a lucky one," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "We've been on the other side of that, so we took advantage of that."

Saros turned away all 26 shots he faced.

Fiala got Nashville on the scoreboard at 15:33 of the first when P.K. Subban's slap shot from above the right circle deflected off him in front and by Ward.

Fiala extended his career-high point streak to nine games.

"It's not panic for us," Fiala said. "We're still on top, but we've got to change something because it's going to be fast. The standings are quite close. We've got to be much better."

Nashville had a two-man advantage for 56 seconds late in the second period, but failed to generate a shot on Ward.

NOTES: The Predators have lost consecutive home games in regulation for the first time this season. ... Nashville RW Craig Smith missed his first game of the season with a lower-body injury. ... Hurricanes D Justin Faulk got his 200th career point. ... Carolina is 13-3-2 when scoring first.

UP NEXT

Hurricanes: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Predators: At the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

Seguin scores 2, Stars blank Blackhawks 4-0 behind Bishop

Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) -- Ken Hitchcock's 800th career win came against one of only two NHL coaches with more.

Tyler Seguin scored two goals in the second period, Ben Bishop earned his 22nd career shutout and the Dallas Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on Thursday night to help Hitchcock reach another milestone.

After the game, he was quickly congratulated by Chicago counterpart Joel Quenneville, who ranks second on the career list with 868 coaching wins.

"Congratulations from Joel means more than anything," Hitchcock said. "We've had so much mutual respect from each other and helped each other along the way when we were both kind of in the down and outs. Coming from him, it means more than the number."

Bishop made 24 saves for his third shutout of the season. Jamie Benn scored the only goal of the first period, and Antoine Roussel scored barely a minute into the second before Seguin's two goals made it 4-0.

"(Hitchcock) has coached so many games, you want to do good for him," Roussel said, "and you want to pick up as many things as you can from him. The details and the preparation from the game make us better."

Dallas had lost its previous three games and Chicago arrived with a five-game winning streak, but the Stars improved to 3-0 against the Blackhawks this season. Dallas moved two points ahead of Chicago in the Central Division.

"The other two were closer. It's tough to lose in overtime or shootout, but tonight we just got embarrassed," Chicago's Brandon Saad said. "These divisional games are huge."

Chicago goalie Corey Crawford stopped 18 shots. He won all five games during the Blackhawks' streak, allowing only seven goals. Crawford hadn't lost in regulation since Nov. 12.

The Blackhawks dominated early. They had the best scoring chance at 11:44 of the first period when Connor Murphy's wrist shot hit Bishop in the chest. On the rebound, the puck sat in the paint with an easy chance for Patrick Kane, but his tap-in hit the right post.

"Get some posts and some big blocks by the guys, especially, we were up 4-0 on the power play and we had four or five blocks," Bishop said.

Quenneville viewed Benn's goal at 17:11 of the first period as a turning point.

"We had a couple of really good looks in the first period. It really hurt us, two posts in the first period that could have put us in a better spot. I thought we lost a lot of gas when they did score," he said.

The Stars blocked 29 shots. Dan Hamhuis led the team with five blocks and had two assists.

Seguin had not scored in eight games, since a two-goal effort at Colorado on Dec. 3.

"It feels good," he said. "Especially when you're in a bit of a slump, get your weight off your shoulders a bit."

Seguin scored on the power play at 5:55 of the second. He picked up a partially blocked shot by Jason Spezza at the left of the net and backhanded the puck past Crawford.

Seguin set up his second goal himself, at 16:14. He dug the puck out of the right corner and passed to Devin Shore. While Shore skated toward the net, Seguin crossed over to the left side and was in position for a short wrist shot when the puck came to him.

NOTES: Kane, who leads Chicago with 34 points in 34 games, had seven points in his previous four games. ... Since ending a 12-game stretch in which they scored only one goal on the power play, the Stars have connected three times in the last four games. ... The Blackhawks are 0 for 15 on the power play in the last five games. ... Nashville (2-1 vs. Chicago) is the only other team with more than one win against the Blackhawks this season. ... Crawford stopped Seguin's bid for a hat trick with less than six minutes to play. ... Benn has seven points (four goals, three assists) in the past seven games.

UP NEXT

Blackhawks: Play on Saturday at New Jersey in the second game of a coast-to-coast-to-coast six-game trip, their longest this season.

Stars: Complete a three-game homestand vs. Nashville on Saturday.

Caggiula's last-minute goal lifts Oilers over Blues, 3-2

Associated Press

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- The Edmonton Oilers are beginning to make up for their early-season struggles.

Drake Caggiula scored with less than a minute remaining and Edmonton won its third straight game for the first time this season, beating the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Thursday night.

Caggiula took a pass in front from behind the net by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and beat goalie Jake Allen with 49.8 seconds left. Michael Cammalleri and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers (16-17-2), who have won four of their last five.

"Big win. We hadn't won three in a row yet this year, which is pretty remarkable. Nice to be able to do that," McDavid said. "It felt a lot like last year - the crowd was into it. We had a lot of opportunities tonight where we could have just folded our hand and gone to sleep. We didn't."

Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot won his sixth consecutive start and agreed that the team seems to be regaining its form.

"You go down by a goal twice against a team like that, a really good defensive team, and are able to battle back - the resiliency on this team right now is at a level that we saw last year," he said. "It is good to see it coming back. When we are playing with that kind of confidence, it is great to see from our group. Hopefully we can continue it."

Tage Thompson and Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues (22-13-2), who have lost three in a row and five of six.

"I thought we played the way we wanted to play, but I thought once we scored, then we totally played on our heels and it became a free-for-all game both ways," St. Louis forward Paul Stastny said. "It seems like whether we're up 1-0 or we're down 1-0, we completely change our game."

The Blues had the best chances in a scoreless first period, outshooting Edmonton 11-5. Edmonton had a good chance midway through the second, but a shot by Darnell Nurse hit a post and slid through the crease under a diving Allen to safety. It was the Oilers' fourth post of the game to that point.

The scoreless deadlock continued through 40 minutes with the shots favoring the Blues 26-19.

Stastny had a glorious opportunity seven minutes into the third when he stole the puck from Talbot behind the net, but the goalie made a desperate leap to prevent the wraparound attempt.

The Blues finally scored with 10:30 left in the third period as Thompson got a shot through traffic past Talbot for his first career goal.

Edmonton tied it 38 seconds later on a wrist shot by Cammalleri.

St. Louis regained the lead with 6:38 left when Berglund scored on a one-timer, but Edmonton tied it again as McDavid waited for Allen to go down before lifting in his 13th goal of the season with 3:41 left.

NOTES: It was the last of three meetings between the teams this season. The Blues won the two previous games by a combined score of 12-4. ... D Andrej Sekera made his season debut for the Oilers, playing for the first time since going down with a knee injury in his team's second-round playoff series against Anaheim last season.

UP NEXT

The Oilers host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

The Blues visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

Brown caps 1,000th game with OT goal, Kings edge Avs 2-1

By STEVE DILBECK
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The team was dragging and maybe Dustin Brown was, too.

The Los Angeles Kings, fresh off an eight-game winning streak, had suddenly lost three of four. And midway through the third period Thursday night, they were in danger of being shut out for the first time this season.

But then Alec Martinez scored from the blue line and the Kings turned to Brown, playing his 1,000th NHL game. His goal 44 seconds into overtime gave Los Angeles a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

"It was fitting. Almost poetic justice," Kings coach John Stevens said. "It was really, really nice to see him get the winning goal in that situation.

"The accolades and the compliments you give Brownie, I don't think you can overdo it."

It was the 13th goal of the season for Brown, one shy of his total from last season and two more than he'd managed in the two previous seasons.

Many, if not most, thought Brown's career had ebbed three years ago. Now age 33, few anticipated a revival.

"I think Brownie deserves credit for what's happened," Stevens said. "He came in ready to go. There's nothing given in this game - it's earned.

"I think he got off track there a little bit, but he was honest with what kind of player he wanted to be and was willing to do the work to become that kind of player again. I know a lot of people are surprised, but I'm not surprised."

The Avalanche had won four of their last six and outplayed the Kings for most of the night, but were clinging to just a 1-0 lead. Gabriel Landeskog put Colorado ahead midway through the second period, whistling in a wrist shot from beyond the circle.

"I liked the way we played tonight," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We were patient. They made a couple of pushes and we did a good job of weathering the storm."

Martinez's long goal against Semyon Varlamov found its way through traffic to the back of the net.

"They throw it to the net from a point that has eyes and finds its way through a crowd," Bednar said.

The goal gave a lethargic-looking Kings team life. Suddenly they began attacking and playing with more confidence, the approach paying off when Brown skated down the far side and rifled his shot past Varlamov.

"The big picture was really nice. Probably for me, a memory," Brown said. "We didn't play very good. But good teams find a way to win when maybe they shouldn't."

Varlamov made 25 saves, including several outstanding stops for Colorado.

"I thought we played very well today defensively," he said. "We just didn't score. If we scored a second goal I think we win this game. But LA is a really good team playing at home. They never give up."

It was the 10th time this season the Kings won after allowing the first goal, a league best.

And this time Brown won it on his milestone night.

"I can't say enough about Brownie," Martinez said. "He's been an unbelievable leader and a huge part of this organization ever since he was drafted when he was 18.

"He's been through a lot in this organization and had a lot of ups and downs, but he's never wavered."

NOTES: Brown has played his entire career with the Kings. Dave Taylor (1,111 games) is the only other player to have played his first 1,000 games for Los Angeles. . Landeskog's goal was his 14th of the season. He trails Nathan MacKinnon by one for the team lead. ... Jonathan Quick stopped 31 shots for the Kings.

UP NEXT

Avalanche: End their two-game road trip Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes.

Kings: Travel to San Jose to play the Sharks on Saturday.

Brown caps 1,000th game with OT goal, Kings edge Avs 2-1

By STEVE DILBECK
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The team was dragging and maybe Dustin Brown was, too.

The Los Angeles Kings, fresh off an eight-game winning streak, had suddenly lost three of four. And midway through the third period Thursday night, they were in danger of being shut out for the first time this season.

But then Alec Martinez scored from the blue line and the Kings turned to Brown, playing his 1,000th NHL game. His goal 44 seconds into overtime gave Los Angeles a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

"It was fitting. Almost poetic justice," Kings coach John Stevens said. "It was really, really nice to see him get the winning goal in that situation.

"The accolades and the compliments you give Brownie, I don't think you can overdo it."

It was the 13th goal of the season for Brown, one shy of his total from last season and two more than he'd managed in the two previous seasons.

Many, if not most, thought Brown's career had ebbed three years ago. Now age 33, few anticipated a revival.

"I think Brownie deserves credit for what's happened," Stevens said. "He came in ready to go. There's nothing given in this game - it's earned.

"I think he got off track there a little bit, but he was honest with what kind of player he wanted to be and was willing to do the work to become that kind of player again. I know a lot of people are surprised, but I'm not surprised."

The Avalanche had won four of their last six and outplayed the Kings for most of the night, but were clinging to just a 1-0 lead. Gabriel Landeskog put Colorado ahead midway through the second period, whistling in a wrist shot from beyond the circle.

"I liked the way we played tonight," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We were patient. They made a couple of pushes and we did a good job of weathering the storm."

Martinez's long goal against Semyon Varlamov found its way through traffic to the back of the net.

"They throw it to the net from a point that has eyes and finds its way through a crowd," Bednar said.

The goal gave a lethargic-looking Kings team life. Suddenly they began attacking and playing with more confidence, the approach paying off when Brown skated down the far side and rifled his shot past Varlamov.

"The big picture was really nice. Probably for me, a memory," Brown said. "We didn't play very good. But good teams find a way to win when maybe they shouldn't."

Varlamov made 25 saves, including several outstanding stops for Colorado.

"I thought we played very well today defensively," he said. "We just didn't score. If we scored a second goal I think we win this game. But LA is a really good team playing at home. They never give up."

It was the 10th time this season the Kings won after allowing the first goal, a league best.

And this time Brown won it on his milestone night.

"I can't say enough about Brownie," Martinez said. "He's been an unbelievable leader and a huge part of this organization ever since he was drafted when he was 18.

"He's been through a lot in this organization and had a lot of ups and downs, but he's never wavered."

NOTES: Brown has played his entire career with the Kings. Dave Taylor (1,111 games) is the only other player to have played his first 1,000 games for Los Angeles. . Landeskog's goal was his 14th of the season. He trails Nathan MacKinnon by one for the team lead. ... Jonathan Quick stopped 31 shots for the Kings.

UP NEXT

Avalanche: End their two-game road trip Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes.

Kings: Travel to San Jose to play the Sharks on Saturday.

Labanc's goal in OT gives Sharks 5-4 win over Canucks

By GIDEON RUBIN
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Less than two months removed from a stint in the minors, Kevin Labanc is getting ice time on San Jose's top line and power play.

Showing he belongs, too.

Labanc scored 1:53 into overtime and had three assists as the Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 on Thursday night.

"If you're on the power play, on the first unit, you've got to produce - whether it be shooting pucks, getting chances - you've got to do something when you're on there," Labanc said.

Joe Thornton scored twice for San Jose and added an assist as he moved past Doug Gilmour for 18th place on the NHL list with 1,416 career points.

Labanc's fourth goal of the season came off an assist from Tomas Hertl, and the Sharks improved to 4-1-2 over their last seven games.

"You've got to experience the downs and then learn how to get out of them, keep a good head on your shoulders and keep working," Labanc said.

The Canucks are 1-6-1 in their last eight games, with the lone win during that span coming against San Jose on Dec. 15.

Vancouver trailed 4-3 before Daniel Sedin scored at 2:09 of the third period to tie it. The Canucks rallied from a 3-1 deficit.

Jake Virtanen scored to bring Vancouver within a goal at 8:49 of the second, and Brock Boeser tied the game at 16:02.

Boeser's goal was his 19th of the season and eighth in 11 games.

"A point's big, but we definitely feel we could've won that game," Boeser said. "Obviously, we need to clean up some special teams there."

Hertl scored on a 5-on-3 power play with 1:04 left in the second to give the Sharks a 4-3 lead.

San Jose trailed 1-0 before Thornton tied Gilmour with a goal at 11:52 of the first period. The Sharks took a 2-1 lead at 5:20 of the second when Timo Meier scored his fifth goal.

"I think we found a way to win," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "It wasn't a perfect game. There were a lot of good areas. Our special teams were really good, but obviously we don't like getting into shootouts like that and giving up four goals. But it's that time of year and you're dealing with some injuries.

"There's no style points. We got two points in an important game and that's what mattered."

Brendan Gaunce scored the game's first goal at 1:58 of the first period on a play Virtanen started with a backhand pass to trailer Erik Gudbranson. He fired a shot that Gaunce redirected for his first goal of the season.

Late in the first period, defenseman Michael De Zotto saved a goal when he cleared a puck that got past goalie Jacob Markstrom inches from the net.

The Sharks dominated on special teams, scoring on three of five power plays while blanking Vancouver on four tries.

"I loved the way we played tonight, minus our penalty killing," Canucks coach Travis Green said.

"You score four goals on the road, you come back a couple of times, that's the kind of game we want to play. If we play that way every night we're going to be fine."

NOTES: Canucks D Ben Hutton was a healthy scratch. RW Nikolay Goldobin, a former Shark, also was scratched. ... Sharks D Paul Martin had a setback in his recovery from ankle surgery. The injury isn't a recurrence of the same injury. Martin has been on injured reserve since Oct. 12. There is no timetable for his return. ... C Logan Couture, out with a concussion he suffered against the Canucks last week, missed his second game. ... The Sharks recalled forwards Marcus Sorenson and Danny O'Regan from the AHL.

UP NEXT

Canucks: Host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.

Sharks: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

NHL Morning Skate – Dec. 21, 2017

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

COLUMBUS 4, Toronto 2
PHILADELPHIA 4, Detroit 3
CALGARY 2, St. Louis 1

COUTURIER LIFTS FLYERS TO VICTORY IN BACK-AND-FORTH AFFAIR

The Flyers (15-12-7, 37 points) tied the game twice in the second period before Sean Couturier (1-0—1) broke a third-period deadlock to lead Philadelphia to its seventh win in the last eight contests.

* Couturier (16-15—31 in 34 GP) scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season to eclipse his single-season career high of 15 established in 2014-15 (82 GP). He also sits eight points shy of matching his career high for points in a single season (39), accomplished in 2013-14 (82 GP) and matched in 2015-16 (63 GP).

* Brian Elliott has started nine consecutive games in goal for the Flyers, posting a 7-2-0 record with a 2.11 goals-against average and .926 save percentage over that span.

* Robert Hagg – who was selected in the second round (41st overall) by the Flyers in the 2013 NHL Draft – became the third Flyers player (also Travis Sanheim and Nolan Patrick) to score his first career NHL goal this season.

OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE HELPS TEAMS CLIMB STANDINGS

The Blue Jackets (21-13-1, 43 points) and Flames (18-14-3, 39 points) each had defensemen play crucial roles in their home victories:

* Seth Jones (1-1—2), who leads all Blue Jackets defensemen with 6-13—19 in 35 GP this season, found the back of the net for the second straight game and the third time in his last four contests to help the Blue Jackets improve to 8-2-0 in their last 10 games at Nationwide Arena and move within two points of the idle Capitals (22-12-1, 45 points) for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

* Dougie Hamilton, who ranks second among Flames defensemen with 4-12—16 in 35 GP, scored at 7:57 of the third period to break a 1-1 tie and help the Flames leapfrog the idle Sharks (17-11-4, 38 points) into third place in the Pacific Division.

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION

DIVISIONAL RACES TAKE CENTER STAGE

Thursday’s 10-game schedule is highlighted by five games between teams from the same division, with four of those contests featuring clubs within six standings points of each other:

* In the Central Division, two teams tied in terms of points face off when the Blackhawks (17-11-5, 39 points) visit the Stars (18-14-3, 39 points) at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Chicago, whose current season-high five-game winning streak is the longest active stretch in the League, looks to win at least six straight contests for the first time since 2016-17 (7-0-0 from Feb. 19 – Mar. 4).

* In the Metropolitan Division, where teams Nos. 2 – 7 are separated by just six points, the No. 2 Devils (19-9-5, 43 points) host the No. 4 Rangers (19-12-3, 41 points) at Prudential Center and the No. 3 Blue Jackets (21-13-1, 43 points) visit the No. 7 Penguins (17-15-3, 37 points) at PPG Paints Arena.

* Separated by four points in the Pacific Division, the Canucks (15-16-4, 34 points) visit the Sharks (17-11-4, 38 points) at SAP Center in San Jose. Forward Brock Boeser leads the Canucks and all rookies in goals and points (18-14—32 in 32 GP) while Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has produced 5-5—10 in his last six games, including five multi-point outings.

* In an Atlantic Division clash, the League-leading Lightning (24-7-2, 50 points), who own an 8-2-0 record in their last 10 contests, host the Senators (11-14-7, 29 points), who have won two of their last three games. Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov – who leads the NHL in goals (tied) and points with 23-25—48 in 33 GP – enters the contest on a five-game point streak (4-4—8).