NHL Roundup: William Nylander Lifts Leafs Past Flyers in OT

The Toronto Maple Leafs players celebrate the win after right wing William Nylander (88) (not pictured) scored the winning goal against the Philadelphia Flyers during the overtime period at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Feb. 15, 2024. Nick Turchiaro/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

William Nylander scored 54 seconds into overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 4–3 on Thursday night.

Nylander, who also had an assist, scored his 27th goal of the season to save the win after Philadelphia tied the score with two third-period goals.

Auston Matthews had his fifth hat trick of the season for Toronto to improve his league-leading total to 45 goals. Mitchell Marner added three assists and Timothy Liljegren had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who have won two in a row. Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves.

Travis Sanheim, Garnet Hathaway and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers, who had a four-game winning streak end.

Lightning 6, Avalanche 3

NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov extended his point streak to 10 games with two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist as Tampa Bay topped visiting Colorado.

Kucherov gave his club its final lead when he finished a backhanded pass by Brayden Point for his 36th goal at 8:13 of the third period to break a 3–3 tie.

Colorado’s Bowen Byram scored twice and Artturi Lehkonen added a goal and an assist. Nathan MacKinnon notched two assists to bring his point total to 89—four behind Kucherov. Colorado finished 1–4–1 on its six-game road trip.

Panthers 4, Sabres 0

Anthony Stolarz made 45 saves, and Florida extended its road winning streak to 10 games with a shutout of Buffalo. Florida is 8–1–0 in its last nine games. Thursday’s win combined with Boston’s loss moved the Panthers into a tie with the Bruins for first place (74 points) in the Eastern Conference.

Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals, Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist and Gustav Forsling had two assists. Ryan Lomberg scored Florida’s other goal.

Buffalo outshot Florida by a 45–31 margin, but Stolarz delivered a standout performance for his first shutout of the season. The Sabres are 1–3–0 in their last four games and were shut out for the fourth time this season. Rasmus Dahlin led all Buffalo skaters with eight shots.

Canucks 4, Red Wings 1

Elias Lindholm scored twice and Elias Pettersson had three assists as Vancouver became the first team to hit the 80-point mark this season with a win over visiting Detroit.

J.T. Miller and Nikita Zadorov also scored goals for Vancouver, which improved to 19–4–2 at home. The Canucks also extended their lead in the Pacific Division to 12 points over the second-place Vegas Golden Knights.

Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for his league-leading 30th win of the season (30–9–1). Demko improved to 18–2–1 in his past 21 starts.

Stars 9, Predators 2

Matt Duchene had two goals against his former team and Dallas cruised past host Nashville.

Wyatt Johnston had two goals and two assists for the Stars, who are 10–2–1 in their past 13 games. Tyler Seguin and Ty Dellandrea each had a goal and two assists for Dallas.

Cole Smith and Tommy Novak scored for the Predators, who completed a 1–3 homestand. Juuse Saros was lifted after allowing four goals in the first period. Kevin Lankinen stopped 18 of 23 shots.

Kraken 4, Bruins 1

A pair of Massachusetts natives led the way as visiting Seattle defeated Boston. Hingham’s Matty Beniers had a goal and two assists while North Andover’s Joey Daccord stopped 36 of the 37 shots he faced to lead Seattle in its second straight win since a three-game skid.

Jordan Eberle, Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann also scored for the Kraken, who were completing a five-game road stretch.

David Pastrnak scored his team-leading 34th goal of the season and Jeremy Swayman made 22 stops for Boston, which is 1–3–1 on its current seven-game homestand.

Kings 2, Devils 1

Quinton Byfield scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:37 remaining in the third period and Los Angeles rebounded from an embarrassing loss to win in Newark, N.J.

On a power play with the game tied 1–1, Los Angeles’ Brandt Clarke sent the puck into some net-front traffic from the point. Positioned well was Byfield, who has five goals and four assists in his past seven games, to initially deflect it off Devils goalie Nico Daws, then fight to put in the rebound for the Kings’ lead.

Anze Kopitar scored a short-handed goal and David Rittich was stout when needed while making 26 saves for Los Angeles, which won for the third time in four games (the only loss being a 7–0 setback at Buffalo on Tuesday).

Rangers 7, Canadiens 4

Chris Kreider scored twice in the second period and finished his sixth career hat trick with 12:01 left in the third as New York extended its winning streak to six games with a victory over visiting Montreal.

The Rangers matched their longest winning streak of the season by dominating the latter portion of the second after losing right wing Blake Wheeler to a scary right leg injury with about nine minutes left in the first.

Jake Evans and Juraj Slafkovsky scored before Cole Caufield tallied twice in the third for the Canadiens, who allowed seven or more goals for the third time this season.

Sharks 6, Flames 3

Filip Zadina scored twice in a career-best, four-point game and Luke Kunin added two goals as San Jose won in Calgary.

Justin Bailey collected one goal and two assists, his first career multipoint game, while Mikael Granlund added a goal for the Sharks, who sit next to last in the NHL standings and snapped a two-game losing skid (0–1–1).

Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund and Andrei Kuzmenko scored for the Flames, who have dropped two straight outings. Chris Tanev logged two assists, and goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 25 shots.

Ducks 5, Senators 1

Cam Fowler and Frank Vatrano each had a goal and two assists for visiting Anaheim, which won at Ottawa after losing its previous two games by a combined score of 10–3.

Anaheim goaltender John Gibson stopped all 15 shots he faced before leaving after the second period with an upper-body injury. Lukas Dostal relieved him and stopped 18 of 19 shots in the third period.

Claude Giroux scored and Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves for the Senators, who had their season-long four-game winning streak snapped.

Blues 6, Oilers 3

Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas had a goal and two assists each as St. Louis defeated visiting Edmonton.

Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich and Torey Krug had a goal and an assist each as the Blues won for the eighth time in their last 10 games to stay in the Western Conference playoff chase.

Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Corey Perry scored and Connor McDavid had three assists for the Oilers, who suffered just their third loss in 21 games.

Penguins 4, Blackhawks 1

Sidney Crosby scored twice and Rickard Rakell and Marcus Pettersson had two assists apiece to back a solid effort from goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic as visiting Pittsburgh topped slumping Chicago.

It’s Crosby’s 12th career season with at least 30 goals, tied for the 11th most in NHL history.

The return of rookie leading scorer Connor Bedard couldn’t propel the Blackhawks, who lost their season-worst eighth straight game.