Lightning make Point in OT win
Brayden Point scored 2:49 into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 5-4 victory against the Florida Panthers last night in Tampa.
Yanni Gourde scored twice and finished with three points for the Lightning, who reached overtime for the sixth consecutive game. J.T. Miller added his 15th of the season, second with the Lightning. Gourde tied the single-season franchise rookie record with his 24th of the season, matching Tyler Johnson.
Nick Bjugstad had his first career hat trick for the Pan- thers, and Aleksander Barkov finished with three assists.
Florida erased a two-goal deficit to start the third period on goals from Bjugstad and a power-play goal by Vincent Trocheck at 5:25 to send the game to overtime.
Devils 6, Canadiens 4 — In Newark, N.J., Taylor Hall extended his point-scoring streak to 19 games, Travis Zajac scored two power-play goals and New Jersey snapped a three-game skid with a win against Montreal.
Hall’s consecutive-points streak is the longest in the NHL this season. Hall, who had two assists, has recorded points in his past 26 appearances dating to Jan. 2. He missed three games before the All-Star break with a thumb injury during that span.
Blue Jackets 4, Golden Knights 1 — Joonas Korpisalo stopped 37 shots, Artemi Panarin and Pierre Luc-Dubois had a goal and two assists, and host Columbus beat Vegas.
Zach Werenski and Ian Cole also scored for the Blue Jackets, winners of two straight and four of their past six. The victory helped Columbus hold onto the second wild card in the Eastern Division with 15 games remaining.
Jets 3, Rangers 0 — Patrik Laine got his fourth career hat trick and set a career high with his 38th goal, lifting Winnipeg past host New York.
The 19-year-old star is now two goals behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead this season.
Wild 6, Hurricanes 2 — In St. Paul, Minn., Eric Staal scored two goals, and Minnesota cruised past Carolina. Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves for his fifth win in his past six starts, and the Wild raised their home record to an NHL-leading 24-5-6.
Predators 2, Stars 0 — Pekka Rinne stopped 26 shots, Ryan Hartman scored at 5:33 of the third period and host Nashville beat the Dallas for a franchise-record ninth straight victory. Rinne recorded his seventh shutout this season and is 17-1-1 in his past 19 games.
Blackhawks 2, Avalanche 1 — Jonathan Toews scored nine seconds into overtime and had an assist in regulation to lead host Chicago past Colorado.
Ducks 4, Capitals 0 — John Gibson made 36 saves for his 14th career shutout, Rickard Rakell scored for the fourth straight game and Anaheim extended its home point streak to nine games with a win against Washington.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser will likely miss the remainder of the season after the team said he will be out 4-6 weeks with a back injury. The star rookie leads all NHL rookies with 29 goals . . . .
Jonathan Cheechoo, who won the Rocket Richard Trophy for leading the NHL with 56 goals in 2005-06 with the San Jose Sharks, retired from hockey after playing seven NHL seasons and four years in Russia.