NHL roundup: Zacha scores in OT as surging Bruins rally past Flyers

Boston Bruins' Trent Frederic (11) scores past Philadelphia Flyers goalie Aleksei Kolosov during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Jim Davis)

BOSTON (AP) — Pavel Zacha scored 2:49 into overtime, and the Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Saturday for their fourth straight National Hockey League victory.

Boston’s Brad Marchand tied it with 5:22 left in regulation. Trent Frederic had the other two goals for Boston, which is 7-2 since interim coach Joe Sacco took over for fired bench boss Jim Montgomery.

Zacha scored the winner after Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman stopped Joel Farabee’s breakaway seconds earlier.

Rookie Matvei Michkov scored two first-period goals for Philadelphia in its second straight loss. Cam York also scored, and Travis Sanheim had two assists.

Coming off a frustrating loss against Florida when they gave up a season-high seven goals, the Flyers blew a third-period lead for the second game in a row.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:

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UTAH 5 SABRES 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Michael Kesselring had a goal and an assist to help Utah beat the sliding Buffalo Sabres 5-2.

Nick Schmaltz, Jack McBain, and Kevin Stenlund also scored for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves.

Kesselring and Mikhail Sergachev scored 24 seconds apart in the second period, lifting Utah to a 2-1 lead. It was Kesselring’s fourth of the season and No. 7 on the year for Sergachev.

Rookie Tyson Kozak scored his first NHL goal and Jiri Kulich also scored for the Sabres who are winless in six straight games (0-4-2). Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves.

Buffalo’s six-game winless streak is its longest since it lost eight straight games in November 2022.

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JETS 4 BLACKHAWKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Mark Scheifele snapped a third-period tie and Kyle Connor had two assists, helping Winnipeg beat Chicago 4-2 in the first game for interim Blackhawks coach Anders Sorensen.

Mason Appleton had a goal and an assist as the Jets picked up their second straight win after a four-game losing streak. Nino Niederreiter and Gabriel Vilardi also scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 12 saves.

Sorensen was promoted from the team’s top minor league affiliate when Luke Richardson was fired on Thursday.

Alex Vlasic scored for the second straight game for Chicago, which has dropped five in a row. Alec Martinez added his first goal of the season.

The Blackhawks had a 2-1 lead before Niederreiter converted a backhander 13:10 into the second, beating Arvid Soderblom. It was Niederreiter’s 10th of the season.

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ISLANDERS 4 PANTHERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Jean Gabriel-Pageau had a goal and two assists, Bo Horvat snapped a 13-game scoring drought and the New York Islanders beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday.

Maxim Tsyplakov had a goal and an assist, and Oliver Wahlstrom also scored to help the Islanders snap a two-game skid and win for the second time in seven games (2-3-2). Ilya Sorokin finished with 28 saves.

Andrei Svechnikov had two goals, Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored, and Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists as the Hurricanes lost for the fourth time in five games. Pyotr Kochetkov made 21 saves.

Svechnikov got his second power-play goal of the game at 9:23 of the second to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead.

Wahlstrom evened the score at 2-2 less than a minute later. Tsyplakov put the Islanders ahead for good with 3:44 to go in the period, and Horvat made it a two-goal lead 2:39 later.

Kotkaniemi pulled the Hurricanes within one in the final minute of the third.

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CAPITALS 4 CANADIENS 2

MONTREAL (AP) — Tom Wilson scored twice in the third period and Washington rallied to beat Montreal.

Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome also scored to help the Capitals come back from a 2-0 deficit. Aliaksei Protas had two assists and Logan Thompson finished with 22 saves to help Metropolitan Division-leading Washington get its ninth straight road win and extend its points streak to 6-0-1.

Alex Newhook and Cole Caufield scored five minutes apart to in the first period for Montreal, which had won two straight. Sam Montembault finished with 31 saves.

Dubois got Washington on the scoreboard just 30 seconds into the second period. Wilson scored the tying goal at 7:10 of the third and then put the Capitals ahead with 8:12 remaining. Strome’s power-play goal 1:59 later sealed the win.

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SENATORS 3 PREDATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Claude Giroux, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Nick Cousins scored, and Ottawa beat Nashville 3-1.

Tim Stutzle had two assists for Ottawa in its second straight win. Linus Ullmark made 37 saves.

Nashville dropped to 0-4-3 during a seven-game slide.

The Senators went ahead to stay with two goals in the second.

Bernard-Docker got a pass from Stutzle and wristed a shot from the faceoff circle that beat Juuse Saros for his first of the season. Giroux made it 2-0 when his shot deflected off the skate of Nashville’s Steven Stamkos at 16:52.

Saros stopped 27 shots.

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AVALANCHE 2 RED WINGS 1

DETROIT (AP) — Valeri Nichushkin scored his third goal in two games, Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves and Colorado beat slumping Detroit.

Cale Makar scored on the power play for Colorado. Makar leads all NHL defencemen with 35 points (nine goals, 26 assists) in 28 games.

Lucas Raymond scored his eighth goal in the last nine games for Detroit, which has lost five straight — all by a single goal. Ville Husso made 23 saves.

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PENGUINS 5 MAPLE LEAFS 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Michael Bunting scored a third-period power-play goal that gave Pittsburgh the lead for good in a win over Toronto.

Rickard Rakell also scored a power-play goal while Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Blake Lizotte and Kris Letang added short-handed empty-net goals in the final minute.

Letang now has the 23rd-most points among defencemen in NHL history, while Lizotte established a career-high with a four-game point streak.

Sidney Crosby finished with an assist and tied Gordie Howe for fifth-most assists with one franchise in league history. Rust surpassed Mark Recchi for 16th on the team’s career points list.

Tristan Jarry stopped 25 shots for his fourth straight win.

William Nylander scored a power-play goal while Mitch Marner scored his 10th of the season and added an assist for Toronto. Marner, who has points in eight straight road games, has scored nine goals and 31 points in his last 20 games.

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OILERS 4 BLUES 2

EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 for their second straight win.

Corey Perry, Zach Hyman and Troy Stecher also scored, and Leon Draisaitl had two assists for the Oilers, who have won five of their last six. Stuart Skinner stopped 29 shots.

Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours had goals for the Blues, who snapped a two-game win streak. St. Louis also lost in regulation for the first time in six games (4-1-1) under coach Jim Montgomery. Jordan Binnington had 17 saves.

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The Associated Press

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