NHL Recaps: Rangers top Flames in wild affairs, Panthers pound Bolts and more

February 6, 2023; New York, New York, United States; New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba (8) battles with Calgary Flames center Dillon Dube (29) after Trouba hit Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri (not pictured) in the second period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

NHL recaps: February 6, 2023

The league returned from the All-Star Break with six action-packed games.

All-Star MVP Matthew Tkachuk continued his hot scoring with three points in a Florida Panthers 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Bo Horvat had 4 shots but no points as the New York Islanders passed the Philadelphia Flyers.

In Dallas, the Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout and the Minnesota Wild fell to the Arizona Coyotes on the road.

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Devils outlasted the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers beat the Calgary Flames in a ferocious contest.

NHL recaps: Rangers outperform Flames

Rangers 5 vs Flames 4 (OT)

Alexis Lafreniere scored the winner in extra time and Mika Zibanejad scored twice in a three-point display to put hosts New York past Calgary.

“It was a hard slap shot [by Zibanejad], and I thought it was going in,” Lafreniere said via NHL.com. “And then I see it coming forward again. I was a bit behind the net, just braked, sprinted on it and tried to score.”

Filip Chytil netted twice and Artemi Panarin racked up two assists for Rangers while Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves. Captain Jacob Trouba laid down two massive clean hits on the opposing Flames’ skaters, answering calls to fight both times.

Blake Coleman and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist for the Flames, while Tyler Toffoli and Michael Stone scored once each. Mikael Backlund had two assists and Jacob Markstrom had 28 stops.

Islanders 2 vs. Flyers 1

Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal each scored, and New York defeated hosts Philadelphia in the first game for both teams after the All-Star break.

Bo Horvat, who had four shots on goal on his Islanders debut, helped New York win their third straight game. Horvat came into a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 30. Islanders goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves.

Nicolas Deslauriers scored the only goal for the Flyers, who made 28 saves from Carter Hart. Philadelphia lost for the fourth time in five games (1-2-2).

Devils 5 vs. Canucks 4 (OT)

Jesper Bratt scored a power play goal with 42 seconds left on Monday night for the New Jersey Devils, who squandered a three-goal lead in the second period before beating the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 in Newark, NJ

“It wasn’t our A-game,” Bratt said. “At the same time we showed great character when we came back and found a way to win.”

Andrei Kuzmenko was booed for hooking Bratt with 1:19 left to build the game-winning man’s advantage. Bratt, stationed in the faceoff right circle, took a no-look pass from Jack Hughes and fired a shot well past Canucks goalie Collin Delia’s glove.

Hughes and Ondrej Palat each scored two goals for the Devils, who scored three within 50 seconds midway through the second period. Dougie Hamilton had three assists and Hughes also enjoyed a three-point game.

Luke Schenn had a goal and an assist, and Kuzmenko, Curtis Lazar and Phillip Di Giuseppe also scored for the Canucks, who played in the All-Star break for the first time since captain Bo Horvat left for the New York Islanders. Delia recorded 29 saves.

NHL recaps: Panthers pound bolts

February 6, 2023; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) scores against Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) in the second period at the FLA Live Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Panther 7 vs Lightning 1

Matthew Tkachuk scored a five-point outing as Florida returned from the All-Star break to crush rival Tampa Bay in Sunrise, Fla.

“I’m tired now, it’s definitely a long weekend,” Tkachuk said via NHL.com. “But I had an unreal time this weekend and then nothing better than to come back and see the lads again. We are looking forward to the last really good home straight to the end of the year, and that started tonight.”

Carter Verhaeghe added two goals and two assists and Sam Bennett had a goal and two assists for Florida. Panthers goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves, but captain Aleksander Barkov was injured in the second half after blocking a shot and didn’t return. Florida’s Paul Maurice became the sixth NHL coach to have 800 wins.

The Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov scored while Andrei Vasilevskiy conceded seven goals with 49 shots. Fourth row left winger Vladislav Namestnikov skated in his 600th game. Tampa Bay ended on a three-game winning streak.

Stars 3 vs Ducks 2 (SO)

Jake Oettinger made 32 saves and stopped Adam Henrique to end a shootout and give Dallas a win over visiting Anaheim.

Nils Lundkvist and Roope Hintz scored by rule for the Stars, who had all lost their last three games in overtime. Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg and Henrique collected goals in the third period to force overtime. John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, who had won three in a row.

The Ducks scored their goals in the third period, 1:26 apart to level the score. Silfverberg tipped over with a point shot from Kevin Shattenkirk to cut the lead to 2-1 at 11:04. Henrique scored with a wristshot from the slot to make it 2-2 at 12:30pm.

Jamie Benn played in his 1,000th career game since being drafted by the Dallas Stars in the fifth round of the 2007 draft.

Coyotes 3 vs Wild 2

Arizona came from behind with two goals in the third period and Karel Vejmelka stopped 33 shots to beat Minnesota in Tempe, Ariz.

Jakob Chychrun scored twice for the Coyotes, and Jack McBain scored at 13:13 of the final period to win the game. Karel Vejmelka stopped 33 shots for the win as Arizona improved to 3-1-1 in their last five games.

Kirill Kaprizov and Jonas Brodin scored for the Wild, who had won twice in a row. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 33 saves.

–Field level media

–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article

Source: www.thedailygoalhorn.com