DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz each had two goals and an assist as the Dallas Stars beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 on Friday night.
Rookie Oskar Back also scored and Jake Oettinger made 26 saves for the Stars, who have won four straight games.
Conor Garland, Jake DeBrusk and Carson Soucy scored for the Canucks, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Thatcher Demko stopped 11 shots in his first career regulation loss to the Stars (7-1-1).
Four goals were scored in the final four minutes, including two empty-netters by Dallas.
Robertson put Dallas ahead 2-1 with 3:31 left in the second period after Garland tied the score at 5:08.
Hintz scored early in the third period and again on a short-handed empty netter for a 4-1 lead, giving him a team-best 22 goals.
Robertson has 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in his last 19 games.
SABRES 4, PREDATORS 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jiri Kulich scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 2:04 left, and Buffalo overcame blowing a two-goal lead for a win over Nashville.
Jason Zucker and Ryan McLeod also scored for the Sabres in an outing they allowed three straight goals after building a 2-0 first-period lead. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 28 shots.
Brady Skjei had a goal and an assist for Nashville, which has dropped three straight since enjoying a five-game win streak. Luke Evangelista and Tommy Novak also scored for Nashville and Justus Annunen stopped 23 shots.
Zucker tied the game at 3 by deflecting in Alex Tuch’s centering pass with 7:34 left in the second period. Tage Thompson set up Kulich on the winner by hitting the brakes at the right point. His pass hit Kulich on the fly up the left wing, where he beat Annunen on the short side.
Rasmus Dahlin set up two goals to move ahead of Mike Ramsey for second among Sabres defensemen with 257 assists, and tie Ramsey for second for most career points (329) among Buffalo blue-liners.
AVALANCHE 5, BLUES 0
DENVER (AP) — Jonathan Drouin had two goals and an assist, Mackenzie Blackwood had 19 saves, and Colorado used a four-goal first period to beat St. Louis.
Martin Necas scored his first goal with Colorado since he and Jack Drury were acquired from Carolina for pending unrestricted free agent Mikko Rantanen on Jan. 24. They made their home debuts after playing their first three games on the road. Necas scored his 17th of the season 7:39 into the game.
Drouin scored at 4:57 of the first and added a power-play goal later in the first period that made it 3-0. Cale Makar capped the four-goal period with his third in the past three games. He leads all defensemen with 19 and is second in points with 57.
Joel Kiviranta capped the shutout at 13:21 of the third period.
Joel Hofer made 31 saves for St. Louis, which has dropped four in a row and five of its last six games.
BLUE JACKETS 3, UTAH 2, OT
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Zach Werenski scored on a breakaway 1:01 into overtime and Columbus beat Utah.
Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson scored in the third period to rally Columbus from a two-goal deficit. Danil Tarasov stopped 34 shots.
Nick Schmaltz and Alexander Kerfoot scored for Utah and Clayton Keller assisted on both goals. Karel Vejmelka finished with 20 saves as Utah lost its second straight in overtime and fourth in a row overall.
In the extra period, Cole Sillinger swiped the puck from Barrett Hayton and passed to Werenski, who snapped the puck past Vejmelka’s outstretched stick.
Schmaltz tapped in the puck at the tail end of a power play, putting Utah on the board 41 seconds into the second period. Utah extended its lead to 2-0 when Kerfoot scored on a long-distance wrist shot 29 seconds into the third.
Marchenko got Columbus withing one at 6:25 after snapping in the puck from close range. Johnson tied it with 8:18 left.
The Associated Press
