EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid had two assists and the streaking Edmonton Oilers overcame an early goal by rookie Connor Bedard to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Tuesday night in the first NHL matchup between the young stars.
Sam Gagner had a goal and an assist in the highly anticipated Clash of the Connors, helping the Oilers (13-12-1) win their eighth game in a row. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman also scored for Edmonton, and defenseman Evan Bouchard added a pair of assists.
Bedard gave the banged-up Blackhawks (9-18-1) a 1-0 lead with his 12th goal 3:21 into the first period, but Chicago lost its seventh consecutive road game.
McDavid was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2015, and Bedard was selected first this past summer.
RED WINGS 6, BLUES 4
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lucas Raymond and Robby Fabbri scored in the third period to lift Detroit over scuffling St. Louis.
Soon after their season-worst fourth straight loss, the Blues (13-14-1) fired coach Craig Berube, who guided them to their only Stanley Cup championship in 2019.
The 57-year-old Berube, in his sixth season with St. Louis, had a record of 206-131-44. Drew Bannister, coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League, takes over as interim coach.
Moritz Seider, Jake Walman, Jonatan Berggren and Michael Rasmussen also had goals for the Red Wings, who were 0-2-1 in their previous three games.
Ville Husso (9-4-2) stopped 33 shots in his first game against the Blues since they traded him to Detroit in July 2022.
Kevin Hayes scored twice for the Blues, who also got goals from Marco Scandella and Brandon Saad. St. Louis has lost five of six overall.
Jordan Binnington made 26 saves and fell to 8-9-1.
MAPLE LEAFS 7, RANGERS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner each scored twice, and veteran Martin Jones made 28 saves in his first start for Toronto as the surging Maple Leafs beat New York.
Matthews added two assists and the Maple Leafs also got goals from Conor Timmins, Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf in improving to 5-0-2 in their last seven games.
Toronto led 4-1 after 20 minutes but New York scored twice late in the second period to narrow the deficit to one. Marner got his second of the night on a power play early in the third, and the Maple Leafs put it away with two late goals.
Blake Wheeler scored twice and Mika Zibanejad had a power-play goal for the Rangers, who lost for the third time in four games.
PENGUINS 4, COYOTES 2
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel both scored twice and Pittsburgh’s beleaguered power play finally broke through against Arizona.
The Penguins scored twice with the man advantage while ending an 0-for-37 drought that stretched over a month.
Guentzel scored the team's first power-play goal in 31 days when he beat Carter Ingram just over a minute into the game. Guentzel added an empty-netter from his belly to seal it.
Carter deflected Kris Letang’s point shot past Ingram 4:32 into the third to give Pittsburgh the lead for good as the Penguins ended a four-game losing streak. Carter, relegated to the fourth line in his 19th season, scored the 20th short-handed goal of his career in the first period.
Tristan Jarry made 19 saves as the Penguins pulled away from the Coyotes, playing for the third time in four nights on the road.
Lawson Crouse scored his 13th of the season for Arizona and added an assist on Matias Maccelli’s power-play goal. Ingram stopped 40 shots but the Coyotes lost their 11th consecutive game to Pittsburgh.
HURRICANES 4, SENATORS 1
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist to lead Carolina over Ottawa.
Matin Necas and Seth Jarvis also scored for Carolina. Pyotr Kochetkov made 31 saves as the Hurricanes snapped a four-game skid.
Josh Norris scored for the Senators, who had won three in a row. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 24 shots.
PREDATORS 3, FLYERS 2, OT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored 18 seconds into overtime and Juuse Saros made 38 saves in his fifth consecutive victory as Nashville defeated Philadelphia.
Gustav Nyquist and Michael McCarron also scored for the Predators, who have won five of six.
Sean Couturier and Travis Sanheim scored for the Flyers, who had won four straight. Samuel Ersson made 18 saves as Philadelphia fell to 4-0-2 in its last six games.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, FLAMES 4, OT
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Stone scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lift Vegas over Calgary.
Chandler Stephenson, Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights. Logan Thompson made 27 saves, and Stone added two assists.
Yegor Sharangovich scored twice, and Mackenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri also had goals for the Flames. Dustin Wolf stopped 34 shots.
The Golden Knights, who have won four in a row and lead the NHL with 45 points, improved to 9-1 when hosting Calgary.
Vegas extended its point streak to nine games, now 6-0-3 since Nov. 27. It was the seventh time in 13 games the Golden Knights went to extra time.
KRAKEN 4, PANTHERS 0
SEATTLE (AP) — Joey Daccord made 24 saves for his first career shutout, Kailer Yamamoto scored the first of two goals from Seattle’s fourth line and the Kraken snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win over Florida.
Yamamoto scored his fourth goal of the season early in the second period and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got his third with 14:01 remaining in the third off a terrific pass from rookie defenseman Ryker Evans. It was the first career point for Evans, a second-round draft pick in 2021 who was called up last week.
Alex Wennberg added his fourth goal at 9:13 of the third and Eeli Tolvanen sealed it on an empty-netter with 3:51 left.
Yamamoto and Bellemare both finished with a goal and an assist. Will Borgen had two assists and Seattle celebrated its first victory since beating San Jose the day before Thanksgiving.
CANUCKS 4, LIGHTNING 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Brock Boeser scored a hat trick, Quinn Hughes had three assists and Vancouver topped Tampa Bay.
Andrei Kuzmenko also scored for the Canucks, winners of three straight, and J.T. Miller added two assists.
Brayden Point had the goal for the Lightning.
Boeser completed his second hat trick of the season with an empty-netter late in the third period. He is tied with Toronto’s Auston Matthews for the NHL lead with 21 goals.
SHARKS 2, JETS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — William Eklund scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 4:51 remaining as San Jose beat Winnipeg.
Justin Bailey had a goal for the Sharks, his first since March 2018 with Buffalo. Mikael Granlund extended his point streak to six games with an assist.
Brenden Dillon scored for the Jets, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Dillon spent six seasons with San Jose from 2014-20.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
The Associated Press
