Tage Thompson scored five goals in a six-point performance to power the visiting Buffalo Sabres to a 9-4 rout of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
Thompson’s five goals matched the Sabres’ franchise record set by Dave Andreychuk in 1986 at Boston. Thompson roared out of the gate, registering his third career hat trick in the opening 12 minutes.
Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
Thanks for signing up!
A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.
The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.
The offensive-minded Sabres exploded for six goals in the first period, including a franchise-record four from Thompson, who matched an NHL record by becoming the fourth player ever with four goals in a period.
Alex Tuch (four points), Rasmus Dahlin (three points), Dylan Cozens (three) and Peyton Krebs also scored for Buffalo. Jeff Skinner had four assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 20 saves. Gustav Nyquist and Patrik Laine each had two goals for Columbus, which took its third loss in a row.
Oilers 8, Coyotes 2
Connor McDavid had two goals and two assists and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added two goals and an assist to lead host Edmonton past Arizona, the Oilers’ fifth win in their last seven games.
Leon Draisaitl, Derek Ryan and Klim Kostin each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who also got 16 saves from Stuart Skinner.
Jack McBain and Shayne Gostisbehere scored, Christian Fischer had two assists, and Connor Ingram made 27 saves for the Coyotes, who ended a 14-game road trip 4-7-3 after winning the first three games of the trip.
Capitals 4, Flyers 1
Alex Ovechkin scored two empty-net goals to help lift Washington past host Philadelphia while closing in on Gordie Howe on the NHL’s career goals list.
Ovechkin now sits at 795 career goals, six behind Howe for second all time. Wayne Gretzky is first with 894. Dylan Strome had one goal and one assist and T.J. Oshie added a goal for the Capitals. Charlie Lindgren stopped 29 shots for the win.
Kevin Hayes scored for Philadelphia, and Carter Hart made 23 saves.
Bruins 4, Avalanche 0
Taylor Hall had two goals and an assist, Linus Ullmark had 23 saves for his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career, and Boston beat short-handed Colorado in Denver.
Trent Frederic had a goal and an assist, David Pastrnak also scored and Charlie Coyle added two assists for the Bruins. Alexandar Georgiev turned away 33 shots for Colorado.
The Avalanche played their first game without star Nathan MacKinnon, who will miss four to five weeks due to an upper-body injury sustained Monday.
Flames 5, Wild 3
Rasmus Andersson scored the game-winning goal and added two assists and Tyler Toffoli scored twice to lead host Calgary to a win over Minnesota.
Blake Coleman collected one goal and one assist for the Flames, who have won three straight games for the first time since the opening week of the season. Dan Vladar made 25 saves, while Elias Lindholm collected three assists.
Marc-Andre Fluery stopped 22 shots, Mason Shaw and Jon Merrill each had one goal and one assist and Kirill Kaprizov added a marker for the Wild, who saw their four-game winning streak snapped. Kaprizov extended his franchise-record point streak to 13 games. His 17th goal also has him riding a seven-game goal-scoring streak.
Rangers 5, Golden Knights 1
Mika Zibanejad scored two power-play goals to highlight a four-goal third period for New York, which earned the win at Las Vegas.
Zibanejad also had an assist and Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere also scored goals for the Rangers, who won their second straight game. Artemi Panarin added three assists, Adam Fox had two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves for New York, which improved to 8-4-1 on the road.
Jonathan Marchessault scored for the third straight game for Vegas, which fell to 7-6-0 at home. Logan Thompson finished with 32 saves.
Canucks 6, Sharks 5 (OT)
Elias Pettersson scored with 35 seconds left in overtime to lift visiting Vancouver to a win over San Jose.
Dakota Joshua scored two goals while Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, who have won their past three games, all in overtime. Vancouver’s Nils Hoglander and Ilya Mikheyev also scored, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Bo Horvat each had two assists and Spencer Martin made 34 saves.
Logan Couture had a goal and an assist, and Nick Bonino, Timo Meier, Jonah Gadjovich and Kevin Labanc also scored for the Sharks, who have lost four in a row and seven of eight. Tomas Hertl contributed two assists.
–Field Level Media
Check out our sports section for the latest news and analysis. Care for a wager? Head to our sports betting section for news and odds.