Pastrnak earns 2nd hat trick, Bruins beat Canadiens 8-1
MONTREAL (AP) — David Pastrnak recorded his second hat trick of the season and the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins routed the Montreal Canadiens 8-1 Tuesday night.
Jake Debrusk, Brad Marchand, Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle and Danon Heinen also scored for the Bruins (16-3-5), who have won four straight.
Marchand, Coyle, David Krejci and Torey Krug had two assists apiece, while Sean Kuraly had three.
Captain Shea Weber scored the only goal for the Canadiens (11-8-5), who have lost five straight.
Bruins backup Jaroslav Halak made 36 saves and improved to 6-0-0 against Carey Price, his former teammate in Montreal.
Price gave up five goals on 11 shots before being pulled in the second period. Keith Kinkaid stopped 10 of 13 shots in relief.
Boston extended its points streak to eight games (5-0-3) and moved ahead of Washington atop the conference standings.
Price gave up six goals on 34 shots to the Rangers and struggled even more against the Bruins, who were without Patrice Bergeron (lower-body injury).
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Kaapo Kahkonen made 32 saves in his NHL debut, defenseman Ryan Suter scored the winner early in the third period and suddenly hot Minnesota beat New Jersey in a game the NHL said the Devils got credit for a goal that should not have counted.
Zach Parise and Jordan Greenway also scored as the Wild extended their point-scoring streak to seven games (4-0-3).
Jesper Boqvist scored the disputed goal and Kyle Palmieri tallied on a power play as the Devils continued to alternate good games and bad games. Louis Domingue, making his second straight start, had 26 saves.
On the game-winner, Ryan Hartman won a faceoff and Ryan Donato found Suter in the left circle for a rocket over Domingue 3:00 into the period.
While the Wild were protecting the lead, the NHL issued a statement saying Boqvist’s earlier goal should not have counted because the referees failed to uphold a challenge by Wild coach Bruce Boudreau against Wayne Simmonds playing the puck with a high stick before the goal.
BLACKHAWKS 3, STARS 0
CHICAGO (AP) — Corey Crawford made 32 saves for Chicago’s first shutout this season and the Blackhawks ended Dallas’ seven-game winning streak.
Brandon Saad, Patrick Kane and Connor Murphy scored for Chicago, which snapped a three-game slide. The 34-year-old Crawford was sharp in stopping several prime Dallas chances in his 26th career shutout.
The Blackhawks dealt the surging Stars their first regulation loss since Oct. 26, and ended Dallas’ 12-game point streak (11-0-1.)
Anton Khudobin blocked 35 shots.