Stamkos has career-high 5 points as Lightning edge Flyers
Steven Stamkos had two goals and three assists for a career-high five points and added a shootout goal and the Tampa Bay Lightning edged the Philadelphia Flyers 7-6 on Saturday.
Brayden Point had the shootout-deciding goal for Tampa Bay, which improved to 6-0-1 in its past seven games.
Victor Hedman had two goals and two assists and tied his career high with four points. Nikita Kucherov returned after missing two games because of an injury and added three assists.
Dan Girardi and J.T. Miller also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 37 saves, including four in overtime.
Chicago 5, Los Angeles 3: Jonathan Toews broke a tie on a power play with 1:58 left and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-3 to snap a seven-game road losing streak.
Chicago tied it with 5:36 to go when Los Angeles’ Derek Forbort failed to clear the puck in front of the net, instead sending it right to Vinnie Hinostroza for a shot past goalie past Jonathan Quick.
Dallas 3, St. Louis 2: Jamie Benn scored 3:04 into overtime and the Dallas Stars rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2.
Benn’s winner from the high slot came after Alexander Radulov pulled Dallas even with 2:56 remaining in regulation when he chipped in a pass from Tyler Seguin after a shot from Benn went over net and caromed off the end boards.
Boston 2, Montreal 1: Brad Marchand scored 2:06 into overtime to lift the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 comeback win over the Montreal Canadiens.
It was the Bruins’ third straight victory and completed their four-game sweep of the season series with their archrivals for the first time since 1994-95.
NHL planning more outdoor games at service academies: The NHL’s first outdoor game at a U.S. service academy probably won’t be its last.
After the Washington Capitals hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Naval Academy, the league hopes to play games at Army’s West Point and the Air Force Academy over the next few years.
It’s a significant foray into honoring and partnering with branches of the military that follows the lead of the NFL and Major League Baseball for a league that’s split between the United States and Canada.
“It’s unique and as we continue to move forward with the outdoor games, you look for new concepts and new themes and new things that’ll interest the fans,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Associated Press. “Certainly the hope is, with a successful game (at Navy), we’ll continue the venture with the Army and the Air Force and we’ll see where we go from there.”
Daly said he’d be surprised if the sequel to Maple Leafs-Capitals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium comes as soon as the 2018-19 season, though 2019-20 is a possibility. The Florida Panthers faced the New Jersey Devils inside in an exhibition game at West Point’s Tate Rink in 2006, and ownership connections to the Army make the Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights strong candidates for a potential outdoor game there.
American-born players taking part in the game at Navy said they were honored to get the opportunity. Told of the NHL’s future plans to attempt games at Army and Air Force, Maple Leafs defenseman Ron Hainsey called it “a great road for us to go down.”