TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Brayden Point scored the deciding goal in a shootout for the second consecutive game, lifting the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.
Tyler Johnson, Chris Kunitz and Adam Erne scored in regulation for the NHL-leading Lightning, who played most of the game without Nikita Kucherov after the league’s top scorer was injured. Still, the Atlantic Division leaders edged second-place Toronto hours after acquiring defenseman Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller in a blockbuster deal with the New York Rangers just before the NHL trade deadline.
Tampa Bay parted with forward Vladimir Namestnikov, two prospects and two draft picks - a first-round selection in 2018 and a conditional first-rounder in 2019.
James van Riemsdyk, Mitch Marner and Tyler Bozak had the goals for Toronto, which played without injured star Auston Matthews. Frederik Andersen stopped 39 shots.
Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 27 saves for Tampa Bay. He denied Marner on a penalty shot with 6:02 left in the third period to keep the score tied.
Kucherov left with 5:41 remaining in the first and did not return. The team announced he sustained an upper-body injury. The two-time All-Star has 82 points in 63 games.
KINGS 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Anze Kopitar tied the game with 10.8 seconds left in the third period and Dustin Brown scored a power-play goal 3:14 into overtime, rallying Los Angeles past Vegas.
Jeff Carter, in his second game back after missing 55 with a cut tendon, scored the Kings’ first goal on a power play at 12:28 of the third. Jonathan Quick stopped 37 shots.
Erik Haula and Reilly Smith scored for Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury made 41 saves.
It was the first victory for the Kings in three games against the expansion Golden Knights. The teams meet again Tuesday in Las Vegas.
BLUE JACKETS 5, CAPITALS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson each had a goal and two assists as Columbus topped Washington.
Columbus scored four goals in the first period - two on power plays - in winning its second game in three days and first in four tries against the Capitals this season. Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and Sonny Milano and Mark Letestu - acquired in a trade Sunday - also scored.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, who held onto the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a knot of teams still in contention.
Alex Ovechkin got his league-leading 39th goal for Washington. Braden Holtby made 12 saves in the first period and Philipp Grubauer had 18 in the last two.
FLYERS 1, CANADIENS 0, SO
MONTREAL (AP) - Sean Couturier scored in the sixth round of the shootout and Philadelphia edged Montreal for its season-best sixth straight victory.
Petr Mrazek, making his third straight start for the streaking Flyers, stopped 28 shots in his fourth shutout this season. Mrazek is 3-0-0 since being acquired from Detroit last Monday.
Philadelphia passed Washington for first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers have earned at least one point in 12 straight games (10-0-2).
Backup goalie Charlie Lindgren made 33 saves for the Canadiens, who have lost eight of nine.
Both teams scored one goal after five shootout rounds before Couturier beat Lindgren in the sixth.
The Canadiens have been shut out nine times this season, tying a franchise record.
AVALANCHE 3, CANUCKS 1
DENVER (AP) - Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, and Mikko Rantanen added a goal and an assist in Colorado’s victory over Vancouver.
Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves and came within 1:16 of his third shutout this season. The Avalanche won for the 11th time in 12 home games and moved within two points of idle Calgary for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
Daniel Sedin scored and Jacob Markstrom stopped 25 shots for the Canucks.
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