The winning goal crossed the net, and a clad of gold sweaters mobbed Carter Hart near the left faceoff circle.

In his first start in nearly two years, in a new era of his professional career and life, Hart did enough to get the Golden Knights a much-needed victory.

Hart finished with 27 saves — six of them in overtime — and the Golden ...Read more

EDMONTON, Alberta — The Wild didn’t make the same mistake twice.

After their seven-game win streak was snapped by the struggling Sabres, the Wild got back to business and blanked the Oilers, 1-0, Tuesday night at Rogers Place to avoid losing to another down team.

Jesper Wallstedt continued his remarkable run, stopping 32 shots for his ...Read more

DENVER — An early deficit and an unplanned goaltending change wasn’t nearly enough to slow down the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avs continued to mash their way through the early part of this schedule with a 3-1 victory Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks at Ball Arena. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice to continue his historic start to this...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — Home-ice advantage has been good to the Florida Panthers over the past few years as they have evolved into one of the NHL’s top teams.

Which is why this current stretch, even with Florida missing so many players, is a bit surprising.

With a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena, the Panthers (...Read more

DETROIT — The Red Wings needed a victory to end a growing slump, and the Boston Bruins were happy to help.

The Wings rolled past the Bruins Tuesday, 5-4, at Little Caesars Arena, only the Wings' second victory in their last seven games and ending a four-game winless streak.

With the standings so tight and very little separation among teams, ...Read more

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s win streak eventually was going to come to an end, and Tuesday night on Long Island they lost their first game in more than two weeks.

They played a lot of solid two-way hockey over that seven-game stretch, and while their 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena wasn’t their best effort it was a tight game ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — The three-game win streak will have to wait.

The St. Louis Blues had a chance to string together three consecutive wins for the first time this season, but lost 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks Monday at Enterprise Center.

Jordan Binnington was removed about midway through the first period after giving up two goals, and Joel Hofer came ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Like any normal person, Sidney Crosby has things he likes. Competition and camaraderie, for example. Also pumpkin pie (with ice cream), Chinese food on New Year's Eve and afternoon naps.

Crosby doesn't maintain any official rankings, but you'd have to think torturing the Flyers sits fairly highly atop the list. The same as so ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — It’s OK sometimes to be conflicted in an opinion, even on the most polarizing of issues.

Not everything can be categorized as black and white or right and wrong.

Feeling uneasy about the Vegas Golden Knights’ signing of goaltender Carter Hart while also believing there is a good chance he is innocent as determined by the ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild got the better of the best team in the NHL then got upset by a bottom-five foe.

After a thrilling shootout victory over the league-leading Colorado Avalanche a day earlier, the Wild weren’t as sharp. They were downed by two bad breaks en route to getting dumped 3-2 in a shootout by the lowly Buffalo ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Maple Leafs arrived at PPG Paints Arena amid a mess of problems. Nobody in the Eastern Conference had allowed more goals. Only the Sabres had fewer points and road wins, triggering a full-blown Canadian emergency.

Roles were reversed on Saturday.

Instead, the Penguins looked like the team heavy on questions and short on ...Read more

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins tried to give the game away on Saturday, but Jeremy Swayman refused to lose.

After the B’s coughed up two leads in the third period, Swayman stopped Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat and Casey Mittelstadt scored the only goal in the shootout to lift the B’s to a 3-2 shootout win over the Detroit Red...Read more

NEWARK, N.J. — The Flyers closed out a four-game road trip with win No. 3, defeating the New Jersey Devils, 5-3.

It extended their winning streak to three games. Philly has now won five of its last six and is 14-7-3 on the season.

Owen Tippett scored the 100th goal of his NHL career and earned his 200th NHL point when he gave the Flyers a 1-...Read more

During their rocky start to the season — a time that seems so far away now — Lightning players often talked about the faith they had in each other, the belief in their ability to pull together to salvage their season.

They have developed a synergy on the ice that special teams create, and their 4-1 win over the Rangers on Saturday afternoon...Read more

SEATTLE — The Edmonton Oilers dominated Saturday's chippy matinee at Climate Pledge Arena, exiting with a 4-0 victory.

Kraken winger Mason Marchment had an eventful afternoon. He certainly had help from Edmonton as he crashed into Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (26 saves), but nonetheless was seated in the box serving a goaltender ...Read more

DENVER — The old guys on the Colorado Avalanche handed out a few lessons Saturday afternoon to the young Montreal Canadiens.

Brock Nelson, Gabe Landeskog and Brent Burns combined for five goals, while Nelson had a four-point day as the Avs routed the Canadiens, 7-2, at Ball Arena.

The Avs, wearing their Quebec Nordiques throwback uniforms, ...Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dan Muse talked extensively on Friday morning about building on the response he saw in Wednesday’s game.

This should work.

Down two goals entering the third period on Friday in Columbus, the Penguins came all the way back to earn a 4-3 overtime victory against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

Kris Letang ended it ...Read more