NHL: Panthers beat Hurricanes in East finals rematch
Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist to lead the Florida Panthers to a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference finals on Friday.
Sam Reinhart set up two goals and Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves to win his fourth straight start for Florida, which improved to 6-1-1 in its last eight games.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes, which entered having won five of six.
The Panthers have won 10 of the last 12 meetings in the series, including all four in last season’s playoffs.
Golden Knights blank Sharks to avoid third straight loss
Alec Martinez scored twice and Adin Hill made 20 saves for his second shutout in three games as the Vegas Golden Knights got back on track with a 5-0 rout of the San Jose Sharks.
Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and two assists for the Knights, who were coming off consecutive losses following an 11-0-1 start to the season.
The Sharks failed in a bid to win three straight after they went winless in their first 11 games (0-10-1).
Vegas has dominated the all-time series with San Jose, going 22-2-5. Capitals score 2 in 15 seconds, hold off Devils
Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Beck Malenstyn scored 15 seconds apart in the first period and the Washington Capitals continued their surge with a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Evgeny Kuznetsov had two goals and Charlie Lindgren turned aside stopped 24 shots to help the Capitals improve to 5-1-1 in their last seven games following a 1-3-1 start.
Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer scored third-period goals for New Jersey, which has lost three or four.
Vitek Vanecek allowed two goals on five shots for the Devils before he was replaced by Akira Schmid midway through the first period.
