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Bruins blank Canucks in matchup of NHL's top two teams

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Clock IconFeb 9, 2024Ice Hockey

The Eastern Conference's top team made quick work of the best team from the West.

Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen each scored short-handed goals in the first period, and the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 on Thursday in a showdown between the NHL's top two teams.

Charlie Coyle set up both short-handed goals and Boston extended the lead to 4-0 in the opening minute of the second period when Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha scored 15 seconds apart.

Linus Ullmark only needed to make 17 saves to register his first shutout of the season.

Boston (32-10-9) won for the eighth time in 10 games to move into a tie with Vancouver (34-12-5) for the most points in the NHL with 73.

The Canucks lost for the first time in regulation since January 4, after going 10-0-2 over their previous 12 games.

Thatcher Demko's nine-game winning streak ended with the Vancouver goaltender stopping just 21 of 25 shots.

The Canucks managed just four shots on goal in both the first and third period and were held without a score for the first time since October 17 - just their third game of the season.

Necas' first career hat trick helps Hurricanes beat Avalanche

Martin Necas recorded his first career hat trick in style.

Playing in his 330th career game, Necas registered a natural hat trick in the first 17 minutes of the Carolina Hurricanes' 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

His hat trick marked the second-fastest to begin a game in Carolina franchise history.

The Hurricanes won despite an odd goaltending situation.

Pyotr Kochetkov allowed two goals in the final 30 seconds of the first period and was pulled in favor of Antii Raanta.

Raanta stopped all nine shots he faced but suffered a lower-body injury and lasted just one period.

Kochetkov then re-entered for the final period and turned aside all 10 shots he faced in the third. He finished with 16 saves for the Hurricanes (29-16-5), who improved to 12-3-1 in their last 16 games.

Colorado netminder Alexandar Georgiev permitted the hat trick on just four shots before rebounding. He ended up with 23 saves.

Zach Parise and Samuel Girard scored seven seconds apart for the Avalanche (32-16-4), who lost their third in a row after entering the All-Star break on a 13-3-1 stretch.

Panthers pull away to beat Capitals

Ryan Lomberg scored the go-ahead goal with 6:52 remaining in the third period to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals.

Lomberg's goal was just his third of the season, and ended a 35-game stretch without one dating to November 14.

Sam Reinhart scored his team-leading 38th goal on a power play, while Matthew Tkachuk added a goal and two assists to give him 12 goals and 18 assists in his last 17 games.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots for Florida (32-15-4), which won for the fifth time in six games.

Washington (22-20-7), meanwhile, has lost six straight games.

Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring with a power-play goal - the 833rd goal of his career.

He has now scored in three straight games after failing to score in his previous eight contests.