Despite their star power up front with the likes of Auston Matthews and John Tavares, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost six of their first seven overtime games this season.

So coach Sheldon Keefe changed the game plan.

Instead of starting the three-on-three session with Matthews or Tavares at center, Keefe decided to have a defensive forward take the initial faceoff in overtime. The move has paid off, as the Maple Leafs have gone 5-2 in the extra session since, including a 2-1 victory against visiting Minnesota on Friday night.

With a five-game Western swing starting Sunday in Seattle, the Maple Leafs figure to get some more chances to work overtime.

“Overtime was an issue for us,” Keefe acknowledged. “We changed our strategy a little bit in terms of how we started, how we deploy the guys. The luck has gone our way a little bit in terms of getting us more time with the puck.”

William Nylander scored the winner 1:05 into the extra session against the Wild after stealing the puck in Minnesota’s zone. Nylander became the fourth player in Maple Leafs history to score at least three overtime goals in a season (Ken Doraty, 3, 1933-34; Mats Sundin, 4, 1999-2000; Tavares, 3, 2019-20).

“It was a good game,” Nylander said. “These are the kind of games that are going to be coming down the line here, so we’ve got to win these kind of games. It’s more like playoff hockey, so it was good for us.

“Patience is huge. We’re 1-1 through 60 minutes, so you don’t want to worry and try to force plays to make it 2-1. We’ll grind them out.”

The Maple Leafs, who have won four of their past five games, will also travel to Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver before completing the trip in New Jersey. They won’t play a home game until March 11.

“We’re going to be in a lot of those games down the stretch and in the playoffs,” Toronto defenseman Mark Giordano said after Friday’s victory, in which he had three blocked shots to tie Kris Russell for the most in NHL history (2,044). “You gotta take what’s there and not force it, not get frustrated.”

The Kraken are coming off a 6-5 loss to league-leading Boston on Thursday night, their second consecutive defeat.

Seattle’s Matty Beniers scored 40 seconds into the game, which went back and forth the rest of the way. Jaden Schwartz put the Kraken up 5-4 with 4:10 remaining, but Boston’s Brandon Carlo tied it less than 30 seconds later, and Jake DeBrusk scored the winner with 1:38 left.

Beniers, Vince Dunn and Jamie Oleksiak each had a goal and an assist for the Kraken, and goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots.

“I thought we played a good game, honestly,” Beniers said. “They played a good game, too. I think we can build momentum off this. I mean, even though it was a loss, we did a lot of good things, offensively and defensively. So, hopefully we can take the good out of it and keep rolling.”

Added Kraken coach Dave Hakstol: “The compete level was outstanding all the way through the game. There was a lot of intensity in the game. There was pace. Obviously a lot of back-and-forth, especially during the second period (when each team scored three times) and then late in the hockey game.”

Seattle won 5-1 at Toronto on Jan. 5, as Dunn had a goal and two assists and Martin Jones made 26 saves.

–Field Level Media

Bryan Rust scored the overtime winner 76 seconds into the session as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins edged the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Saturday to snap their four-game losing streak.

Evgeni Malkin and Marcus Pettersson had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh and Tristan Jarry made 25 saves.

Justin Faulk had a goal and an assist and Pavel Buchnevich scored for the Blues, who are winless (0-3-2) in their last five games. Jordan Binnington stopped 45 of 48 shots to help St. Louis salvage a point.

The Penguins had a robust response to losing their previous game 7-2 to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. Pittsburgh outshot the Blues 21-7 in the first period and also killed off a double-minor penalty.

But Binnington kept the game scoreless with some excellent saves, stopping Malkin’s shot off a 2-on-1 rush, Jason Zucker’s wraparound shot, Sidney Crosby’s jam attempt at the left post and Danton Heinen’s one-time slapper from the right circle.

The Blues took a 1-0 lead 23 seconds into the second period on Buchnevich’s deflection goal. Robert Thomas circled behind the Pittsburgh net and threw a turnaround shot from atop the left circle that Buchnevich redirected.

Malkin tied the game 1-1 at the 6:59 mark of the period off a 2-on-1 rush with Rust.

The Blues increased their offensive pressure in the third period and generated multiple chances, including Faulk’s right circle blast and Nick Leddy’s wrist shot stepping in from the blue line.

Binnington sprawled face-down to deny a Jake Guentzel stuff attempt at the right post to keep the game tied.

Finally Pettersson put the Penguins up 2-1 with 5:28 left by joining the rush and scoring from the high slot off Teddy Blueger’s drop pass.

The Blues tied the game with 2:27 left. Sammy Blais attacked the net and created a scramble. Faulk finally pushed the puck out from under Kris Letang into the net.

But Malkin set up Rust for the overtime winner into the open side of the net.

–Field Level Media

Chicago Blackhawks star forward Patrick Kane was a healthy scratch for Saturday’s road game against the San Jose Sharks and has left the team for at least the time being.

Rumors have circulated that Kane could be dealt, possibly to the New York Rangers, in advance of Friday’s NHL trade deadline.

“… Based on the current status of Patrick’s situation, we collectively felt it was more appropriate to have him not play during this period of reflection,” Kane’s agent, Pat Brisson, told TSN.

In the final season of an eight-year contract, the 34-year-old Kane has 16 goals and 29 assists in 54 games. The four-time NHL All-Star, who is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, has 1,225 points (446 goals, 779 assists) in 1,161 games over 16 seasons in Chicago.

Now, his storied tenure with the Blackhawks could be coming to an end.

“He was with the team (Friday), but as of today he’s flown back to Chicago just until the situation rectifies itself either way,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said, according to nhl.com.

Kane has a no-movement clause in his contract giving him the right to veto any trade. While he was with the team Friday, he did not practice as the Blackhawks labeled it a “maintenance day.”

–Field Level Media

The Vancouver Canucks acquired forward Vitali Kravtsov from the New York Rangers on Saturday in exchange for forward Will Lockwood and a seventh-round draft pick in 2026.

Kravtsov, 23, has three goals and three assists in 28 games with the Rangers this season and has five goals with five assists in 48 career games with New York. The former ninth overall draft pick in 2018 is a restricted free agent after the season.

Lockwood, 24, has an assist in 13 games this season, and has seen time in 28 games for the Canucks over the past three seasons. Lockwood, a third-round draft pick by the Canucks in 2016, had 12 goals and six assists in 26 games this season at Abbotsford of the AHL.

–Field Level Media

Jack Roslovic scored the tiebreaking goal with 10:59 remaining in regulation, then added a key insurance tally to cap a four-point game, and the Columbus Blue Jackets overcame a blown four-goal lead to beat the visiting Edmonton Oilers 6-5 on Saturday.

Patrik Laine had a goal with two assists and Kirill Marchenko scored twice for the Blue Jackets, who are last in the Eastern Conference, but swept the two-game season series from Edmonton.

Roslovic snapped a 14-game goal drought when he put home a rebound to break a 4-4 tie. He then beat Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner (10 saves) with 5:04 left in the third for a 6-4 advantage.

The Oilers’ Zach Hyman made things interesting with 2:56 remaining, when he got the puck by Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo, who stopped 22 of 23 shots in the third period alone, and 42 total.

Connor McDavid extended his career-best total for goals with Nos. 47 and 48, and added two assists for Edmonton, which was dealt its second regulation defeat in 18 games.

Down 4-0 with a little more than 13 minutes remaining in the second period, and shortly after goalie Jack Campbell was pulled for yielding four goals on 10 shots, Edmonton scored four times over a span of 8:02.

The Oilers’ Warren Foegele got things rolling on a goal with 13:20 remaining in the middle period. They then struck on the power play with 10:18 left, when Leon Draisaitl extended his goal streak to seven games.

McDavid then skated down the ice, and with Johnny Gaudreau hanging on him, slid the puck past Korpisalo for the short-handed score with 7:09 left in the second. McDavid tied it less than two minutes later for his third straight contest with at least three points.

Following a 2-0 loss to Minnesota on Thursday, Columbus wasted no time finding some offense. Marchenko put home Gaudreau’s net-front pass just 1:14 into the game.

Then on the power play at 1:33 into the second, Boone Jenner deflected in Laine’s drive. Less than two minutes later, Marchenko struck again, and Columbus made it 4-0, and chased Campbell, when Laine struck at 5:56 of the second period.

–Field Level Media

Playing in different conferences and in home arenas located more than 1,600 miles apart from one another means the Winnipeg Jets and New York Islanders don’t share much history.

But the teams will take the ice against each other Sunday afternoon with an unusual bit of familiarity and at least two things in common: A need to collect two pivotal points and a desire to prove some head-scratching play Friday night was an aberration.

The Jets and host Islanders are slated to meet for the second time in five days.

Both teams were off Saturday after defeats at home Friday. The Jets gave up four first-period goals in a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, while the Islanders surrendered three goals in a span of fewer than six minutes in the second period of a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

The Jets’ defeat continued an untimely skid as Winnipeg has dropped four of five games and has missed consecutive chances to move ahead of the slumping Dallas Stars into first place in the Central Division.

The Stars entered Saturday mired in a five-game losing streak (0-3-2) but remained one point ahead of Winnipeg, which squandered its first chance to leapfrog Dallas in a 2-1 loss to the Islanders on Wednesday at Elmont, N.Y.

While the Jets outshot the Islanders 26-22 on Wednesday, they were dominated Friday by the Avalanche, which went ahead when Nathan MacKinnon scored 19 seconds after the opening faceoff. Mason Appleton evened the score at the 3:12 mark, but Colorado scored three goals in the next 7:46.

“They scored 19 seconds into the game — it’s unacceptable,” Appleton said. “We rebounded, scored a goal, tied it up and then from there we were chasing the game once they scored their second goal.

“You want to give credit to them, they’re a really good hockey team, but we didn’t help ourselves tonight. We’re a really good hockey team when we want to be. We were not that (Friday).”

The Islanders almost recovered from the Kings’ second period flurry on Friday, when Phillip Danault, Arthur Kaliyev and Gabriel Vilardi scored in a seven-shot span for Los Angeles.

Noah Dobson scored with 3:26 left in the second period and Adam Pelech pulled New York within a goal when his pass into the crease bounced off the skate of Kings defenseman Matt Roy with 4:37 remaining in the third.

But the injury-depleted Islanders – playing without centers Josh Bailey (upper body), Mathew Barzal (lower body) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (upper body), as well as right winger Cal Clutterbuck (upper body) — could not score the equalizer and finished with just 18 shots, their fewest since registering 18 shots against the New York Rangers on Dec. 22.

The loss cost the Islanders a chance to increase their lead in the Eastern Conference wild-card race. New York entered Saturday with 67 points, three more than the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers.

“We allowed the momentum swing to be too big,” Islanders left winger Matt Martin said. “We’ve got to respond right after that a little better, obviously.”

–Field Level Media

T.J. Oshie scored twice, added an assist and engaged in a fight while Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored twice and collected two assists as the host Washington Capitals snapped a six-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over the slumping New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.

Oshie celebrated his 500th regular-season game with Washington by helping the Capitals snap their first streak of six regulation losses since the 2003-04 season.

Oshie scored a power-play goal in the opening minutes, then fought New York’s Barclay Goodrow in retaliation for his hard hit on Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren. Oshie’s hit into the board seemed to injure Lindgren’s left shoulder with 11:49 remaining and the Rangers later announced Lindgren was out for the game with an upper-body injury.

It was Oshie’s first career game with a goal, assist and a fight, known as a Gordie Howe hat trick.

Tom Wilson and Sonny Milano also scored for the Capitals, who scored three or fewer goals in 11 of their previous 12 games.

Kuznetsov set up Oshie’s first goal and Milano’s tally before netting Washington’s final two goals on breakaways.

Alex Ovechkin collected two assists and Washington goalie Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.

Goodrow scored a tying goal and Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko tallied in the third for the Rangers, who matched a season worst with their third straight regulation loss.

New York’s Igor Shesterkin allowed five goals on 22 shots before Jaroslav Halak made four saves in the third.

Oshie opened the scoring by going to the low slot and batting the puck out of the air for a tip-in off an Erik Gustafsson shot 4:25 in. Goodrow evened the game by putting a tip-in into the vacated left side of the net with 12 minutes left in the first.

After Oshie fought Goodrow, Oshie scored by finishing off a three-on-two with Dylan Strome 3:16 into the second. Wilson scored nearly four minutes later by finishing off a breakaway and Milano made it 4-1 with 7:08 left by sweeping in a rebound moments after Oshie hit the post.

Kuznetsov extended the lead to 5-1 late in the second by finishing off a breakaway after the Rangers completed a slow line change, then capped Washington’s scoring after getting a pass from Ovechkin with 6:38 remaining in the third.

–Field Level Media