Matt Boldy scored his second hat trick in nine days as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-1 Monday night in St. Paul, Minn.

Jake Middleton and Ryan Hartman also scored and Marcus Johansson, Jared Spurgeon and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists apiece for the Central Division-leading Wild, who improved to 15-1-4 in their past 20 games and pulled within three points of Western Conference-leading Vegas. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves.

Jaden Schwartz scored for the Kraken, who lead the West’s wild-card race. Goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 9 of 13 shots before being pulled early in the third after Boldy scored to make it 4-0. Martin Jones stopped 6 of 7 shots the rest of the way as Seattle had an eight-game road point streak snapped (7-0-1).

Boldy completed the hat trick 50 seconds into the third. Eriksson Ek stole a clearance attempt and passed to Boldy for a one-timer from the slot. Boldy also had three goals in a 5-3 victory against Washington on March 19.

Canadiens 4, Sabres 3 (SO)

Brendan Gallagher’s 200th career goal tied things up just before the midway point of the third period, and Montreal eventually won in a shootout against host Buffalo.

With the Canadiens down 3-2, Gallagher leveled things when he rang the post via his milestone goal with 11:25 remaining in regulation. Jordan Harris and Alex Belzile also had goals, and Michael Pezzetta’s score in the sixth round of the shootout was the difference for the Canadiens.

Lukas Rousek scored on his first NHL shot and added an assist in his league debut for the Sabres. JJ Peterka and Riley Stillman also scored, while Eric Comrie made 38 saves for Buffalo, which played without star Tage Thompson (upper-body injury).

Senators 5, Panthers 2

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, Mads Sogaard made 32 saves and Ottawa scored three power-play goals to beat visiting Florida.

The win moved the Senators closer in their pursuit of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The Pittsburgh Penguins, who were idle on Monday, are in the second wild-card slot with 82 points, while the Panthers are just behind them despite being on a season-high, four-game losing streak.

Ottawa’s Alex DeBrincat, Tim Stutzle and Erik Brannstrom all scored on the power play, with each score coming near the end of each period. After its 3-for-4 performance on Monday, the Senators’ streaking power-play unit is 10-for-28 over the past eight games. Gustav Forsling scored both of the Panthers’ goals.

Islanders 5, Devils 1

Kyle Palmieri scored twice against his former team for New York, which earned a pivotal victory by beating New Jersey in Elmont, N.Y.

Pierre Engvall scored in the first period and Bo Horvat and Zach Parise each scored empty-netters late in the third for the Islanders, who stopped a two-game losing streak and lengthened their lead in the Eastern Conference wild-card race. Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves.

Erik Haula scored in the second period for the Devils, who lost for the sixth time in eight games (2-4-2) and missed a chance to move within one point of the idle first-place Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division. New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek recorded 31 saves.

Oilers 5, Coyotes 4

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a third-period tiebreaking goal, Leon Draisaitl netted the 300th of his career and Edmonton prevailed in Tempe, Ariz.

By scoring in his 630th game, Draisaitl used the fourth-fewest games to reach 300 goals among active players. Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, and Zach Hyman and Darnell Nurse scored for the Oilers. Jack Campbell made 29 saves for the win.

Arizona got two goals apiece from Matias Maccelli and Barrett Hayton. Lawson Crouse dealt three assists and Jack McBain and Nick Schmaltz each had two.

Avalanche 5, Ducks 1

Nathan MacKinnon and Bowen Byram each had a goal and an assist as visiting Colorado cruised past Anaheim for its third consecutive win.

Valeri Nichushkin, Jack Johnson and Samuel Girard also scored goals and Cale Makar added two assists for Colorado, which is one point behind first-place Minnesota in the Central Division ahead of a Wednesday game vs. the Wild in Denver. Jonas Johansson stopped 29 of 30 shots.

Derek Grant scored for Anaheim, which took its fifth straight loss. John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, who finished an eight-game homestand with just a 1-6-1 record to fall to 12-22-3 at the Honda Center this season.

–Field Level Media

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a third-period tiebreaking goal, Leon Draisaitl netted the 300th goal of his career and the Edmonton Oilers swept the season series from the Arizona Coyotes with a 5-4 win at Tempe, Ariz., on Monday.

On his club’s fourth power play, Nugent-Hopkins, who added an assist, came in from the right side and tucked in his 34th goal at 12:05.

A nine-year veteran with Edmonton (42-23-9, 93 points), Draisaitl, who had a helper, notched an unassisted tally from the edge of the right circle at 14:32 of the second period to give the Oilers a 4-2 lead.

That milestone marker — his 46th goal of the season — also inched the German second-line center closer to a potential third 50-goal campaign.

He hit the half-century mark last season and in 2018-19.

By scoring in his 630th game, Draisaitl used the fourth-fewest games to reach 300 goals among active players — behind Alex Ovechkin (473), Steven Stamkos (550) and Sidney Crosby (622).

Zach Hyman notched his career-high 32nd goal, Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, and Darnell Nurse scored short-handed for the Oilers, who won all three from Arizona and are 12-4-1 in their past 17 overall.

Goaltender Jack Campbell (19-9-4) made 29 saves to move to 5-2-1 against the Coyotes.

Arizona (27-35-13, 67 points) got two goals apiece from Matias Maccelli and Barrett Hayton. Lawson Crouse dealt three assists and Jack McBain and Nick Schmaltz each had two.

Clayton Keller stretched his point streak to 13 games — the NHL’s longest active run — with a helper.

Goalie Karel Vejmelka (18-22-5) stopped 24 shots as Arizona fell to 0-3-2 in its past five matches.

Maccelli put the home side up 1-0 at 3:50 of the first period by firing home a shot that gave him goals in consecutive games.

The Oilers’ top-ranked power play scored just six seconds into the first man advantage when Hyman redirected Connor McDavid’s pass through the slot at 4:40.

Arizona tallied on the power play with a marker midway through it on Hayton’s putback at 12:59 of the first.

Again, though, the Oilers answered by potting the equalizer 35 seconds later with Bouchard’s fifth tally to tie it 2-all.

With Edmonton short-handed, Nurse rounded out the frame by getting his ninth goal to trickle in with 1:49 left in the first after Vejmelka got most of it.

In the third and down 4-2, the Coyotes used dogged play to tie it on Maccelli’s 10th tally at 3:52 and Hayton’s 17th less than a minute later.

–Field Level Media

Nathan MacKinnon and Bowen Byram each had a goal and an assist as the visiting Colorado Avalanche cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Monday for their third consecutive win.

Valeri Nichushkin, Jack Johnson and Samuel Girard also scored goals and Cale Makar added two assists for Colorado (44-23-6, 94 points), which remained one point behind first-place Minnesota in the Central Division. Colorado, which has a game in hand, will oppose the Wild on Wednesday night in Denver.

Jonas Johansson stopped 29 of 30 shots to improve to 4-1-0 in his career against the Ducks.

Derek Grant scored for Anaheim (23-41-10, 56 points), which took its fifth straight loss. John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, who finished an eight-game homestand with just a 1-6-1 record to fall to 12-22-3 at the Honda Center this season.

Things began well for Anaheim, which took a 1-0 lead at the 12:08 mark of the first period when Makar’s outlet pass was behind MacKinnon and went to Jakob Silfverberg in the high slot. Silfverberg then passed to Grant, who redirected the puck between Johansson’s pads for his fifth goal of the season.

Byram tied it a few minutes later when he flipped a wrist shot from the left point through traffic past Gibson for his ninth goal.

Colorado then took a 2-1 lead with just 7.9 seconds left in the period on MacKinnon’s spinning wrist shot from the top of the left circle past a Mikko Rantanen screen and into the near top corner. It was his 32nd goal of the season.

The Avalanche then took control with two goals in the span of 1:41 early in the second period. Johnson got the first one with a long wrist shot from just inside the blue line through traffic for his first goal since Oct. 13, 2021, a span of 159 games (including playoffs).

Nichushkin made it 4-1 with a one-timer into an open right side of the goal off a crossing pass from MacKinnon at 3:46.

Girard increased the lead to 5-1 at the 4:22 mark of the third period with a power-play goal, tapping in a long rebound of an Evan Rodrigues shot. It extended Colorado’s streak with a power-play goal to 12 games.

Anaheim forward Trevor Zegras, who leads the team with 22 goals and 59 points, left the game in the second period due to a lower-body injury and didn’t return.

–Field Level Media

The suddenly hot Philadelphia Flyers will look for their fourth consecutive victory when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

The Flyers (28-32-12, 68 points) extended their point streak to five games (4-0-1) with a resounding 3-0 shutout of the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

Goaltender Carter Hart stopped all 29 shots he faced while Scott Laughton, Kieffer Bellows and Tyson Foerster scored one goal each in the balanced effort.

Despite a frustrating season for the most part, the young Flyers have played much better lately in almost every area.

“You could understand if some guys kind of just rolled over and just went out there and played,” Philadelphia forward Morgan Frost said. “But we’re going out there to win every game, and it feels good in the room. It makes it a lot more fun to come to the rink.”

The penalty kill has been solid, especially in the past two wins. The Flyers killed off all seven power plays against the Red Wings and are 10-for-10 in the past two games.

Philadelphia head coach John Tortorella credited assistant Brad Shaw with an adjustment in the penalty kill.

“We’re chasing more, not letting them get set up,” Tortorella said. “Have an attitude of not letting them set up. For a while we just relied on blocking shots and staying in lanes and not putting them under pressure. I think we’ve moved in unison and pressure all day long killing penalties.”

Laughton has scored a goal in three straight games, helping the Flyers win three straight for the first time since Jan. 9-14.

“Just trying to make the most of my opportunity,” Laughton said. “Things are going in, so it’s been a fun little stretch here at home.”

On the other side, the Canadiens will be searching for their third consecutive victory.

On Monday, Montreal defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in a shootout thanks to Michael Pezzetta’s clinching goal in the sixth round.

Brendan Gallagher scored his 200th career goal, which tied Bobby Rousseau for 24th on the franchise’s all-time list.

Jordan Harris and Alex Belzile each added one goal for the Canadiens (30-38-6, 66 points).

Goaltender Jake Allen made 30 saves for his first victory since Feb. 28. He allowed only one goal on six shootout attempts.

The Canadiens called up goaltender Cayden Primeau on Monday and he will join the team in Philadelphia and is expected to start against the Flyers.

For a team that struggled so often this season, Montreal is now playing at a higher level.

“I think the most important thing about our brand is just the balance and the connection on both sides of the puck,” coach Martin St. Louis said.

When asked to describe what that meant, St. Louis gave a long explanation.

And then he simplified it.

“I know hockey is a game of mistakes and it’s not about being perfect, but it’s about finding ways,” St. Louis said. “I feel like we’ve grown tremendously on both sides of the puck that way, and all that happens through balance on the ice.”

–Field Level Media