Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists Saturday as the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs extended their point streak to eight games with a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had their five-game winning streak snapped.

Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist, Pontus Holmberg and William Nylander also scored, and Michael Bunting had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who are 6-0-2 on their point streak.

Toronto goaltender Erik Kallgren made 25 saves.

Rickard Rakell scored for the Penguins. Goaltender Casey DeSmith made 37 saves.

Marner opened the scoring and extended his hot streak on the game’s first shift.

With Pittsburgh making a line change, Matthews set up Marner for an open look near the left point. Marner moved in, swept across the top of the slot and beat DeSmith inside the far post 40 seconds into the first for a 1-0 Maple Leafs lead.

That gave Marner a 16-game point streak.

Toronto had the better of the play in the first, thanks at least in part to lapses in puck management by the Penguins. Toronto had a 17-5 edge in shots going into the second.

Things stayed on that course in the second, with the Maple Leafs coming out with a 3-0 lead and a 27-15 shots advantage.

At 7:58 of the second, the Penguins had a goal waved off as it was ruled the puck was dead before Rakell reached behind Kallgren to poke it in.

Holmberg increased Toronto’s lead to 2-0 at 9:55 of the second. Marner caught Penguins defenseman Kris Letang off guard near the right corner, stole the puck and fed it to the slot, where Holmberg roofed it past DeSmith.

At 10:50 of the second, Marner, from near the right post, fed Nylander in the slot for a one-timer to boost it to 3-0.

Pittsburgh got on the board at 11:38 of the third when Rakell scored from the right circle to cut it to 3-1.

Matthews got a loose puck in the slot and converted it at 14:36 of the third.

–Field Level Media

A pair of teams off much-needed victories will butt heads Sunday when the Los Angeles Kings play host to the Ottawa Senators.

The Kings enter off a 5-2 road victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday that ended a three-game losing streak. The Senators come to Los Angeles after Friday’s 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, which also ended a three-game skid.

After two defeats with Cal Petersen in goal, the Kings returned to Jonathan Quick against the Sharks, and he made 29 saves as the Kings took a 3-1 lead early in the second period on a goal from Viktor Arvidsson and cruised home from there.

“I think overall, we need to be a little more consistent, stick with our structure and good things are going to happen” Kings defenseman Sean Walker said on the Bally Sports West broadcast during a night when he helped keep the Sharks in check after scoring a goal Tuesday in a loss to the New York Rangers. “Just keep going with that game plan.”

Arvidsson added an assist Friday, while Jaret Anderson-Dolan also had a goal and an assist, giving Los Angeles the early 1-0 lead when he scored his first of the season midway through the opening period.

“Feels great,” said Anderson-Dolan, who last scored in May of 2021. “It’s been a while, so it definitely felt good.”

Sunday’s game is the opener of a four-game homestand for the Kings. Then, they hit the road Dec. 6 for a challenging six-game Eastern Conference swing that starts at Ottawa and includes stops at Toronto and Boston.

The Senators are a good starting point for the Kings’ homestand and upcoming road trip. Ottawa not only comes off a three-game slide, it lost 11 of 13 before knocking off the Ducks this week.

The Senators will be able to empty the tank at Los Angeles in their road-trip finale since they don’t play again until Wednesday when they open a home-and-home split against the New York Rangers.

Friday was the Senators’ highest scoring game since their early-season eruption when they came away with 18 goals in a three-game stretch that was part of a promising four-game winning streak.

Derick Brassard and Mathieu Joseph each had a goal with two assists against the Ducks. If there was any sense of disappointment, it was that goalie Cam Talbot lost his shutout with just under three minutes remaining. Talbot made 31 saves.

The victory had a similar vibe to the Senators’ 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 16, but that one lacked any staying power when the recent three-game losing streak followed.

Ottawa not only scored three power-play goals Friday, it also killed all six opportunities Anaheim had with a man advantage.

“We had a really good effort (Friday),” said Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, who added a goal of his own. “Special teams came up big, (the penalty kill) was great and the power play showed up when we needed it to. Overall, it was a really fun experience.”

–Field Level Media

Seattle coach Dave Hakstol wasn’t into any big-picture declarations after his second-place Kraken defeated Pacific Division-leading Vegas on Friday night, even if it was his team’s first-ever win against the Golden Knights in five tries.

“We needed two points,” Hakstol said. “We’re not looking for a measuring stick. We’re playing the game. We’re playing to win games. They’re an important two points on the road.”

The second-year Kraken are 6-1-1 on the road entering Sunday’s game at Anaheim.

It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Kraken, who improved to 9-1-1 in their past 11 games.

Andre Burakovsky, who scored twice against Vegas, called it a “huge win.”

“They’re ahead of us (in the Pacific Division). We want to chase them down,” Burakovsky said. “It was an important game. We lost last time against them (5-2 on Oct. 15), so we were hungry for the win. It was good to get it done. Obviously, it’s always nice to help the team get on the board.”

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer celebrated his 31st birthday by making 20 saves. It was Grubauer’s first appearance since suffering a lower-body injury Oct. 21.

“Obviously a little bit rusty (in the early going),” Grubauer said. “The guys have been playing unbelievable. They made it really easy for me. Once you make a couple (saves), it seems like everything settles down a little bit. It is just amazing to watch from back there, how everybody is contributing and doing the right thing. There are no selfish plays.”

When asked about winning on his birthday, Grubauer joked, “Besides my dog, the two points are the best birthday gift I’ve received.”

The Ducks, who got their first regulation victory of the season Wednesday as John Gibson made 41 saves in a 3-2 decision against the New York Rangers, couldn’t follow that up.

They suffered a 5-1 defeat Friday against visiting Ottawa, which scored three power-play goals and went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.

“The lesson there is that we have a young team,” Anaheim defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. “We have a lot of guys in here who are starting to realize how hard it is to win in this league.”

Max Jones scored the lone goal for Anaheim, which has lost four of its past five games.

“Penalties were kind of everywhere,” Jones said. “Ruins the flow of the game. There were a lot of them. It’s hard to stick in it through those games like that. I think that’s something we’ve got to figure out moving forward. … All around, just kind of a mess.”

The Ducks yielded eight power plays.

“We certainly don’t want to be going to the box the way our penalty kill has been going this year,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “I thought Ottawa did a great job at drawing penalties a certain way. Every team in the league is the same. You don’t want to take a penalty unless you’re going to save a goal.”

Ducks defenseman John Klingberg was scratched with a lower-body injury Friday and is considered day-to-day.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the teams. The host Ducks rallied for a 5-4 overtime victory Oct. 12 in their season opener, with Troy Terry scoring twice, including the winner.

–Field Level Media

The Winnipeg Jets look to maintain a good run when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

The Jets head to the Windy City on a 7-3-0 stretch over their past 10 games. They kicked off November with a three-game winning streak, which included a 4-0 victory over the Blackhawks on Nov. 5.

Since then, they’ve won four of seven but have only won back-to-back games once, alternating wins and losses over their past five contests.

“You look at things you can improve on, what caused the issues,” defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “A sign of a good team is trying not to ever lose two in a row. That’s a goal I think every team in the league has.”

Morrissey has delivered offensively for the club, leading the team with 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) after scoring the overtime winner in their win against the Dallas Stars on Friday.

Three of his four goals have stood as game-winning goals. All four have come over the past three weeks, with three of them coming in the past three games.

“He’s just been great for us all year,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “And when you get him into a foot race, then look out. He’s just been outstanding for us all year.”

Center Mark Scheifele, who leads Winnipeg with 10 goals, has gone five games without a goal and has been held without a point in each of his past four games.

After impressing in the early weeks of the season with a 4-2-0 run, the Blackhawks have faltered, going 2-8-4 in the 14 games since, including an 0-5-1 skid that they’ll take into Sunday’s contest.

“It’s not a lack of being able to get the job done,” Chicago center Andreas Athanasiou said. “It’s just kind of just finding the balances working through the downs and just keep building as a team.”

The latest defeat came as a shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday, in which Chicago rallied twice to tie it and earn a point.

“It is frustrating,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “It’s disappointing sitting in that room as a player, putting all the effort out for 60 minutes and not having a point or only getting one (point) out of three pretty good games are good efforts as a team.”

Captain Jonathan Toews is enjoying a bounce-back campaign after scoring only 12 goals in 71 games last season. The 34-year-old has eight goals through 20 games thus far, putting him on pace for 33 over a full 82-game season.

He had a seven-game point streak from the end of October through early November and had points in three straight before being held off the scoresheet against Montreal.

“I think at this point I feel I’m getting better and better and getting closer and closer to playing the game at a high level and at a level that I feel, maybe, I haven’t reached before, because of the experience I’ve had over the course of my career,” Toews told NHL.com recently.

–Field Level Media

Brett Pesce scored his first goal of the season to break a third-period tie as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the visiting Calgary Flames 3-2 to snap a five-game winless streak with the victory Saturday at Raleigh, N.C.

Seth Jarvis and Martin Necas also scored for the Hurricanes, who had been 0-1-4 during a skid that dated back to Nov. 17.

Carolina goalie Antti Raanta, playing for the first time in five games, made 18 saves. He had been slated to start Wednesday but did not play because of an illness.

Adam Ruzicka and Tyler Toffoli scored goals for the Flames.

Flames goalie Dan Vladar made 30 saves in just his second outing in more than two weeks.
The Flames finished 2-3-1 on a six-game road trip.

The Hurricanes have never lost six consecutive games under coach Rod Brind’Amour, keeping that mark in place to improve to 5-3-1 at home this season.

Pesce’s shot from inside the blue line zipped past Vladar at the 8:46 mark of the third period. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Paul Stastny posted assists on the play. It was the first goal for Pesce since last March.

That marked Carolina’s fourth power-play goal in two days after going six consecutive games without scoring on the man advantage.

The Hurricanes, who won’t play at home again until Dec. 15, opened the scoring at 6:20 of the first period on Jarvis’ fourth goal of the season, set up by a pass from Brent Burns.

The Flames drew even with 1:51 to play in the opening period on Ruzicka’s power-play goal. It was his fifth goal of the season.

The Hurricanes were back in front on Necas’ 10th goal of the season at 3:41 of the second period on a power play.

Toffoli tied it for the Flames later in the second period, his seventh. He had been without a point on the first five games of the trip.

–Field Level Media

Leon Draisaitl scored a power-play goal with 2:02 remaining as the Edmonton Oilers stormed back from a three-goal deficit and beat the host New York Rangers 4-3 Saturday afternoon.

After Alexis Lafreniere was called for roughing Edmonton defenseman Tyson Barrie, Connor McDavid gained possession, circled the net and moved the puck to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Nugent-Hopkins spotted Draisaitl streaking down the left side and threaded the puck through the slot and the play ended when he sped past Chris Kreider and scored into the vacated left side of the net.

Before Draisaitl scored his fourth game-winning goal of the season, Edmonton scored three times in a span of 5:42 in the third after the Rangers took a 3-0 lead on goals by Kreider and Julien Gauthier 33 seconds apart late in the second.

Evan Bouchard scored the first two goals of Edmonton’s comeback before Dylan Holloway got his first career goal to tie it with 9:39 remaining.

Bouchard ended the shutout bid 4:39 into the third by ripping a shot from the left circle over Igor Shesterkin’s shoulder. Bouchard then ripped a slap shot from the middle of the slot to make it 3-2 with 12:28 left

Following an errant clearing pass by Jacob Trouba and a slow New York line change, Holloway ripped a shot from the right circle for a 3-3 deadlock with 9:39 to go.

Lafreniere scored early in the first period as the Rangers had goals by Artemi Panarin and Braden Schneider disallowed by replay reviews and heard loud boos when the game ended. Panarin’s goal was disallowed because of an offsides call and Schneider’s tally was disallowed due to goalie interference.

Jack Campbell stopped 20 shots as Edmonton improved to 4-8-0 in its past 12 contests.

Shesterkin made 28 saves as the Rangers lost for the fourth time in their past five home games (1-3-1)

Kreider made it 2-0 in the second period when he played the puck from behind the left side of the net and his backhander through the crease appeared to trickle off Campbell’s pads with 4:06 remaining. With 3:36 remaining, Gauthier was denied on an odd-man rush, but he corralled his own rebound, eluded Barrie and swept a wrister into the net.

The Rangers opened the scoring 2:20 in when Lafreniere crashed the net, positioned himself at the left doorstep and tipped in a pass from Adam Fox.

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Wild continue their six-game homestand Sunday afternoon against the Arizona Coyotes in St. Paul, Minn.

The Wild have split the first four games following a 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.

Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello each scored and set up a goal and Alex Goligoski had two assists for Minnesota.

Zuccarello’s goal with 3:34 left in the third period pulled the Wild within 4-3 but they couldn’t get the equalizer.

“We had the looks,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “Everything was executed correctly from whenever we pulled (goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury), four (minutes) and a bit, we definitely gave ourselves a chance at the end.”

Kaprizov extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, seven assists) and Zuccarello has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his last eight games.

Fleury made 24 saves in his return after missing three games with an upper-body injury. He would have liked another chance at Zach Aston-Reese’s goal that made it 2-1.

“I thought we played good,” Fleury said. “That second goal is on me. It’s definitely a stupid goal. I think I stepped out. But other than that, I thought we played good. The penalty kill was pretty good (3-for-3), and the battle back at the end.”

Forward Ryan Reaves, acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Wednesday, was minus-1 with four hits and one shot in 12:03 of ice time during his Minnesota debut.

Defenseman Jonas Brodin missed his second straight game with an illness.

Fleury is 15-9-1 with a 2.14 goals-against-average, .921 save percentage and three shutouts in his career against Arizona.

The Coyotes are coming off a 4-3 loss as well, although they managed to secure a point in a shootout loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.

Jakob Chychrun tied the game 3-3 with 26 seconds left in the third period on a shot that deflected off a Red Wings defenseman. It was the first goal of the season for Chychrun, playing just his third game following offseason wrist surgery.

“I’ve had a lot of good looks in these first few games, and I’ve just tried to keep shooting,” Chychrun said. “If I keep putting the puck on net, I know eventually they will go in.”

Nick Schmaltz joined Chychrun by collecting a goal and an assist and J.J. Moser scored for Arizona, which is 4-3-2 on a 14-game road trip.

“A year ago, we probably would have celebrated getting a point on the road or four out of six, but right now we are very frustrated,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “We want to win these games, not just get a point.”

Clayton Keller had an assist and has totaled 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 19 games.

Karel Vejmelka made 33 saves in the loss and has two shutouts in his past five games. He is 1-1 with a 4.84 GAA and .867 save percentage in two career games against the Wild.

–Field Level Media