Patrik Laine returned to the Columbus lineup and tormented his former club with two goals as the visiting Blue Jackets cooled off the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Friday night.

After missing seven games with an ankle injury suffered on Nov. 12, the former Jets sharpshooter scored his first goals against his former team. Laine’s second of the night put Columbus ahead 3-0 just over three minutes into the second period.

Drafted second overall in 2016, Laine played five seasons in Winnipeg before being traded to Columbus on Jan. 23, 2021.

Erik Gudbranson notched his 100th career point with a goal, Gustav Nyquist potted one, and Johnny Gaudreau assisted on three scores. Boone Jenner produced his 300th NHL point with the primary assist on Laine’s second goal.

In breaking a personal three-game losing skid, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 37 shots to move to 4-4-1. Columbus won for the first time in four games (1-2-1).

After its 16th-ranked penalty-kill unit shut down the match’s first power play, the Blue Jackets turned to the former Jets star for a 1-0 lead on just his second shift back on his former home ice.

Jenner kept the puck alive in the offensive zone, and Laine roofed a shot over netminder David Rittich at 6:48 on a cross-ice feed from Gaudreau. The snipe from the bottom of the right circle was the Finnish right winger’s first tally since hitting the net in Colorado on Nov. 4.

The visitors added on nearly four minutes later when Rittich stopped Gudbranson’s long shot, but the puck caromed in off the skate of back-checking Pierre-Luc Dubois.

In the second period, Jenner recorded his milestone point with a feed from the slot to Laine. The right-handed-shooting Laine — from one knee — ripped his fourth goal at 3:19 to make it 3-0. Nyquist pushed it to a four-goal lead when he finished a tic-tac-toe passing play with Gaudreau and Vladislav Gavrikov at 12:21.

On its third power play of the third, Winnipeg pulled Rittich inside the final six minutes, and Dubois broke up the shutout bid with his 11th goal at 15:30 on a rebound.

In his first game since Nov. 21, Rittich stopped 22 of 26 shots.

–Field Level Media

Four players scored a goal apiece Friday night for the Nashville Predators, who completed a successful back-to-back road set by defeating the New York Islanders 4-1 in Elmont, N.Y.

Filip Forsberg scored in the first period and Roman Josi scored the eventual game-winner in the second for the Predators, who beat the Eastern Conference-leading New Jersey Devils 4-3 in overtime on Thursday night.

Matt Duchene and Mikael Granlund added empty netters late Friday. Duchene’s goal was the 300th of his career. Duchene added two assists, and Forsberg and Josi had one apiece.

Goalie Kevin Lankinen made a career-high 48 saves for the Predators, who have won seven of nine games (7-1-1).

Mathew Barzal scored in the third for the Islanders, who lost their second straight despite recording their most shots since they had 50 against the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-2 overtime win on Jan. 3, 2019. Goalie Ilya Sorokin recorded 19 saves.

The Predators scored their first two goals on the power play following faceoffs deep in the Islanders’ zone.

Islanders center Casey Cizikas won a faceoff with Ryan Johansen, but Alexander Romanov’s pass was picked off by Josi, who passed to Duchene. The Predators’ center dished across the ice to Forsberg, who went to one knee and fired a shot beyond Sorokin’s stick as the New York goalie was caught leaning toward Duchene with 5:42 left in the first.

The Predators doubled the lead by scoring during a 4-on-3 power play 8:22 into the second. Johansen won the faceoff against Cizikas, and Duchene retrieved the puck before passing to Josi, who exchanged the puck with Forsberg before firing a sizzling slap shot from just in front of the blue line over Sorokin’s shoulder as Johansen leaped out of the way.

The Islanders collected 13 of the first 16 shots in the third period before finally scoring off a faceoff loss deep in the Nashville zone shortly beyond the midway point.

Colton Sissons outdueled Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the faceoff, but Brock Nelson got a stick on a clearing pass by Tanner Jeannot. The puck skittered to Barzal, who shuffled the puck well into the left faceoff circle before firing a shot over the glove of Lankinen with 8:54 left. The goalie was screened by Anders Lee.

The Islanders pulled Sorokin in the final two minutes, but Duchene scored his milestone goal with 1:13 remaining, and Granlund added another insurance goal with 36.9 seconds left.

–Field Level Media

Brady Tkachuk scored at 4:42 of overtime and had three points to help the Ottawa Senators rally for a 3-2 win against the host New York Rangers on Friday.

Tkachuk slipped the puck five-hole past Igor Shesterkin on a breakaway. Tkachuk also scored his 100th NHL goal to tie the game 2-2 with 49 seconds remaining in the third period, deflecting Thomas Chabot’s shot.

The Senators captain also had an assist. Chabot had two assists and Cam Talbot made 25 saves for Ottawa.

Vitali Kravtsov and Mika Zibanejad scored, and Shesterkin made 34 saves for the Rangers.

The Senators had an early opportunity to grab the lead when Rangers center Filip Chytil was assessed a double minor for high-sticking just over a minute into the contest. But the visitors didn’t muster much beyond Tkachuk’s shot from the left circle that hit Shesterkin’s mask and then the crossbar.

Kravtsov gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 10:31 of the first period. His shot from above the left circle caught Ottawa defenseman Travis Hamonic in the neck area, dropping him to the ice. Kravtsov picked up the loose puck and beat Talbot from the bottom of the left circle off the far side post and in.

Hamonic was helped off the ice and returned for the second period.

The Senators pushed in the second and appeared to tie it nearly 11 minutes in when Claude Giroux connected on a rebound in the slot. But the goal was overturned after video review on an offside challenge by New York determined Tkachuk preceded the puck into the zone.

The Senators got on the board on the power play just over a minute later. Tim Stutzle spotted the puck as it squirted out of a scramble in the crease and backhanded it over a sprawled Shesterkin to tie it 1-1 at 12:16.

Zibanejad put the Rangers ahead 2-1 at 6:03 of the third period. Braden Schneider’s point shot hit Ottawa defenseman Artem Zub in the face in front of the net and an open Zibanejad pushed the loose puck in from the side of the net.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Kings are still searching for consistency this season. Finding a way to beat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night would be a good start.

The Kings have lost five straight against Carolina, getting outscored 20-6 with two shutouts in those games. Los Angeles hasn’t defeated the Hurricanes since Dec. 2, 2018.

The Kings found some satisfaction in a 5-3 win against the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night, but they need to avoid the type of setback they experienced on Tuesday, when they lost 9-8 in overtime to the visiting Seattle Kraken.

That caused some reshuffling on the Los Angeles roster, including putting goalie Cal Petersen on waivers.

“The input into the game is really important,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “Our input has been good and then it wavers and then it falls off and then it comes back to good. We’re a little bit like a yo-yo.”

The Hurricanes have recently displayed the type of consistency McLellan aspires to see with his club.

Carolina has won three in a row following a five-game losing streak, with four of those defeats going to overtime.

The Hurricanes beat the St. Louis Blues 6-4 on Thursday night behind the second NHL hat trick from Jordan Martinook and the fourth so far this season for Carolina, which is more than it had the previous three seasons combined.

Carolina is also just the fifth NHL team since the 1996-97 season to produce four hat tricks through the first 24 games, joining the Kings in 2005-06, the Coyotes in 2010-11, the Winnipeg Jets in 2018-19 and the Nashville Predators in 2018-19.

Carolina forward Jordan Staal said the Hurricanes played one of their better games at even strength against St. Louis

“We just stuck with our game and stayed with what we do best,” Staal said. “We ended up getting rewarded for it.”

Carolina continues to receive better-than-expected production from right wing Andrei Svechnikov, who has 14 goals in 24 games, putting him on pace to surpass his NHL career high of 30 goals in 78 games last season.

Martin Necas has 11 goals in 24 games, five shy of his career high set over 64 games in the 2019-20 season.

Carolina could be close to getting right wing Teuvo Teravainen back from an upper-body injury as well. He has missed the past 10 games, but coach Rod Brind’Amour said Teravainen should return “hopefully real soon.”

Teravainen scored 22 goals in 77 games for the Hurricanes last season, but has yet to score in his first 14 games this season.

The Kings have been receiving excellent play from their top line of Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe.

Kopitar scored two goals in the win against Arizona and Fiala had a goal and an assist to increase his team lead to 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists)

“I thought our line, throughout the last five or six games, we’ve been creating quite a few chances, just not necessarily cashing in on a whole lot of them,” Kopitar said. “(Thursday) night, it kind of opened up, and we’re going to need more of the same going forward.”

McLellan said he sees the chemistry developing between Kopitar, Kempe and Fiala, who came over from the Minnesota Wild in the offseason.

“This second go-around with Kevin there I think is starting to feel more comfortable for the three of them,” McLellan said.

–Field Level Media

It was a November to remember for the Seattle Kraken.

December has started off well, too.

The Kraken will play host to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night riding a franchise-record seven-game winning streak.

“We’ve been doing a good job of finding ways to win and staying with it and a lot of momentum swings and games and we’re doing a pretty good job of managing that,” Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz said after Thursday’s 3-2 overtime victory against visiting Washington. “Whether it’s special teams power play getting a big goal, or the penalty kill stepping up and it’s a big save by (Philipp Grubauer). Everyone’s chipping in and playing together and we’re getting results.”

Yanni Gourde scored the tying goal with 2:27 remaining in regulation and Matty Beniers won it on a breakaway seven seconds into overtime. It was the fastest regular-season OT goal by a rookie in NHL history, besting the eight seconds it took Walter Jackson to score for the New York Americans in 1933.

Beniers, who has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) over a six-game point streak, won the opening faceoff in overtime to teammate Andre Burakovsky, who split two defenders at the blue line, both of whom fell to the ice. Beniers skated past and put a shot between the pads of Capitals goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

“That’s two guys making a play,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol, whose team is 12-1-1 over its past 14 games to pull within two points of Pacific Division-leading Vegas with two games in hand. “That’s having a plan on the faceoff again. I don’t care what zone it’s in, what time of the game, obviously, they had something in mind, and they went out and they executed. They went to battle and then finished it off.”

The Panthers are coming off a 5-1 victory Thursday at Vancouver as Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling and Ryan Lomberg set a franchise record by each scoring in a 59-second span late in the first period.

Sam Bennett tallied twice, Tkachuk added two assists and Spencer Knight made 32 saves for the Panthers, who ended a three-game losing streak with their second victory in the past eight games (2-3-3).

“It was great,” Lomberg said. “We needed this one, so I thought besides the goals we did a lot of good things for the majority of that game.”

Tkachuk, acquired in an offseason trade with Calgary, has 11 multipoint games in his first 22 games with the Panthers. He has fit in seamlessly with Bennett, who was a Flames teammate for 4 1/2 seasons.

“They play off each other,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I think Sam’s got so much quickness in straight lines, he pulls people off, and Matthew can just wait a puck out. He can hold on to a puck and find a hole. They’ve been really good together and that’s why we kept them together.”

The Panthers are 1-1-1 on a five-game trip that concludes Tuesday in Winnipeg.

–Field Level Media

The Calgary Flames are facing a conundrum heading into Saturday’s home clash with the Washington Capitals.

The Flames, who started the season with high expectations but have been a middling club at best, must decide what to do about their massive question between the pipes. No. 1 goaltender Jacob Markstrom has struggled to the point his confidence has seemingly plummeted.

Markstrom, who has been nowhere near the level of past seasons, was extremely hard on himself after Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in which he could be pinpointed as the main culprit for both goals against on a night his team dominated play.

“I just suck at hockey right now,” Markstrom said. “I’ve got to step up. We’re playing good hockey and not letting many scoring chances in. Can’t start behind every game.”

Therefore, questions about whether the Flames will turn again to the struggling Markstrom (8-6-2, 2.97 goals-against average, .897 save percentage) or give the start to backup Dan Vladar, who has both a better GAA (2.70) and save percentage (.913), although a losing record (2-4-1).

“I don’t think he sucks at hockey,” coach Darryl Sutter, who wouldn’t divulge on Friday who he planned to start in goal, said of Markstrom. “He has high expectations of himself. At the end of the day, that’s the bottom line. It’s better to have high expectations than be a 50-50 guy.”

The goaltending issue adds another layer to the team’s issues, which have notably been a lack of offensive punch — the Canucks outshot the Canadiens 46-19 in defeat — and an inability to string together victories.

“At the end of the day, we know what kind of person Marky is and he’s going to battle. There’s no doubt in our mind that he’s the guy,” center Nazem Kadri said.

As for his team’s offensive woes, Kadri added: “Honestly man, it seems every time there’s a game like that — a goalie’s making 40-45 saves. As the season unfolds, I think those are going to drop and we’ll score more. I think our foundation is good, you just have to finish.”

The Flames, who have lost four of five games (1-3-1), aren’t the only team looking for a rebound performance when the teams hit the Saddledome ice.

The Capitals are struggling to simply to reach the .500 mark, victims of a litany of injury issues as well as inconsistency. They arrive in Calgary after blowing a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

It wasn’t just the final result that had coach Peter Laviolette fuming. Despite his team taking a 2-0 first-period lead, he wasn’t fooled. The Capitals were fortunate to be ahead after a period in which they managed only four shots on goal and surrendered just as many odd-man rushes.

“Not enough of the right things,” Laviolette said. “Everywhere, everywhere, the whole night, all three periods. There’s nothing I’m happy about.”

Washington has a 1-1-1 record midway through a season-long, six-game road swing. On the flip side, the Capitals can boast about being on a 3-1-1 run.

“Our game has definitely been trending upwards,” goaltender Darcy Kuemper said. “We might not have had our best stuff or all our legs (on Thursday). We got off to a lead and unfortunately couldn’t hang on to the two (points), but we got a point and we’ve just got to keep collecting as many as we can.”

One positive for the Capitals is the play of Alex Ovechkin. Thanks to a pair of assists in Seattle, the Washington captain has collected eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games.

–Field Level Media

The Vancouver Canucks will try to snap a three-game home losing streak Saturday night when they host the Arizona Coyotes.

The Canucks are just 3-6-1 on home ice this season and have started their current four-game homestand with ugly back-to-back 5-1 losses to Washington on Tuesday and Florida on Thursday.

Those defeats came on the heels of an impressive three-game road sweep of defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado (4-3), Western Conference-leading Vegas (5-1) and San Jose (4-3 in OT) to improve to 6-6-2 on the road.

Only San Jose (two) and Arizona (one) have fewer home victories than Vancouver. The Coyotes at least have an excuse. They will be playing their 12th game of an NHL record-tying 14-game road swing while a locker room annex is completed at the team’s temporary home, Mullett Arena on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, Ariz. Arizona is playing 20 of its first 24 contests on the road and is 1-2-1 at home.

Thursday night’s loss was especially frustrating for the Canucks, who allowed three goals in the span of just 59 seconds at the end of the first period to fall behind 3-0. And starting goaltender Thatcher Demko had to be helped off with a right leg injury after allowing the third goal by Ryan Lomberg.

“I just thought we had no pushback,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It was like we were just watching them play.

“It’s unfortunate. We’ll go back to the drawing board. How we can play so good one week and then so bad the next week is pretty mind-boggling. I would have put us up against anybody after we played Colorado and Vegas, and then came back at 5:00 and still beat a San Jose team that won their next game 4-0 and took the Leafs to the wire.

“It’s hard to understand why we’re doing this at home when we’re playing good on the road right now.”

Boudreau and the players made it clear they weren’t pleased with the team’s effort in the losses to the Capitals and Panthers.

“The great road trip that we had, we wanted to come here and keep that ball rolling and we haven’t done that in the first two games at home, and we have to figure it out quick,” Canucks center Bo Horvat said.

Arizona, starting a three-game swing through western Canada that also includes stops at Calgary and Edmonton, brings a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) into the contest following a 5-3 loss at Los Angeles on Thursday.

The Coyotes led that contest 7:01 into the second period, 3-1, but the Kings rallied to tie it later in the period on a power-play goal by Trevor Moore and a 4-on-4 score by Carl Grundstrom. Anze Kopitar then scored what proved to be the game-winner 5:22 into the third period.

“Going up 3-1, (we) definitely have to find a way to win that game,” said Arizona forward Christian Fischer, who scored a short-handed goal in the first period. “We gave up a lot. Our team is usually not like that. That’s not characteristic of us. We’re usually very good defensively. We let a lot get through us tonight.”

The Coyotes, who have been on the road since their last home game back on Nov. 3, return home on Dec. 9 when they host the Boston Bruins.

–Field Level Media

Overtime losses aren’t necessarily a bad thing, particularly in the NHL.

The Detroit Red Wings are tied for the most OT defeats in the league with five, but each one is still worth a point. Detroit lost a shootout to Buffalo on Wednesday but has collected points in six of its last seven games.

The Red Wings will try to add another point or two when they finish off a five-game homestand against Vegas on Saturday.

Detroit trailed the Sabres 4-1 in the third period but forced overtime with the aid of two Oskar Sundqvist goals.

“You just don’t come back from three goals in this league. And the way we did it, I really thought the fight back started at the end of the second,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Down 4-1, it obviously wasn’t going our way and our guys just dug in. … They got rewarded.

“This is a huge point we’ll tap back into throughout the season.”

Andrew Copp assisted on both of Sundqvist’s goals.

“I don’t know about happy, but (I am) satisfied with the way we came back,” Copp said. “From 4-1 down, it’s a good sign. But it still sucks right now that we didn’t get the next point. We had a couple of chances to put it away.”

There were a couple of reasons for concern. Detroit went 0-for-7 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 advantage late in the third period after it had tied the score.

The Wings also failed to convert on three power plays in a loss to Toronto the previous game.

“We’re 0 for our last 10 on the power play and that’s frustrating,” Lalonde said. “You need your power play to be successful. If we get the power play either of these last two games, we’re probably looking at more than one point.”

Forward Tyler Bertuzzi was hit in the left hand by a shot and was later placed on injured reserve. Bertuzzi has already missed a chunk of time with an upper-body injury.

The Golden Knights could have defenseman Alex Pietrangelo back for Saturday’s contest. He has missed the last two games due to personal reasons.

Vegas is coming off a 4-3 defeat at Pittsburgh and has dropped three of its last four games. The Golden Knights held a 2-0 advantage after the first period and led 3-2 early in the third period.

“Down 2-0, they’re having an uneven year. They’re going to come and have a push,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s been acknowledged, but we have some veteran guys in the room that have to say, ‘Hey, it’s coming. So make sure we’re ready.'”

Jack Eichel and Reilly Smith scored the first-period goals. Eichel leads the Golden Knights with 12 goals and Smith is right behind him with 11.

“They were quicker than us (Thursday),” Smith said. “It’s a little bit of a wakeup call. We’ve got to do a better job just upping the tempo, especially when you play a team like Pittsburgh.”

The Golden Knights are in the midst of a four-game road trip. They’ll complete the journey in Boston on Monday.

Detroit and Vegas split their two meetings last season with each winning by a 5-2 score.

–Field Level Media