Panthers center Sam Bennett takes a shot while being defended by Montreal’s Sami Niku during Saturday’s game in Sunrise, Florida. Bennett scored two goals in a 5-2 victory. Michael Reaves/Associated Press
SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Bennett scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves to lead the Florida Panthers past the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Saturday for their third straight win.
Aleksander Barkov, Frank Vatrano and Mason Marchment also scored and Jonathan Huberdeau had three assists for the Panthers, who improved to 17-3 at home and 14-0 overall when leading after two periods.
Jonathan Drouin and Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal, which continued to be decimated by coronavirus issues, with 16 players in COVID-19 protocol. Sam Montembeault stopped 43 shots.
BLUES 6, WILD 4: Jordan Kyrou had two goals and two assists in a five-goal second period for St. Louis, and the Blues cruised through the coldest outdoor game in NHL history to beat host Minnesota in the Winter Classic.
The official faceoff temperature was minus-5.7 degrees, the first of 33 outdoor games the league has played with a temperature below zero.
David Perron got the Blues on the board in the first period. Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Barbashev and Torey Krug joined Kyrou by scoring in the second, and Robert Thomas pitched in with two assists. Jordan Binnington made 29 saves for the Blues, who are 11-1-2 in their last 14 games against the rival Wild.
HURRICANES 7, BLUE JACKETS 4: Brady Skjei and Steven Lorentz scored twice and Carolina got the last seven goals in a win at Columbus.
The Hurricanes (23-7-1) scored four times in a 3:57 span of the third to overcome a 4-2 deficit.
Ethan Bear scored to go-ahead goal at 10:50 of the third and Lorentz made it 6-4 at 11:59. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net goal.
Former UMaine player Gustav Nyquist, in his 600th NHL game, scored short-handed and had an assist for the Blue Jackets (15-14-1).
ISLANDERS 3, OILERS 2: Noah Dobson scored 3:52 into overtime to give New York a victory at home against slumping Edmonton.
Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier scored for the Islanders, who got their first win beyond regulation this season after losing the first six overtime games. Ilya Sorokin stopped 17 shots to help New York improve to 3-0-1 in its last four games, and 4-0-1 at home after losing the first seven (0-5-2) at its $1.1 billion UBS Arena.
Leon Draisaitl got his NHL-leading 25th goal and Darnell Nurse also scored for Edmonton, which lost in overtime for the second straight day and fell to 2-7-2 in its last 11 after starting the season 16-5-0.
PREDATORS 6, BLACKHAWKS 1: Tanner Jeannot scored twice and Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen each added a goal and an assist to lead Nashville to a win at home.
Nick Cousins and Roman Josi also scored, Mattias Ekholm had three assists and Juuse Saros made 37 saves for Nashville, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
Philipp Kurashev had the lone goal for Chicago, which has lost three straight. The Blackhawks played their first game since Dec. 18.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, SENATORS 0: Justin Holl and Ilya Mikheyev scored on the same first-period penalty kill for their first goals of the season and Toronto routed visiting Ottawa at fan-less Scotiabank Arena.
The game was played without fans after the Ontario government announced Thursday that attendance at indoor events, including arenas, would be capped at 1,000 spectators or 50%, whichever is smaller, because of COVID-19.
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