Carolina’s Martin Necas, center, celebrates his goal with teammates Ian Cole, left, and Andrei Svechnikov during the Hurricanes’ 4-1 win over the Canucks on Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina. Karl D. DeBlaker/Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — Martin Necas had a goal and an assist on his 23rd birthday and the Carolina Hurricanes stopped a two-game skid by beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 on Saturday.
Vincent Trocheck also had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who regained their scoring touch after being shut out for the first time this season two nights earlier.
Sebastian Aho and Steven Lorentz had the other Carolina goals and Andrei Svechnikov posted two assists. Frederik Andersen made 30 saves.
Bo Horvat scored in the first period for Vancouver, which has lost the first three games of a five-game trip. Thatcher Demko stopped 29 shots.
Aho opened the scoring with his team-leading 16th goal. It was his first tally in more than a month because he missed three games and then hadn’t scored in five games since returning.
Trocheck’s first goal in seven games gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead just over a minute into the second period.
Necas produced his goal by coming down the right side and firing the puck past Demko. It gave Carolina 3-1 lead less than five minutes into the second period and was his 100th career point.
RANGERS 3, FLYERS 2: Chris Kreider scored with 6:30 left, fellow All-Star Adam Fox had two assists and New York won in Philadelphia.
Mika Zibanejad and Filip Chytil also scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers, who have won six of eight.
Oskar Lindblom and Cam York scored for the Flyers, who dropped their seventh straight. Carter Hart made 24 saves.
Coach Gerard Gallant returned to the bench for the Rangers after missing the last two games because of health and safety protocols. New York finished an 11-day, five-game road trip 3-2.
CAPITALS 2, ISLANDERS 0: Tom Wilson scored early, Alex Ovechkin added an empty-net goal, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves to lead Washington to a victory in New York.
Vanecek picked up his seventh win of the season and his third career shutout as the Capitals snapped a four-game skid (0-2-2).
Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves in only his fifth start for the Islanders since allowing four goals against the New York Rangers in late November.
PANTHERS 9, BLUE JACKETS 2: Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell each scored twice, MacKenzie Weegar tied a career-best with four points and NHL-leading Florida scored early and often on the way to beating Columbus in Sunrise, Florida.
Aaron Ekblad had three assists for Florida. Weegar, Jonathan Huberdeau, Anthony Duclair, Sam Bennett and Patric Hornqvist all had goals for the Panthers, who improved the NHL’s best record to 26-7-5 and best home mark to 21-3-0.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots against his former club, and Ekblad had two assists for Florida.
LIGHTNING 3, STARS 1: Ross Colton had the tiebreaking goal on a breakaway midway through the third period, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots, and Tampa Bay beat visiting Dallas for the Stars’ seventh consecutive road loss.
Brayden Point and Alex Killorn also scored for Tampa Bay, and Nikita Kucherov had two assists.
Esa Lindell scored for Dallas, and Anton Khudobin had 26 saves.
LEAFS 6, BLUES 5: Ilya Mikheyev scored the go-ahead goal with 3:15 remaining, lifting Toronto to a victory in St. Louis.
Timothy Liljegren, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Michael Bunting also scored for Toronto. Jack Campbell stopped 20 shots.
Jordan Binnington made 34 saves for St. Louis, which lost for the first time in regulation at home since Nov. 16 – a stretch during which it was 12-0-1. Ryan O’Reilly scored twice and Niko Mikkola, Robert Thomas and Brandon Saad also had goals for the Blues.
RED WINGS 4, SABRES 0: Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and two assists, Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 22 shots for his fourth career shutout and host Detroit beat Buffalo to snap a four-game losing streak.
Rookie Lucas Raymond got his first goal since Dec. 1, and Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen also scored for Detroit which was 0-2-2 during its skid and won for just the second time in eight games. Dylan Larkin had two assists.
Aaron Dell made 35 saves for the Sabres, who are 0-3 against the Red Wings this season.
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