Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek each recorded three goals and three assists to lead a record-setting day for the Minnesota Wild, who set a franchise single-game high for goals in Monday's frantic 10-7 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello delivered a goal and three assists each for Minnesota, which overcame a three-goal second-period deficit by lighting the lamp seven times during the third to set a team record for goals in a period as well.
The Wild's offensive outburst also overshadowed a three-goal, one-assist performance from Vancouver's J.T. Miller. The game was the first to have three players record hat tricks since the Los Angeles Kings accomplished the feat in an 11-4 win over the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 8, 1992.
After Zuccarello's power-play goal with 33 seconds left in the second period cut the Canucks' lead to 5-3, the Wild scored five straight times in the first 5:12 of the third. Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each struck twice during the flurry, which also included a goal from Marco Rossi.
The six goals in a span of 5:45 made the Wild the first team to score six times in that short a time frame since the Washington Capitals did so in a 4:47 stretch in a 10-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 3, 1999.
The Pacific Division-leading Canucks fought back, though, as goals from Nikita Zadorov and Brock Boeser got them within 8-7 with 2:08 left to play. Minnesota's Jonas Brodin scored into an empty net 61 seconds later, however, before Kaprizov completed his fourth career hat trick and second this season with an empty-netter in the final stages.
Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek matched the @mnwild record for points in a game while combining for a feat not witnessed in more than three decades.#NHLStats: https://t.co/wuATxuTB8f pic.twitter.com/Ga6OXyAPpY
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 19, 2024
Marc-Andre Fleury was credited with the victory after the Wild veteran stopped six of eight shots after replacing starter Filip Gustavsson to begin the third period. Minnesota extended its point streak to six games (5-0-1) despite Gustavsson yielding five goals on 16 shots.
The Canucks, meanwhile, have dropped two straight following a forgettable afternoon for netminder Casey DeSmith, who let in eight goals on just 25 shots.
Matthews' 49th goal helps Maple Leafs top Blues
Auston Matthews continued his recent goal-scoring tear by recording his league-leading 49th of the season, which helped the Toronto Maple Leafs stay hot as well with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Matthews' seventh goal in three games snapped a 1–1 tie 45 seconds into the third period, and the 2021-22 Hart Trophy recipient had an assist earlier to spark Toronto to a fourth consecutive win.
Mitchell Marner had three assists for Toronto, which also got a key short-handed goal from William Nylander that extended the Leafs' lead to 3-1 with 12:31 left to play.
After a scoreless first period, the Maple Leafs struck quickly in the second as Matthews set up Matthew Knies for a close-range shot that the rookie rocketed past St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer just 22 seconds into the period.
Brandon Saad's power-play goal late in the second drew the Blues even, though the tie was short-lived as Matthews deposited a feed from Marner into the Blues' net in the opening minute of the third.
The Blues cut the deficit to 3-2 on Pavel Buchnevich's goal with 1:08 to play, but Bobby McMann sealed the win for Toronto with an empty-net score with 38 seconds left.
Hofer stopped 25 of 28 shots for St. Louis, which has lost two straight following an 8-2-0 stretch from Jan. 20-Feb. 15. Ilya Samsonov finished with 19 saves for Toronto.
Bruins stop four-game slide with shootout win over Stars
Charlie McAvoy scored in the ninth round of the shootout as the Boston Bruins rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars to halt their four-game losing streak.
McAvoy added two assists in regulation for Boston, which forced overtime on David Pastrnak's goal with 1:45 left in the third period.
The Bruins later extended the game further when Brad Marchand beat Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger in the third round of the shootout to tie the deciding phase at 1-1.
Both Oettinger and Boston's Jeremy Swayman turned aside the next five skaters each faced before McAvoy converted his chance. Swayman then denied Craig Smith to end the game and hand Dallas a second straight defeat, though the Western Conference contenders did extend their point streak to five games (3-0-2).
Swayman finished with a career-high 43 saves before stopping eight of nine opponents in the shootout.
Goals from Boston's Jesper Boqvist and Dallas' Wyatt Johnston sent the teams into the first intermission tied at 1-1, and the Stars' Ryan Suter and the Bruins' Justin Brazeau scored 28 seconds apart less than two minutes into the second period.
Dallas went back ahead when Esa Lindell scored on a 2-on-1 rush with 9:16 left in the third, but Pastrnak later one-timed a feed from McAvoy past Oettinger with Swayman pulled for an extra attacker to tie the game at 3-3.
Oettinger finished with 27 saves.
Toronto Maple Leafs name Craig Berube coach
The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Craig Berube as their new head coach on Friday, bringing a Stanley Cup champion to a franchise that holds the longest stretch without a title in NHL history.
Berube, who guided the St. Louis Blues to their lone Stanley Cup title in 2018-19, comes aboard just over a week after the Maple Leafs fired Sheldon Keefe following a first-round exit in this year's play-offs.
The 58-year-old Berube, a former Toronto player known for his hard-nosed and disciplined coaching approach, compiled a 206-132-44 record in six seasons with St. Louis. The Blues reached the play-offs in the first four of those seasons, but missed the post-season in 2022-23 and got off to a 13-14-1 start in 2023-24 before Berube was fired on Dec. 12.
Berube did enjoy instant success after replacing Mike Yeo behind the Blues' bench in November 2018. St. Louis was near the bottom of the Western Conference at the time of the switch, but rebounded to make the post-season before winning three play-off series prior to defeating the Boston Bruins in seven games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
He'll now take over a Toronto team that has won just one play-off series since 2006 and last hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1968, a 56-year drought that stands as the longest in NHL history.
The Maple Leafs reached the play-offs in all five of their seasons under Keefe, but he won just one of six post-season series and was let go on May 9 after Toronto lost to the rival Bruins in seven games in this year's first round.
"We had gotten to a place where just a new voice was needed," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said in announcing Keefe's dismissal. "And that's the unfortunate part of this business. I do not believe that you turn coaches and you keep turning coaches. I don't think that is the recipe for success at all. I just felt at the end of the day, when I look at the totality of his time here, a change was required."
Berube, who also spent two seasons as the Philadelphia Flyers' head coach from 2013-15, inherits a talented roster that produced the second-most goals in the NHL this season. Star centre Auston Matthews led the league with 69 goals, the highest individual total by any player in a season since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux also had 69 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.
A rugged forward who spent 17 seasons as an NHL player with five teams, Berube has assembled a 281-190-72 overall record as a head coach and was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award honouring the league's top coach in 2018-19.
Berube's hire leaves four teams - the New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets - still with coaching vacancies. The Buffalo Sabres (Lindy Ruff) and Ottawa Senators (Travis Green) previously hired new head coaches within the last month.
NBA: Thunder get even with Mavs, Celtics go up 3-1
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half to rally the Oklahoma City Thunder from a 14-point deficit and earn a crucial 100-96 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Monday's Game 4 of a Western Conference semifinal series.
Chet Holmgren had 11 of his 18 points after halftime and added nine rebounds to help the top-seeded Thunder even the best-of-seven series at 2-2 as they head back to Oklahoma City for Wednesday's all-important Game 5.
The fifth-seeded Mavericks squandered an opportunity to put the Thunder on the brink of elimination despite setting a franchise playoff record with 13 blocks, including four each from Derrick Jones Jr. and rookie Dereck Lively II.
Jones finished with 17 points in the loss, while Luka Doncic registered a triple-double for Dallas with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Mavericks led the majority of the game and owned an 86-80 advantage just past the midway point of the fourth quarter before Oklahoma City began their late surge. The Thunder seized momentum with a 12-2 run, capped by consecutive 3-pointers from Holmgren and Luguentz Dort, to go up 92-88 with 2:14 remaining.
Dallas answered on Tim Hardaway Jr.'s 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, but back-to-back baskets by the Thunder's Jalen Williams gave Oklahoma City a 96-91 lead entering the final minute.
The Mavericks again responded and had a chance to tie it when Doncic was fouled with 10.1 seconds left with Dallas trailing 96-94. The MVP finalist made just one of his two shots, however, and the Thunder sealed the outcome by going 4 for 4 from the foul line in the waning moments.
Free-throw shooting played a part in the result, as Oklahoma City finished 23 of 24 from the line compared to 12 of 23 for Dallas.
The Mavericks held a 54-43 lead at half-time after limiting the Thunder to under 35 per cent shooting for the first two quarters, and they stretched the margin to 14 when P.J. Washington hit a 3-pointer to begin the third.
Oklahoma City closed the gap before the end of the period, though, as they ended the third quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within 69-65 entering the fourth.
Celtics handle injury-plagued Cavaliers to take 3-1 lead
In the East, the top-seeded Boston Celtics moved within a game of reaching the conference finals for a third straight year after posting a 109-102 Game 4 win over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers behind Jayson Tatum's 33 points and 11 rebounds.
Jaylen Brown added 27 points to help Boston take a 3-1 series lead over a fourth-seeded Cavaliers team playing without leading scorer Donovan Mitchell. The All-Star guard was unavailable due to a strained left calf he sustained in Cleveland's 106-93 loss in Saturday's Game 3.
The Cavaliers also remained without starting center Jarrett Allen, who hasn't played since Game 4 of their opening-round series against Orlando due to a rib contusion.
Darius Garland kept Cleveland competitive by producing 30 points and seven assists, while Caris LeVert had 19 points starting in place of Mitchell.
Boston can close out the series at home in Wednesday's Game 5.
Tatum set the tone right from the outset, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first quarter to stake the Celtics to a 37-30 lead after one period.
The All-Star forward closed out the first half with a 3-pointer that sent Boston into the break with a 62-57 advantage, though Cleveland opened the third quarter on an 8-2 run to move ahead by a 65–64 score three minutes into the second half.
Boston reasserted control from there, however, as they outscored the Cavs by a 14-4 margin over the next four and a half minutes. Brown had seven points during the spurt, which Derrick White capped with a 3-pointer for a 78-69 Celtics' lead with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
The Celtics stretched the lead to 98-83 with under eight minutes left, though Cleveland kept battling and put together a 12-2 run to close the gap to 100-95 with three minutes left to play.
Brown hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:09 to go, however, to put Boston up 105-97, and the Celtics kept Cleveland at bay the rest of the way as White and Tatum each made two free throws in the closing stages.
Toronto Maple Leafs fire coach Sheldon Keefe
The Toronto Maple Leafs will have a new voice behind the bench.
The Maple Leafs fired coach Sheldon Keefe on Thursday after the team suffered yet another early exit from the NHL Stanley Cup play-offs.
Hired by Toronto in November 2019, Keefe led the Maple Leafs to the play-offs in each of his five seasons at the helm, but the team only advanced out of the first round once.
His firing came five days after Toronto's season ended in the first round with an overtime Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins.
"Today's decision was difficult. Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great man; however, we determined a new voice is needed to help the team push through to reach our ultimate goal," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said in a statement. "We thank Sheldon for his hard work and dedication to the organisation over the last nine years, and wish him and his family all the very best."
Under Keefe, Toronto amassed a franchise-record 115 points in 2021-22, and the 2020-21 team won the club's first division title since 1999-2000.
Although Keefe coached the Maple Leafs to a 212-97-40 record in the regular season, the team sputtered in the play-offs, going just 16-21.
An Original Six franchise, the Maple Leafs are one of the NHL's most revered clubs, but their futility in the play-offs is galling.
Toronto has won just a single play-off series in the last 19 seasons and hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 56 seasons - the longest active drought by an NHL franchise.
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