Kris Letang became the first defenseman in NHL history with five points in a period and finished with six assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins pounded the New York Islanders, 7-0 on Wednesday.

Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin each scored twice and Tristan Jarry stopped 21 shots for his fourth shutout of the season as Pittsburgh stretched its point streak to four games (3-0-1).

Letang assisted on the final five of the Penguins’ six second-period goals to become the first player of any position in franchise history with five points in a period.

He is the seventh defenseman in league history with six assists in a game and the first since Calgary’s Gary Suter on April 4, 1986.

Pittsburgh scored six goals in a single period on the road for the first time since March 21, 2000, also against the Islanders.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 19 of 25 shots over the first two periods before he was replaced by Semyon Varlamov.

New York had a nine-game home point streak (6-0-3) snapped.

MacKinnon extends point streak but Coyotes rally

Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to 19 games, but the Arizona Coyotes overcame a 4-goal deficit and beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Jack McBain’s goal with 20 seconds left in overtime.

MacKinnon’s 19th goal with 6:34 left in the second period pushed Colorado’s lead to 4-0 but Lawson Crouse began Arizona’s comeback just over three minutes later.

Michael Kesselring and Jason Zucker scored in the third period before Sean Durzi netted the equaliser with 2:07 left in regulation.

MacKinnon’s streak is one short of the franchise record set by Paul Stastny in 2006-07. MacKinnon has an NHL-high 27 points in December, a career high for a month.

The Coyotes have won five of six following a four-game skid.

Surging Wild defeat Red Wings

Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno scored 52 seconds apart in the third period and the Minnesota Wild tallied four times in the frame in a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

Marcus Johansson scored twice and Kirill Kaprizov extended his goal streak to four games for Minnesota, which has won four straight and seven of eight. The Wild improved to 11-3-0 since John Hynes took over behind the bench – including seven consecutive home wins.

Patrick Kane scored for the fourth straight game as Detroit lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Auston Matthews continued a sizzling stretch with two more goals and an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-1 victory Saturday over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Matthews has goals in seven straight games, with 12 goals and 16 points during that span. He leads the NHL with 28 goals.

He is the first player with 27 or more goals through the first 30 games of a season since Jaromir Jagr did it for Pittsburgh in 1996-97.

William Nylander had a short-handed goal and two assists to extend his point streak to 11 games, while John Tavares also scored and Mitch Marner added two assists.

Justin Danforth had the lone goal for the last-place Blue Jackets, who dropped their fourth straight at home.

Stars score 2 in final 15 seconds to stun Predators

Craig Smith and Jani Hakanpaa scored goals in the final 15 seconds to rally the Dallas Stars to a shocking 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators.

With goalie Scott Wedgewood pulled for an extra skater and Dallas trailing 2-1, Smith scored off a goalmouth scramble with 15 seconds to play.

Hakanpaa then scored his first goal of the season with four seconds left to make it 3-2.

The Stars improved to 5-0-1 in their last six games, and became the first team in NHL history to secure a victory after scoring a tying and go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation.

MacKinnon extends point streak as Avalanche win

Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his point streak to 18 games and Alexander Georgiev made 24 saves to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes.

MacKinnon assisted on Valeri Nichushkin’s second-period goal to give him the second-longest point streak by a Colorado player, trailing only Paul Stastny’s 20-game run in 2006-07.

It was also MacKinnon’s 25th point in December. He’s three away from matching the franchise record for a single month set by Peter Stastny in February 1981 with the Quebec Nordiques.

Nathan MacKinnon notched the first four-goal game in Avalanche history and extended his point streak to 17 games Thursday as Colorado rallied for a 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators.

MacKinnon opened the scoring 2:43 into the game and tallied again with 1:32 left in the first period for his 300th career goal. 

He completed his hat trick at 6:16 of the third period to lift the Avs into a 4-4 tie and scored into an empty net with 23 seconds left.

MacKinnon has 12 goals and 21 assists during his 17-game streak, the longest of his career.

Mikko Rantanen had a pair of power-play goals and Cale Makar had two assists in his return from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for three games.

Drake Batherson had a goal and an assist as the Senators lost their sixth in a row, the last two coming under interim coach Jacques Martin, who replaced the fired D.J. Smith on Monday.

Sabres respond with rout of Maple Leafs

Jeff Skinner returned from a three-game absence with two goals and an assist and the Buffalo Sabres responded to their worst loss of the season with a 9-3 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists and captain Kyle Okposo scored twice for the Sabres, who were coming off a 9-4 loss to Columbus on Tuesday, when the team was booed off the ice.

Rookie Devon Levi shook off allowing Auston Matthews’ league-leading 26th goal in the first period from a bad angle to stop 25 shots. He improved to 4-1-1 in his past six appearances.

Ilya Samsonov surrendered five goals on 19 shots before he was replaced in the second period by Martin Jones, who allowed four goals on 16 shots.

Toronto has allowed 14 goals in consecutive losses following a nine-game point streak.

Ovechkin ends drought in Capitals’ win

Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal in 15 games on a power play with 53 seconds left in overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ovechkin’s sixth goal of the season and 828th of his career was his first since Nov. 18 and his 26th in overtime, extending his NHL record. It was also his 125th game-winner overall, second in league history behind Jaromir Jagr’s 135.

Anthony Mantha scored twice and John Carlson had three assists as Washington won its third straight.

Nathan MacKinnon stayed hot and the Colorado Avalanche bounced back from a lacklustre loss to beat the San Jose Sharks 6-2 on Sunday.

MacKinnon tallied a season-best four points, recording two goals and two assists to extend his point streak to 15 games one night after the Avalanche fell behind 3-0 and 5-1 in a 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

MacKinnon now has eight goals and 19 assists during his point streak, which ties the longest point streak of his career from the 2020-2021 season. He also has 38 points in his last 21 games and has at least one point in all 16 home games this season.

His 47 points on the season are second only to Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, who has 52.

Mikko Rantanen, Ryan Johansen, Valeri Nichushkin and Miles Wood also had goals for Colorado, while Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 27 shots.

It marked the third win in four games for the Avalanche (19-10-2), who scored at least five goals in all of those victories.

The Sharks (9-19-3), meanwhile, lost their second in a row following a 3-0-1 stretch.

Tomas Hertl scored both of San Jose's goals, while MacKenzie Blackwood stopped 23 of 28 shots.

Boeser moves into NHL-lead for goals scored as Canucks top Blackhawks

The Vancouver Canucks didn't look quite awake for the start of their early afternoon game in Chicago.

They suddenly woke up in the second period and pulled out a 4-3 win over the Blackhawks.

After managing just one shot on goal in the first 10 minutes and five shots in the opening period, the Canucks found themselves trailing 2-1 on Nick Foligno's second goal of the game 35 seconds into the second period.

Vancouver then came alive, trying things up on Dakota Joshua's goal and took the lead 41 seconds later on Brock Boeser's score. Ilya Mikheyev also scored in the second period for the Canucks (21-9-2), who improved to 5-0-1 since a 6-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils on December 5.

Boeser's goal was his 10th in the last 11 games and 23rd of the season to move him into a tie with Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews for the most in the NHL.

Elias Pettersson also scored for the Canucks and Thatcher Demko made 25 saves to win his fourth consecutive start.

Petr Mrazek stopped 22 shots and rookie sensation Connor Bedard notched two assists to give him 14 on the season for the Blackhawks (9-20-1), who lost their fourth straight game and fell to 4-13-1 since November 12.

Eichel helps Golden Knights beat Senators

Jack Eichel scored 1:37 into the game and the Vegas Golden Knights went on to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Eichel's goal was his 14th of the season and extended his point streak to a franchise-record 10 games.

Eichel also added an assist, and Ivan Barbashev had a goal and an assist as well for the NHL-best Golden Knights (21-6-5), who bounced back from their first regulation loss since November 25.

Logan Thompson came off the bench to make 20 saves for Vegas after Adin Hill was forced out only 6:25 into the game.

The Golden Knights extended their win streak over the Senators to nine games and improved to 10-1-0 all-time against them.

Ottawa (11-15-0) lost its fourth in a row overall, allowing at least four goals in each of those defeats.

Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Ross Colton all had goals within a span of just over four minutes in the third period to rally the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-5 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday.

Rantanen scored with 6:29 left to play to tie the game, then earned his second assist of the night when MacKinnon recorded the eventual winning goal on a breakaway with 4:30 remaining.

Colton started Colorado's comeback by knocking in a rebound with 8:40 left that cut the Flames' lead to 5-4.

Calgary had gone ahead on late second-period goals from Connor Zary and Yegor Sharangovich, with the latter prompting Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar to replace goaltender Alexandar Georgiev after the second intermission.

Ivan Prosvetov stopped all 11 shots he faced in relief of Georgiev, who allowed five goals on 22 shots.

Former Colorado center Nazem Kadri put Calgary ahead in the first period before the Avalanche's Tomas Tatar tied it later in the frame. Colorado then took a 2-1 lead when Cale Makar scored on a power play 1:43 into the second.

Goals by Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman sent the Flames back in front, but Ben Meyers scored off a feed from Andrew Cogliano with 5:03 left in the second to briefly draw the Avalanche even at 3-3.

Colorado snapped a two-game losing streak, while Calgary has now lost four of five. Dan Vladar finished with 31 saves for the Flames. 

Islanders blow late, recover to defeat Maple Leafs in overtime

Bo Horvat scored 46 seconds into overtime as the New York Islanders recovered from blowing a late lead to come through with a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto rallied from a two-goal deficit to force overtime when Morgan Rielly scored with seven seconds remaining in regulation. Horvat sent a feed from Mathew Barzal past Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov early in the extra session, however, to give New York its third consecutive win.

Rielly's goal did enable Toronto to extend its point streak to six games, a stretch in which it's gone 4-0-2. The Islanders are now 5-0-1 over their past six.

The Islanders took a 3-1 lead early in the second period on Kyle Palmieri's goal, but John Tavares scored on a redirection 7:43 into the frame to cut the Leafs' deficit to one.

Tavares, the former Islanders' captain, later recorded his 1,000th career point on Rielly's game-tying goal.

Auston Matthews' 19th goal of the season, a power-play score 5:50 into the contest, gave Toronto an early 1-0 edge before the Islanders forged ahead later in the period on goals from Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas. 

Noah Dobson finished with three assists for New York, while Ilya Sorokin made 14 of his 37 saves in the third period and had two more in overtime.

Samsonov stopped 25 shots for Toronto.

Benn hits assist milestone as Stars down short-handed Red Wings

Miro Heiskanen had two goals and an assist to lead the way as the Dallas Stars rolled to a 6-3 victory over the depleted Detroit Red Wings. 

The Stars scored twice in all three periods, including four straight goals between the first and second, to get back on track after losing three of their four previous games. Esa Lindell and Jason Robertson each delivered a goal and an assist to support a 27-save effort from Jake Oettinger.

Jamie Benn assisted on Heiskanen's first goal, the 500th of the Dallas captain's career.

Detroit was dealt a third consecutive loss while playing without both captain Dylan Larkin and forward David Perron. Larkin is out with an upper-body injury he sustained from a cross-check by Ottawa's Mathieu Joseph in Saturday's loss to the Senators, while Perron began serving a six-game suspension for cross-checking Ottawa's Artem Zub in retaliation.

The Red Wings did take a 1-0 lead when Daniel Sprong scored 5:20 in, but goals by Heiskanen and Lindell later in the first period put Dallas ahead. Robertson and Matt Duchene then scored 2:14 apart in the second to extend the Stars' advantage to 4-1.

Jonatan Berggren quickly answered Duchene's goal to trim Detroit's deficit, and the Red Wings cut the lead to 4-3 when Joe Veleno scored on a power play with 6:39 remaining.

Joe Pavelski countered with a power-play goal 30 seconds after Veleno's strike, however, before Heiskanen sealed the win with an empty-netter inside the final minute.

James Reimer stopped 29 of 34 shots for Detroit.

Ryan Johansen scored two goals to back 37 saves from Alexandar Georgiev as the Colorado Avalanche extended their winning streak to four games with Monday's 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cale Makar added a goal and an assist for the Central Division-leading Avalanche, who also received an empty-net goal from Valeri Nichushkin and two assists from Nathan MacKinnon to stop the Lightning's five-game point streak. Tampa Bay came in 4-0-1 over its last five outings.

Georgiev had 13 saves in the first period and Johansen scored unassisted 7:12 in to put Colorado in front. Johansen struck again 1:48 into the second before Makar made it a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal less than two minutes later.

Anthony Cirelli scored the Lightning's lone goal in the final minute of the second period, but Georgiev stopped all 12 Tampa Bay attempts in the third before Nichuskin scored into an empty net with 3:14 left.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 of 22 shots in the Lightning goaltender's second game back from offseason back surgery.

Blue Jackets send skidding Bruins to third straight loss

Spencer Martin made 31 saves and Yegor Chinakhov had a goal and an assist as the surging Columbus Blue Jackets dealt the suddenly slumping Boston Bruins a 5-2 loss.

Dmitri Voronkov, Ivan Provorov, Kirill Marchenko and Justin Danforth also had goals as Columbus won for the third time in four games following a 4-11-4 start to the season.

The Bruins, meanwhile, have suffered three straight regulation losses following a sizzling 14-1-3 start. 

Voronkov scored the lone goal in the first period before the Blue Jackets extended the lead to 3-0 on goals by Provorov and Chinakhov in the second. Marchenko pushed the margin further with a power-play goal 4:51 into the third.

Matthew Poitras and John Beecher had third-period goals for Boston, which pulled starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman after Provorov scored 5:38 into the second.

Swayman stopped 17 of 19 shots before departing, while Linus Ullmark turned back 18 of 20 chances in relief.

Tuch scores twice as Sabres pull away from Rangers

Alex Tuch had a pair of goals and the Buffalo Sabres scored three times late in the third period to pull away for a 5-1 win over the New York Rangers.

Tuch, Casey Mittelstadt and Kyle Okposo all scored in the final 4:29 of the game after New York cut its deficit to 2-1 on Mika Zibanejad's goal with just over eight minutes elapsed in the third period.

Mittelstadt, Victor Olofsson and Owen Power each had two assists to help Buffalo move to 3-1-1 over its last five games. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished with 25 saves for the Sabres.

Buffalo had taken a 2-0 lead on JJ Peterka's goal in the first period and Tuch's first of the night, which came with 27 seconds left in the second.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 of 38 shots for the Rangers, who had a three-game winning streak snapped and sustained just their fourth regulation loss of the season. 

Brayden Schenn and Pavel Buchnevich each notched a hat trick and the St. Louis Blues rolled to an 8-2 drubbing of the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

Schenn’s hat trick was the fourth of his career and first since 2017 and Buchnevich tallied his third.

They became the third pair of teammates in franchise history to record hat tricks in the same game. It last happened in 1986. 

Alexey Toropchenko and Torey Krug also scored for the Blues and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves to help St. Louis win for the fourth time in five games.

Alexander Georgiev started and gave up six goals on 28 shots before he was replaced by Ivan Prosvetov early in the third period.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar remained one win shy of 300.

Maple Leafs’ Nylander extends point streak in win

William Nylander scored to extend his franchise-record season-opening point streak to 15 games as the Toronto Maple Leafs cooled off the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2.

Noah Gregor had a goal and an assist and Ilya Samsonov stopped 31 shots as Toronto won for the third time in four games following a four-game skid (0-2-2).

Nylander tallied his 10th goal of the season in the second period to forge a 2-2 tie and Gregor’s goal with 5:38 left in the period put the Leafs on top for good.

Nylander has 22 points during his streak and ranks among the NHL scoring leaders.

Vancouver got goals from J.T. Miller and Pius Suter as its five-game winning streak was snapped. The Canucks dropped to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.

Penguins down Sabres for fourth straight win

Erik Karlsson scored twice and Tristan Jarry had a shutout in his return from injury to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to their fourth consecutive win, 4-0 over the Buffalo Sabres.

Evgeni Malkin and Drew O’Connor also scored for the Penguins, who have outscored opponents 20-5 during the four-game run after losing five of six.

Jarry made 35 saves for his third shutout of the season and 16th of his career. He missed Thursday’s game at Los Angeles with a facial injury.

Reilly Smith scored twice in the first period and Tristan Jarry made 31 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins ended the Colorado Avalanche’s NHL-record 15-game road winning streak, 4-0 on Thursday.

Colorado, which opened this season with six straight wins, hadn’t lost away from Denver during the regular season since a 7-3 defeat to Dallas on March 4.

Lars Eller and Sidney Crosby also scored to help the Penguins snap a three-game losing streak.

Colorado goalie Alexander Georgiev had his personal road winning streak stopped at 12, leaving him in a tie for the longest road win streak by a goalie in NHL history, set by Eddie Johnston with Boston in 1971.

Ducks rally to beat Bruins in OT

Mason MacTavish scored with 2:52 left in overtime and the Anaheim Ducks rallied for a 4-3 victory, sending the Boston Bruins to their first loss of the season.

Anaheim forced overtime with two late goals, the first by rookie Leo Carlsson with 1:55 left in regulation and Troy Terry’s tally with 14.7 seconds remaining in the third period.

David Pastrnak scored one goal and set up another, while Charlie McAvoy had three assists for the Bruins, who opened the season with six consecutive wins for the second time in franchise history.

Tampa Bay's Johansson blanks winless Sharks

Jonas Johansson turned away 23 saves for his second straight shutout and the Tampa Bay Lightning rolled to a 6-0 rout of the winless San Jose Sharks.

Johansson stopped 32 shots in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Carolina and is 3-0-1 with a 1.72 goals-against average in his last four starts.

Steven Stamkos had a goal with an assist for the Lightning, who have points in four straight (3-0-1) following a three-game skid.

San Jose is winless in 13 consecutive games (0-11-2) since a 7-2 win at Arizona last April 1.

The Colorado Avalanche came from two goals down to beat the Seattle Kraken 3-2 in Game 2 and crucially level their series, rediscovering their "swagger" along the way.

The defending Stanley Cup champions had been upset in the series opener and looked set to remarkably fall two games behind when the Kraken were 2-0 up at the end of the first period on Thursday.

Seattle were on course to become the first team in NHL history to win their first two playoff games while playing both on the road.

However, quickfire goals from Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin in the second period levelled the game, before Devon Toews came up with the winner for the Avs.

Colorado have only won one of their past nine playoff series after losing the first game, but they at least head to Seattle all square and with some confidence restored.

"We played tight [in the first period]," said coach Jared Bednar. "No one wanted the puck, no one wanted to skate with it in the pocket.

"That was a message [in the first intermission] – that we had to build our swagger back, shift-by-shift, that we have to get more assertive and more engaged competitively.

"I think [Seattle] held the competitive advantage for the first four periods of the series, and I felt like we had another level that we needed to get to that they were already at.

"In the second period, you could see we started to free ourselves up a little bit. Now, you get guys fighting through checks and being more assertive, more engaged.

"We really started to see what our team could do once we scored the first goal. Then we played, and it was still hard-fought for the next 40 minutes."

"Swagger" was the word defenseman Bowen Byram used, too.

"That's something that we're trying to build towards," he said. "We finally broke through there and got some confidence and started playing with some swagger.

"When we're playing like that, I don't know many teams that can beat us. We just had to go out there and prove it, and we did that.

"Now, it's just about putting our best foot forward on Saturday night [in Game 3]."

The Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost to the Avs last year in their third straight Stanley Cup Finals, were pegged back on Thursday as they lost 7-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The series between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Winnipeg Jets is also tied after a 5-2 home win for VGK.

However, the New York Rangers have control of their matchup against the New Jersey Devils after taking both games on the road, the latest a come-from-behind 5-1 win.

The Seattle Kraken are not settling for a first playoff win despite stunning the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

In their second season, the Kraken have made the postseason for the first time and began their campaign with a 3-1 Game 1 win on the road against the Avs.

That made Seattle the first team in the expansion era to beat the defending champions in their first playoff game, with the previous three debutants playing such matchups losing both Game 1 and the series.

This was especially impressive as Colorado had won the first game in each of their previous six playoff series, the longest Game 1 winning streak in the NHL.

Now, the Kraken are in a great position to advance as the 10th expansion team to win their first playoff game. Eight of the previous nine won the series.

Alex Wennberg, who had a goal and an assist, knows there is a long way to go, though, even if Seattle enjoyed shutting up their critics.

"Obviously, we played a good game, getting the first franchise win in the playoffs," Wennberg said. "But right now this is Game 1.

"Obviously, we are happy about this performance, but we've got to do it again and do it again.

"[The critics] can do whatever you want. Obviously it comes down to the belief in the group right here.

"Everyone is going to have an opinion about the way we play now, but the focus is always going to be on us. We have a belief in this group."

Previous games between the Kraken and the Avs had hinted at Tuesday's upset, with Seattle winning on both of their trips to Denver this season but losing their sole home game against Colorado.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar added: "Our whole team just wasn't quite good enough. I thought we did some good things. They obviously did more good things."

The Colorado Avalanche failed another test against an NHL playoff contender, losing 5-2 to the Los Angeles Kings to leave head coach Jared Bednar frustrated.

The Kings recorded their fifth straight win, improving their record to 38-20-8 to sit second in the Pacific Division.

But the Avs are third in the Central Division with a 35-21-6 record, having lost four of their past five games, all against sides in the playoffs contention.

"There's another level of determination and passion that we can play with, if we want to win against the good teams," Bednar told reporters.

"It's deflating, because you feel like you're right there and you know they're a difficult team to score against."

Adrian Kempe opened the scoring in the first period and Gabriel Vilardi doubled their advantage at 17:10.

Evan Rodrigues halved the deficit, deflecting in Samuel Girard's point shot at 14:59 of the second period. But Kempe restored the Kings' two-goal lead early in the third.

Nathan MacKinnon made it 3-2 with a snap shot at 4:24 on the power play, only for Phillip Danault to score twice to seal victory for the Kings, the latter into an empty net.

Avs defenseman Cale Makar reiterated Bednar's sentiment, with Colorado's postseason hopes getting tight.

"We should have approached this like a playoff game tonight," Makar said. "Felt like we knew the type of team they are.

"We know that they're so systematically sound that it tends to frustrate teams when they sit back and don't allow you to get in their zone."

Alex Killorn admitted "emotions were high" as the Tampa Bay Lightning thrashed the Colorado Avalanche 5-0 to get back to winning ways.

The Avalanche beat the Lightning in last year's Stanley Cup, taking the series 4-2 to deny Tampa Bay a hat-trick of trophy triumphs.

That made Thursday's game one that Killorn and team-mates had been looking forward to for a long time, and they made it a night to remember.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy achieved his first shutout of the season, while Brandon Hagel managed two goals and an assist, with Corey Perry, Brayden Point and Mikhail Sergachev also netting.

Tampa Bay had lost to the Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings since the All-Star Game, so there was an imperative to get back to winning ways, and they did so in grand style.

Forward Killorn said: "Tonight we played very well. It's obviously a matchup we circled at the beginning of the year with what happened last year."

The teams play again next Tuesday in Denver, the second of four road games coming up for the Lightning, who must also face the Dallas Stars, Arizona Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights before getting back to home ice.

"For us now going on the road that was a huge game to kind of start and get momentum going the right way," Killorn said.

"We've been on the other side of that for the past couple of years. And we realised teams kind of circle us. This has been the first time where we get a chance to play the team who beat us [in the Stanley Cup], so emotions were high for sure in this game.

"They're a great team. Tonight we just had a complete game, we were very aggressive, so we look forward to seeing them later in the playoffs."

Killorn was pleased for Vasilevskiy to avoid conceding, saying: "It's a little bit of a weight off his shoulders. He's obviously one of the best goalies in the league. For him, it's going to be huge momentum going forward, and I know he's happy about it."

Head coach Jon Cooper offered a different slant, suggesting that to his mind the game was not about last year's disappointment, but about building for the rest of this campaign.

"To be honest it had nothing really to do with Colorado," Cooper said. "What it had to do with was our previous two games.

"We're going on a tough four-game trip against some of the best teams in the west, and we couldn't go out losing three in a row after the break.

"It was entirely about us and not who we were playing. We needed an effort and they gave it tonight."

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar refused to use injury as an excuse after his side were routed 4-0 by the NHL-leading Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

The short-handed Avs slumped to their third straight loss amid a swathe of injuries that have hit the squad, forcing them to call up Cal Burke, Ben Meyers, Sampo Ranta and Andreas Englund from the Colorado Eagles of the AHL.

Colorado, who won last season's Stanley Cup, have used a league-high 34 players this season.

"Listen, if you're quitting, you shouldn't be in the league," Bednar told reporters. "It's a privilege to play in this league.

"It's not always going to be easy. It's a hard game. That's one. Moral victories? We’re going to take it, and we’re going to teach it.

"If this group stays the exact same moving forward for the next one game, two games, five games, I expect us to be better the next game.

"They're going to learn as a group, what it takes to be able to play in this league, what it takes to be able to have success in this league."

For the Bruins, the win improved their overall record to 21-3-1, with Taylor Hall scoring twice along with David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic adding goals. Goaltender Linus Ullmark stopped 23 shots.

Boston's 14-game NHL-record home win streak had come to an end on Monday with a 4-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, with coach Jim Montgomery delighted with Wednesday's response at altitude in Denver.

"Just the response we had after losing the game and ending our [winning] streak at home, we come back and get on the road, and it was a great start to our road trip," Montgomery said.

"We made some big blocks. I thought Brandon Carlo was outstanding on the penalty kill and made some really smart offensive zone plays, too."

Alexandar Georgiev says it was "pretty special" to be the Colorado Avalanche's shootout hero against the New York Rangers whom he left barely four months ago.

The Russian goaltender stopped three of four Rangers' shootout attempts as the Avalanche won 3-2 at his former home rink, Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

Georgiev, who stopped Rangers winger Alexis Lafreniere to seal the win, had spent five years with the Rangers before being traded to the Stanley Cup champions in July.

"Pretty special," Georgiev told reporters. "It doesn't get much better than a tight shootout win.

"The building is awesome. Brought a lot of good memories back. But for me, it was just playing the game and letting it come to me… I was just enjoying the moment."

Avs head coach Jared Bednar praised Georgiev, who made 44 saves on 46 shots across the game to improve to 4-0-1 this season.

"I'm really happy for him," Bednar said. "Every game's a big game, but when you're coming in against your former team and playing against your old teammates, there's a little added incentive.

"I'm happy to see our guy come away with two points and the win."

Avs defenseman Cale Makar, who got his seventh assist in seven games, said Georgiev was on another planet in the game where he came up against star Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin.

"I feel like I knew Georgie was going to have a game tonight," Makar said. "He's a good goalie but I feel like he was on a completely different planet tonight."

The NHL season is just days away from dropping the first puck, and last year's playoffs planted the seeds for some intriguing storylines to watch.

After back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, the Tampa Bay Lightning were dethroned by a Colorado Avalanche side that looked nearly unbeatable. Both teams return similar casts with small alterations, and it would be no surprise to see these sides as the last two standing when it is all said and done.

Meanwhile, young phenom and arguably the new face of the league, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, showed he is more than a regular season performer as he took his team to the brink of the Stanley Cup Finals. 

McDavid, the Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews and the Minnesota Wild's Kirill Kaprizov look set to be leading the charge for the league's most valuable player, and all three are yet to turn 26, indicating this season could be a changing of the guard as the next generation takes over.

Can the Avalanche repeat as Stanley Cup champions?

The Avalanche were just too good in last season's playoffs. They were completely dominant, amassing a 16-4 record without losing consecutive games at any point. 

Their Stanley Cup Finals win against the then-reigning back-to-back champions Tampa Bay included a 7-0 thrashing at home, and two gutsy road wins with goaltender Darcy Kuemper was named player of the game.

It is undeniable that Kuemper was a massive part of the Avalanche's success during his breakout season, but with his rapid ascension came a rapidly rising price tag, and he cashed in with a five-year, $26million free agent deal to the Washington Capitals.

Replacing him is last year's backup Pavel Francouz – who performed admirably in games Kuemper missed – as well as new signing Alexandar Georgiev, who was Igor Shesterkin's backup with the New York Rangers.

With offensive stars Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon returning, as well as elite defenseman Cale Makar, the frightening core of the Avalanche remains intact. 

The third-highest scoring team in the NHL last season (312, behind Toronto's 315 and the Florida Panthers' 340), there is no reason to believe Colorado will not remain in the top echelon of offensive teams.

But ultimately seasons can be decided by the man you trust to protect your net, and the Avalanche will need to be proactive in addressing the issue if Francouz and Georgiev are not up to the task.

Is the Lightning dynasty still alive?

Tampa Bay have now reached three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals series, collecting titles in 2020 and 2021 before falling short against the Avalanche.

As history shows, sustaining that level of success deep into the playoffs in consecutive years is one of the hardest feats, largely due to the fact teams are playing 100-game seasons and absorbing so much extra physical wear-and-tear.

Their seemingly impenetrable defense and future Hall of Fame goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy looked vulnerable in the finals, and they started preseason with a combined losing margin of 14-2 in their first three games.

But this is the Lightning, and they still boast one of the best goalies in the sport, as well as a core of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman still in their prime.

They have earned the benefit of the doubt, and are still the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

Will this be the year for McDavid and the Oilers?

The best player in hockey and two-time winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy for league MVP, McDavid enjoyed his first taste of playoff success as the Oilers won two series before being knocked out by the Avalanche in the Western Conference finals.

Prior to that, McDavid only had one series win in his first six seasons in the league, but he has led the NHL in points now on four occasions and it took an unbelievable 60-goal season from Toronto's Matthews to deny the 25-year-old his third Hart Trophy.

The trio of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl (who won the 2020 Hart Trophy and scored 55 goals last term) and Evander Kane constitute one of the best offensive units in the league, and they had won six of their past seven playoff games before being swept by the Avalanche.

With McDavid, the Oilers have one of the most talented players in the history of the sport who still may have his best hockey ahead of him. After falling just short last season, it would be no surprise to see him carry his team another step further.

Who are the Hart Memorial Trophy contenders?

McDavid will enter the season as the favourite, as alongside fellow 25-year-old and former top overall draft pick Matthews, he figures to reign over the league for the foreseeable future.

If he was on another team, Draisaitl would have to be considered a true contender, having already won the award in 2020, but playing next to McDavid limits the number of votes he can receive.

The Wild's Kaprizov is on an ascending trajectory, having won the 2021 Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year before rising to All-Star status this past campaign, and could be a dark horse.

There has only been one goaltender to win the award since 2002 – Carey Price with the Montreal Canadiens in 2015 – but Shesterkin from the Rangers and Vasilevskiy from the Lightning both possess the ability and the star power to enter consideration if their teams put together outlier defensive seasons.