Brad Marchand scores twice as the Panthers beat the Maple Leafs 5-1
Brad Marchand scores twice as the Panthers beat the Maple Leafs 5-1
The Fri, February 27, 2026 at 4:39 AM UTC
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Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell (15) and Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, right, scuffle during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) ()
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Olympic silver medalist Brad Marchand scored twice, Evan Rodrigues got the first short-handed goal of his career and added an assist, and the Florida Panthers resumed their playoff push with a 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
Marchand now has 27 goals, tying Sam Reinhart for the team lead. Olympic bronze medalist Anton Lundell had two assists for Florida, while Carter Verhaeghe and gold medalist Matthew Tkachuk also scored for the Panthers — the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions who began the night eight points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots for Florida, which had lost five of its last six games going into the break.
John Tavares scored for Toronto, which started the night six points out of a playoff berth and — like the Panthers — is looking for some late-season magic to get into the postseason. Joseph Woll stopped 31 shots .
Marchand — after watching a celebration of USA Hockey’s Olympic gold medal to start the game, a win that came over his Canada club — opened the scoring just 3:18 into the contest, the start of a three-goal opening period for the Panthers.
It was only the second time this season that Florida scored three times in an opening period; it had four goals in the first 20 minutes of an 8-3 win in Nashville on Nov. 24.
PENGUINS 4, DEVILS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Connor Clifton and Egor Chinakhov scored 50 seconds apart in the third period and Pittsburgh surged past Jack Hughes and reeling New Jersey.
Tommy Novak, serving as the first-line center while captain Sidney Crosby recovers from a lower-body injury sustained at the Milan Cortina Olympics, picked up his 12th goal of the season. Blake Lizotte added an empty-netter late for Pittsburgh, which has won eight of 10 to move into second place in the crowded Metropolitan Division.
Arturs Silovs stopped 28 shots to win for the fourth time in five starts.
Paul Cotter scored his sixth goal of the season for the Devils but couldn’t halt New Jersey’s slide. The Devils have dropped seven of eight to fall off the pace in the race for one of the Eastern Conference’s two wild-card spots.
HURRICANES 5, LIGHTNING 4
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sebastian Aho banged in a power-play goal through traffic midway through the third period to help Carolina beat Tampa Bay.
Aho’s shot from up top slipped past Jonas Johansson, with Carolina captain Jordan Staal rooted in front of Johansson at the top of the crease to make it 5-4 at the 7:17 mark of the third.
That decided a back and forth matchup of the Eastern Conference’s top two teams, with Carolina jumping to a 3-0 lead in the first seven minutes in its return from the Olympic break only to see Tampa Bay tie it early in the second period.
The game ended with the Hurricanes holding up against the Lightning going with an extra attacker for the last three minutes, with multiple Lightning players diving on the ice to stop Carolina’s repeated attempts at an empty-net clincher until the horn sounded.
Carolina pushed its point streak to 11 games, while Tampa Bay lost in regulation for only the second time since Dec. 18.
BURINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 2
BOSTON (AP) — Viktor Arvidsson scored twice, Joonas Korpisalo made 36 saves and Boston beat Columbus in the first game for both teams after the three-week break for the Olympics.
Morgan Geekie and Sean Kuraly and also scored for the Bruins. Kuraly gave Boston a two-goal lead in the third period, but Columbus pulled within one with six minutes left when Adam Fantilli ripped a shot from the high slot.
The Blue Jackets pulled goalie with Elvis Merzlikins with two minutes left, and Arvidsson scored into the empty net in the final minute.
Kirill Marchenko scored his 20th of the season for Columbus, and Merzlikins made 19 saves.
RED WINGS 2, SENATORS 1, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored in his second goal of game at 1:50 of overtime, John Gibson made 26 saves and Detroit beat Ottawa.
Larkin beat Linus Ullmark with a backhander in the tiebreaker.
Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk opened the scoring in the first period. Ullmark stopped 18 shots.
Detroit tied it at 1 on a power play early in the second when Lucas Raymond fed Larkin at the side of the net for a one-timer past Ullmark.
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Just over two minutes later, Simon Edvinsson stepped into Tkachuk, with the Senators forward’s stick bouncing up and hitting him in the face. Tkachuk dropped to the ice, and Dylan Cozens jumped to his captain’s defense. Edvinsson and Cozens were both sent to the box.
Tkachuk returned to the ice before play resumed and skated to the penalty box to confront Edvinsson, drawing a 10-minute misconduct. Once in the box, Tkachuk continued to voice his displeasure.
ISLANDERS 4, CANADIENS 3, OT
MONTREAL (AP) — Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored 3:14 into overtime, rookie Matthew Schaefer had two goals in a 55-second span in the second period and New York rallied to beat Montreal.
Schaefer has 18 goals to surpass Denis Potvin for the most by a rookie defenseman in team history. Schaefer, selected first overall in last year’s draft, also moved past Phil Housley for the most goals in NHL history by an 18-year-old defenseman.
Islanders captain Anders Lee, skating in his 900th game, also scored and Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves to help New York win its third straight. Sorokin improved to 7-0-2 in his career against Montreal.
The Canadiens’ Noah Dobson scored two goals in his first game against his former team. Cole Caufield scored his team-leading 33rd goal for Montreal in the third period and Samuel Montembeault made 23 saves.
BLUES 5, KRAKEN 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dylan Holloway had a hat trick and added an assist in his return from a sprained ankle, Joel Hofer made 23 saves and St. Louis came off the Olympic break to beat Seattle.
Jordan Kyrou and Holloway — activated from injured reserve before the game — scored in a 23-second span early in the second period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.
Pius Suter added a goal and two assists to help the Blues end a three-game losing streak.
Holloway completed St. Louis’ first hat trick of the season with 3:01 left, scoring into an empty net for his 11th of the season.
Kaapo Kakko tied it at 1 for Seattle in the first period, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 26 shots. The Kraken were coming off a 4-1 loss in Dallas on Wednesday night.
Kyrou made it 2-1 at 1:12 of the second off a feed from Pavel Buchnevich on a break. Holloway poked the puck past Grubauer off a scramble at 1:35. Suter scored at 1:56 of the third.
PREDATORS 4, BLACKHAWKS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan O’Reilly scored with 3:16 remaining and Nashville scored three times in the third period in a win over Chicago in the teams’ first game following the Olympic break.
Filip Forsberg and Matthew Wood also scored for Nashville. Steven Stamkos scored his 29th of the season into an empty net in the final minute for the Predators, who had lost two in a row and five of their last seven games heading into the break. Justus Annunen stopped 21 of 23 shots.
Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for the Blackhawks, who have one victory in their last eight games. Spencer Knight made 22 saves.
Forsberg scored unassisted with just over six minutes remaining in the first period. Forsberg, who played for fourth-place finisher Sweden at the Olympics, scored his 25th of the season.
Bedard scored his career-best 25th goal just over four minutes into the second period to tie the game at 1. Ryan Greene had his 14th assist. Bedard had 22 goals in 68 games in 2023-24 and 24 goals in 82 games last season.
FLYERS 3, RANGERS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Matvei Michkov scored his second goal of the game 2:10 into overtime and Samuel Ersson made 23 saves as Philadelphia rallied to beat New York.
Michkov beat Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin for his 15th goal of the season after the Rangers failed to score on a power play to start the extra period.
Trevor Zegras also scored for the Flyers, who trailed 2-0 early in the second period before rallying for their second win since Jan. 23.
Sam Carrick and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the New York, which lost their fifth straight game. Shesterkin, who suffered a lower-body injury in a home loss to Utah on Jan. 5, made 21 saves in his return. The Rangers are 6-15-5 at home this season.
Carrick opened the scoring at 9:56 of the first, beating Ersson with a shot from long range for his fourth goal. Lafreniere’s 13th of the season made it 2-0 at 1:23 of the second.
Michkov scored on the power play at 10:25 of the second, cutting the Flyers’ deficit to 2-1. Zegras scored 39 seconds into the third to tie the game at 2.
Source: “AOL Sports”
