DETROIT (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the surging Detroit Red Wings beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Friday night.
Marco Kasper scored his first goal in 37 games and added an assist to help Detroit win for the fifth time in six games. Alex DeBrincat scored his team-high 25th goal and J.T. Compher had the other goal for the Red Wings.
Lucas Raymond had three assists and James van Riemsdyk added two. John Gibson made 20 saves.
Will Smith scored for San Jose in his return from an upper-body injury that cost him 13 games. Collin Graf had the other Sharks goal and Macklin Celebrini, the NHL’s third-leading scorer with 72 points, added an assist. Celebrini has 32 points in his last 18 games.
Yaroslav Askarov stopped 21 shots for the Sharks, who had won seven of nine.
Detroit converted on its first power play when Raymond set up DeBrincat, who ripped a one-timer from the left circle into the net.
Smith tied it midway through the first period after Celebrini’s shot from the high slot tumbled over Gibson and rolled toward the goal line. Smith tucked the puck into the net.
Graf tipped in a pass from Nick Leddy at 1:58 of the second to give the Sharks the lead. Kasper’s pass through the legs of a defender set up Compher’s goal five minutes later, tying it 2-all.
Larkin jammed the puck between the post and Askarov’s pad at 4:41 of the third to give the Red Wings a 3-2 advantage. Kasper ended his scoring drought on an empty-netter with 1:32 remaining.
HURRICANES 9, PANTHERS 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Nikolaj Ehlers had three goals for his sixth career hat trick and first with Carolina, and the Hurricanes scored six times in the third period to cruise past Florida.
Ehlers, who signed with Carolina in the offseason after playing 10 years with Winnipeg, also had an assist. Taylor Hall had two goals and Mark Jankowski had a goal and two assists. Alexander Nikishin and Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist and Eric Robinson also scored.
Brandon Bussi made 16 saves for the Hurricanes, who had four power-play goals and improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
Uvis Balinskis had the lone goal for the Panthers, who gave up eight unanswered goals and had their two-game winning streak stopped. Sergei Bobrovsky allowed all nine of Carolina’s goals while stopping just 26 shots.
Ehlers gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with 1:25 left in the first period. Balinskis tied it at 1:19 of the second — but it was all Carolina after that.
Jankowski put the Hurricanes up 2-1 at 13:10 of the second and Nikishin made it 3-1 with a power-play goal three minutes later.
Svechnikov, Ehlers and Hall also scored power-play goals in the third as Carolina pulled away.
BLUES 3, LIGHTNING 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou scored the only goal in a shootout and St. Louis beat Tampa Bay to snap its franchise record-tying 11-game winning streak.
Kyrou’s backhand shot beat Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov had a chance to extend the shootout but was stopped by Joel Hofer, who made 34 saves in regulation and overtime before delivering three more in the tiebreaker.
It was the Blues’ first win in overtime or a shootout this season. They had been 0-8.
The Blues took 2-0 lead late in the first period with goals just 30 seconds apart.
Jake Neighbors got the first with 2:57 to play in the period and Nick Bjugstad scored when he was left alone in the slot with 2:27 left.
Tampa Bay tied it with a pair of power-play goals 62 seconds apart in the second.
Kucherov scored at 9:59 when the Lightning had a two-man advantage. He then assisted on Oliver Bjorkstrand’s goal 1:02 later. Darren Raddysh assisted on both goals.
Vasilevskiy made 19 saves.
PREDATORS 7, AVALANCHE 3
DENVER (AP) — Ryan O’Reilly scored three goals for his seventh career hat trick and added an assist as Nashville beat Colorado, handing the Avalanche their first home loss in regulation this season.
Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists for Nashville. Juuse Saros made 39 saves.
It was O’Reilly’s first hat trick since Jan. 4, 2025, versus Calgary, and second against his former team. O’Reilly spent his first six seasons with the Avalanche before being traded to Buffalo before the 2015-16 campaign.
Brock Nelson had two goals, Martin Necas also scored and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 23 shots in his return to the lineup for Colorado. Blackwood had not played since Dec. 31 due to a lower-body injury.
He couldn’t prevent the Avalanche (33-5-8) from losing a second consecutive game at home, where they are 19-1-3.
O’Reilly scored his first goal 30 seconds into the game and got his second when he sent the puck from the goal line to the front of the net, where it deflected in off the stick of Colorado defenseman Sam Girard at 7:32.
Nelson answered those goals with two of his own, one when he cleaned up a rebound 54 seconds after O’Reilly’s first and later in the first period when he deflected Josh Manson’s shot.
