NHL roundup: Stars stomp Pens behind 6-goal first period

The Dallas Stars and Mason Marchment tied franchise records Monday night en route to a 7-1 rout of the host Pittsburgh Penguins.

Dallas, which entered Monday with just 39 goals in 13 games, feasted on the league’s third-worst scoring defense. The Stars’ six-goal first period tied the then-Minnesota North Stars, who also scored six in the first 20 minutes in a 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on March 16, 1971.

The half-dozen goals that got past Joel Blomqvist and Alex Nedeljkovic on just 12 shots were also the most Pittsburgh ever allowed in the first period at home.

Five Stars players recorded two or more points in the barrage, with Marchment (one goal, three assists) tying a team record with four points in one period. That occurred 10 times previously, with Tyler Seguin and Valeri Nichushkin both accomplishing the feat most recently against Philadelphia on Dec. 7, 2013.

Canadiens 7, Sabres 5

Montreal outlasted host Buffalo with two-goal efforts from Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, while Suzuki added two assists and Juraj Slafkovsky tallied three assists.

Caufield helped put an end to the Canadiens’ six-game losing skid as he struck on the power play with 7:02 left in the third period to record his second goal of the contest and the eventual game-winner.

Sabres star Tage Thompson scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season, but left the game early in the second period with a lower-body injury.

Flyers 4, Sharks 3 (SO)

Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny both scored in regulation and again in the shootout as Philadelphia wasted a three-goal lead before prevailing over visiting San Jose.

Erik Johnson also scored while Samuel Ersson made 28 saves for the Flyers, who are 2-0-1 in their past three games. Michkov, a healthy scratch in each of the previous two games, finished with a goal and an assist before his shootout tally.

Jack Thompson, Mikael Granlund and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Sharks, who had won five of their previous seven games. William Eklund logged two assists, Granlund added an assist and Vitek Vanecek made 40 saves for San Jose.

Hurricanes 5, Golden Knights 2

Jordan Staal, Eric Robinson and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each had a goal and an assist as Carolina handed Vegas its first home loss of the season, prevailing in Las Vegas.

Tyson Jost and Jordan Martinook also scored goals for the Hurricanes, who picked up their ninth win in the past 10 games. Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves.

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist and Ivan Barbashev also scored for Vegas, which had a franchise-record-tying eight-game home winning streak snapped. Adin Hill stopped 17 of 21 shots before being replaced by Akira Schmid, who finished with 12 saves in his Golden Knights debut.

Avalanche 3, Predators 2 (OT)

Samuel Girard scored at 2:47 of overtime as Colorado beat Nashville in Denver.

Mikko Rantanen and Devon Toews also scored and Alexandar Georgiev turned away 29 shots for the Avalanche, who have won two in a row.

Luke Evangelista and Colton Sissons scored for the Predators, and Saros finished with 29 saves. Nashville fell to 1-3-1 in the past five games.

Flames 3, Kings 1

Mikael Backlund and Jonathan Huberdeau scored second-period goals 36 seconds apart and host Calgary held on for a victory over Los Angeles.

Dustin Wolf made 28 saves for the win and collected his first NHL point with an assist. Kevin Rooney also scored and Backlund finished with two points.

Trevor Moore scored with 2:31 left in regulation for the Kings, while goaltender Darcy Kuemper stopped 25 shots.