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Gagner’s hat trick leads Red Wings past Predators 5-2

DETROIT (AP) — Sam Gagner scored three goals, ending a 17-game drought that lasted nearly a year, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Nashville Predators 5-2 on Thursday night.

Luke Glendening and Adam Erne also scored for Detroit, which set a season high for goals. Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves, improving to 11-5-0 in 18 career games against Nashville.

Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula scored for the Predators.

Gagner snapped a 2-all tie at 9:58 of the third period. He spun into the right circle and fired the puck, which banked off goaltender Pekka Rinne’s right skate and into the net.

Gagner’s first goal, a bad-angle shot from the right corner, came at 8:38 of the second. His third was an empty-net tally at 16:56 of the third.

Bobby Ryan assisted on the first two goals by Gagner.

Rinne, who shut out the Red Wings on Tuesday night, had 28 saves.

Detroit has won two of its last three and prevented Nashville from recording its first three-game win streak of the season.

Glendening gave Detroit a 1-0 lead at 4:55 of the first when he backhanded a rebound past Rinne. Both of Glendening’s goals this season have come against Nashville.

The Predators tied it at 14:15 when Granlund went to the net and backhanded the rebound of Roman Josi’s shot past Bernier.

Haula tied it again when he backhanded a rebound past Bernier at 2:55 of the third.

BEEN A WHILE

Gagner hadn’t scored since Feb. 29, 2020, at Ottawa. … Haula’s goal was his first since Feb. 8, 2020, at Vegas, snapping a 30-game drought.

HELPFUL

Josi has 12 assists in his last 12 games against Detroit.

ON THE MOVE

The Red Wings recalled forward Mathias Brome and defenseman Danny DeKeyser from the taxi squad and assigned forward Frans Nielsen to the taxi squad. … The Predators recalled forward Eeli Tolvanen and defenseman Ben Harpur from the taxi squad.

UP NEXT

Predators: Return home to host the Columbus Blue Jackets in back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday.

Red Wings: Travel to Chicago for back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday.

ISLANDERS 7,

BRUINS 2

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Anthony Beauvillier scored the tiebreaking goal in New York’s five-goal third period and the Islanders beat the first-place Boston Bruins 7-2 on Thursday night.

Mathew Barzal had a goal and an assist, and Adam Pelech, Jordan Eberle, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Anders Lee and Oliver Wahlstrom also scored to help the Islanders get their second straight victory and improve to 6-0-1 at home. Semyon Varlamov stopped 34 shots.

New York, which got its highest scoring output of the season, beat Boston for the third time in three meetings — three of the Bruins’ four regulation losses this season — to move one point behind Boston and Washington in the East.

Nick Ritchie and Craig Smith scored for Boston, and Jaroslav Halak had 30 saves in his first game against the Islanders since leaving after the 2017-18 season.

DEVILS 4,

SABRES 3, OT

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Pavel Zacha converted Jesper Bratt’s drop pass to score 1:17 into overtime and New Jersey rallied to beat Buffalo.

Bratt, Miles Wood and Nico Hischier also scored for the Devils, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 29 shots. Zacha had two assists to extend his points streak to eight games in which he has three goals and seven assists.

Buffalo’s Sam Reinhart forced overtime by tipping in Taylor Hall’s centering pass for a power-play goal with 4:30 remaining. Casey Mittlestadt and Riley Sheahan also scored for the Sabres.

CAPITALS 5,

PENGUINS 2

WASHINGTON– Tom Wilson scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 7:20 left and Washington beat Pittsburgh for its second victory in six games this season between the rivals.

Nicklas Backstrom scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season, and T.J. Oshie had one for the highlight reel in the third period when he dived one-handed to poke the puck past Tristan Jarry.

Carl Hagelin and Lars Eller each scored an empty-netter, and Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves in his 16th start of the season. Chris Tanev and Jake Guentzel scored for Pittsburgh.

BLACKHAWKS 2, BLUE JACKETS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Patrick Kane broke a scoreless tie in the third period with his 399th goal, Malcolm Subban got his first shutout of the season and Chicago beat Columbus to sweep the two-game series.

Carl Soderberg added an empty-net goal with 50 seconds left in the game. Subban had 26 saves to record his second shutout in 72 NHL games and his first as a member of the Blackhawks.

LIGHTNING 3,

HURRICANES 1

TAMPA, Fla. — Curtis McElhinney stopped 31 shots and had an assist in Tampa Bay’s victory over Carolina.

Mikhail Sergachev, Yanni Gourde and Barclay Goodrow scored for Tampa Bay. The Lightning have won three of the four straight meetings between the teams.

Brett Pesce scored for Carolina.

PNATHERS 3,

STARS 2

SUNRISE, Fla. — Frank Vatrano scored the go-ahead goal with 3:10 remaining and Florida rallied to beat Dallas.

Aleksander Barkov and Anton Stralman also scored in the final 6 1/2 minutes as the Panthers overcame a 2-0 deficit. Sergei Bobrovsky made 37 saves.

Joe Pavelski and Jamie Benn scored for Dallas.

SENATORS 6,

FLAMES 1

OTTAWA, Ontario — Colin White scored twice, Matt Murray made 29 saves and Ottawa routed Calgary for its third straight victory.

Drake Batherson, Erik Gudbranson, Connor Brown and Erik Brannstrom also scored for Ottawa, with Batherson running his goals streak to four games. The Senators improved to 7-14-1.

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