Category: NHL

MONTREAL -- After a devastating defeat to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, the New York Islanders were punished by the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Saturday in a 6-3 loss. 

Goaltender Ilya Sorokin's brilliancy was not enough. He allowed six goals on 32 shots in what was an onslaught. David Rittich came in for relief, with Roy giving Sorokin some rest as he'll start against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. 

Looking around the league, the Pittsburgh Penguins won in a shootout. The Blue Jackets won in regulation, while the Philadelphia Flyers also got a win to keep themselves in the playoff picture. 

The Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings are still playing. 

Here's how the game unfolded. 

Despite Juraj Slafkovskiy opening the scoring, an Emil Heineman snipe and a Simon Holmstrom breakaway tuck hand the Islanders on top. 

Palat get an assist since that’s whose stick Pelech used on the pass?

pic.twitter.com/veBd2gCyVq

— The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) March 21, 2026

However, a 2-1 lead quickly became a 3-2 deficit after the Canadiens scored twice in 1:19 in the middle frame. That was after the Islanders came out of the gates strong, going up 8-0. 

Rookie Matthew Schaefer did what he's done all season, scoring a big-time goal on the power play at the 45-second mark of the third period to move within one goal of the rookie record for a defenseman:

Big Game Schaef. #Isles

pic.twitter.com/UrznQJrVJq

— The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) March 22, 2026

But, less than three minutes later, Kaidan Guhle's point shot deflected off Marc Gatcomb and past Sorokin, putting Montreal back on top 4-3 at 3:17 of the third. 

Slafkovsky scored his second of the game at 8:07, giving Montreal a 5-3 lead. before Caufield's second of the game made it 6-3 at the 11:20 mark of the final frame. 

Caufield recorded the hat-trick on the power play at 14:59 of the third for a 7-3 final.

"I think it slipped away in the second period, when we hit those two posts," Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said postgame. "I thought that was the difference in the game, and we could have made it 3-1, and they scored that late goal in that second period on their power play. We tied the game. Unfortunately, it was a bad bounce on that fourth one, and from there, they just took over the game." 

The Islanders end their final road trip of the season with a 1-2-0 record. 

The Vancouver Canucks hit to 40 loss mark on the season after a 3-1 defeat against the St. Louis Blues. Filip Hronek scored the only goal, which came on a third-period power play. As for Kevin Lankinen, he stopped 18 of the 20 shots he faced in the loss. 

Saturday's game was the definition of a slow start. Vancouver registered just four shots in the first and were at 10 by the end of the second period. As for the 15 total shots, it was not the lowest of the season, but ranks tied for second with three other occasions. 

"They were quick up on us," said Adam Foote post-game. "And we weren't gapping up. Like it happened in the first early. We didn't do enough to start on time. And so when you're not gapping up, when you're not pushing up ice, you get caught in between. When our forwards weren't pushing with all three, then the D weren't gapping up either, and they were just hit in the middle and going back down into our end. And the second period. We have struggled in second periods, because we get caught when we're not skating. We get caught in our end easily, and then we have a hard time stopping cycles. So then once you get out of it, you got to change, and then you are right back down. So we've got to manage the puck better. Stop the cycles as a few to five in the second. And you know, it's hard to generate offense when you're in your end. Then you're having these changes. And the changes were really weak, like they weren't even proper. We didn't thump it out deep enough and push them back in their end to at least get our forecheck going there. Do another quick up. So something we've been working on and addressing, and, you know, once we started pushing in the third, we saw it changed. And, you know, we took over the third. But we have to learn to start on time in these afternoon games too."

Again, second periods proved to be the Canucks' Kryptonite. Vancouver allowed two in the middle frame, which brought their total to 95 allowed in 69 games. At this stage of the campaign, it is hard to imagine this problem being fixed as it has plagued the team since the start of the season. 

In the end, the Canucks can not afford to have performances like this down the stretch. While wins and losses no longer matter, effort levs and process are still being judged as the organization tries to sort out who to keep for the rebuild. Ultimately, Saturday was another disappointing performance in front of a Rogers Arena crowd who have seen just eights win in 36 games. 

Stats and Facts:

- Elias Pettersson ties Mattias Öhlund for the 11th most power play assists in franchise history at 103

- Elias Pettersson tied J.T. Miller for the ninth most power play points in franchise history at 165

- Marco Rossi goes eight for nine in the faceoff dot

- Canucks set a franchise record for regulation loss in a season at 23

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

No Scoring

2nd Period:

10:17- STL: Pius Suter (11) from Robert Thomas and Dylan Holloway
11:36- STL: Pavel Buchnevich (16) from Philip Broberg and Logan Mailloux

3rd Period:

8:32- VAN: Filip Hronek (8) from Elias Pettersson and Marco Rossi (PPG)
19:12- STL: Jordan Kyrou (16) from Pavel Buchnevich and Logan Mailloux (PPG) (ENG)

Up Next:

The Canucks continue their homestand on Tuesday when they battle the Anaheim Ducks. Vancouver and Anaheim will play twice more this season, with the final game coming in April. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. 

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MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored three goals to push his season total to 43 and added two assists to help the Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Islanders 7-3 on Saturday night.

Caufield is second in the NHL in goals, two behind Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon.

The Canadiens entered the day third in the Atlantic Division, while the Islanders were the first team outside the playoffs in the tight Eastern Conference.

Juraj Slafkovsky had two goals and two assists, and Nick Suzuki had four assists to bring his season total to 61. Kaiden Guhle added a goal and two assists, Alex Newhook also scored and Jacob Fowler made 19 saves.

Emil Heineman, Simon Holmstrom and Matthew Schaefer scored for New York.

Ilya Sorokin allowed six goals on 32 shots before he was pulled midway through the third period. David Rittich stopped three of four shots in relief as the Islanders dropped their second second straight game. After Schaefer beat Fowler with a one-timer from the point to tie it 45 seconds into the third period, the Canadiens responded with four goals in a row,

Guhle restored the lead when his shot from distance deflected off forward Marc Gatcomb and into the net at 3:17.

Slafkovsky made it 5-3 at 8:08, and Caufield chased Sorokin with a shot between the goalie’s pads with 8:40 to go. Hats rained down on the ice when the American winger buried his 43rd with 5:01 left.

Up next

Islanders: Host Columbus on Sunday night.

Canadiens: Host Carolina on Tuesday night.

MONTREAL — This loss to the Canadiens came by entirely different means than two nights ago in Ottawa, when the Islanders just didn’t seem to have it in them. Saturday, though, might be an even worse punch to the mouth.

The Islanders were in this one, leading 2-1 and later tied 3-3. These were two teams in the thick of the playoff race tossing haymakers in prime time in front of a sold-out Bell Centre, the intensity every bit as high as it’ll be in the postseason.

And then Mike Tyson, whaling on some poor sap who couldn’t get knocked out quick enough.

Two nights after playing a disastrous third period in Ottawa, the Islanders were even worse over the final 20 minutes in Montreal.

Montreal’s top line overpowered the Islanders’ trio of Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, breaking the game open as the Habs scored four consecutive goals on the back of Cole Caufield’s hat trick to hand the visitors a disastrous 7-3 defeat that marks a major setback in the playoff race.

“Sometimes there’s no explanation,” coach Patrick Roy said. “The other teams just have talent and they have skills. If you try to open up the game — I can’t blame our guys to try to open up the game as well because you’re trying to come back in the game.”

After the Penguins had won in the afternoon and the Blue Jackets sealed up their victory over the Kraken, it became all the more critical for the Islanders to leave Bell Centre with two points just to keep pace.

They did not, and as a result cannot regain third place in the Metropolitan Division merely by beating Columbus in an equally critical Sunday match on Long Island.

Paradoxically, the Islanders played a terrific second period, and yet it was when, according to Roy, the night started to slip away from them. After the Islanders held Montreal without a shot for the period’s first 14:26, the Habs erased a 2-1 deficit over the ensuing 5:34, grabbing a 3-2 lead on goals from Alex Newhook and Caufield.

For good measure, the Islanders had hit two posts in the period, and had a Matthew Schaefer goal disallowed for a (very) high stick.

Even after Schaefer scored his 22nd goal of the year to tie it 3-3 on the power play just 45 seconds into the third, the Isles couldn’t retain their composure.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND ISLANDERS STATS

“We gave up a couple,” Ryan Pulock said. “And then we got carried away trying to chase it really hard.”

Kaiden Guhle gave the home side a 4-3 lead minutes later when his shot from the top of the zone deflected off Marc Gatcomb’s stick and in.

Making matters even worse, the Canadiens extended their lead 8:08 into the third on a Caufield-to-Juraj Slafkovsky goal that saw Pulock simply lose track of the Montreal superstar low in the slot.

Slafkovsky slammed in Caufield’s pass from behind the net, and a home crowd that had been tense all night was singing celebratory olés.

The singing renewed three minutes later when Caufield got on the end of Slafkovsky’s feed to make it 6-3. That prompted Roy to pull Ilya Sorokin in a bid to leave him fresh for Sunday, essentially raising the white flag on the evening.

Caufield added his third on a power play after Barzal’s frustrations boiled over and he unsuccessfully attempted to fight Nick Suzuki, taking a penalty amid the fracas that followed.

“Tonight was more they made plays through us,” Lee said. “We had a couple missed assignments. I wouldn’t say it was an effort problem. We thought we were a little short on [that] the other night.”

The Islanders had acquitted themselves well through 40 minutes, matching the Habs blow for blow and playing with far more physicality than they showed Thursday. Sorokin stood on his head in the first; the second was perhaps the best 20 minutes the Isles played on this three-game trip.

None of it mattered.

Not after the Isles wilted away in the third, their best players disappearing in the heat of the Bell Centre cauldron.

Roy tried his best to give some positive spin afterward, noting that the Islanders have 10 of their next 12 at home, where they’ve won seven of their past 10, and just need to regroup and refocus. It’s true enough that if they win Sunday, this won’t be remembered for long.

Here’s what’s also true: Their season took a hard turn in the wrong direction over the past few days. It needs to get fixed. Fast.

Florida Panthers winger A.J. Greer will have a hearing for boarding Calgary Flames forward Connor Zary.

Greer was assessed a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct for interference in the third period.  Zary was forced to exit the game and is not listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. 

The hearing will be held over the phone, which means Greer can’t be suspended for more than 5 games. If the hearing had been in person, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety could have suspended him for more games. 

On the ensuing power play from the hit, the Flames scored twice, securing a 4-1 victory. 

“Terrible hit. It was awful,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters after the game. “I don’t have an update. He’s moving around, he’s fine and all that stuff, but I don’t really have a real indication of what it is yet.”

Prior to the hit, Greer notched his 13th goal and 24th point of the season in 68 games. Greer finished the game with 17 penalty minutes and 13:23 of ice time. 

Greer was suspended once by the NHL Department of Player Safety in 2023 for cross-checking, missing just one game. Greer was a member of the Boston Bruins at the time. 

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Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times. 

In a way, it captured the breadth of experience the 23-year-old has collected after the Blueshirts selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, but it also doubled as a glimpse at how complicated his path to the NHL has been.

With Igor Shesterkin entrenched as their $92 million goaltender and 40-year-old Jonathan Quick — the winningest American-born goaltender in hockey — entrenched as the backup for at least another three weeks, Garand’s chances have been limited.

Even when the Rangers needed a goalie to give Quick the occasional reprieve earlier this year with Shesterkin on injured reserve, they turned to Spencer Martin instead of their top goaltending prospect. 

But this week, Garand could finally make his NHL debut. He could finally get a chance to show the Rangers that he could be their backup next season behind Shesterkin.

With Quick day to day due to an upper-body injury, head coach Mike Sullivan said that “depending on how this week plays out, I would anticipate Dylan playing.” The Blueshirts have five games in eight days starting with a back-to-back Sunday and Monday.

It would mark the latest instance of the Rangers testing their youth while in the middle of a public retool, and while Garand said he doesn’t want to think too far ahead, the debut would be a long time coming. 

“A little bit,” Garand said after practice Saturday in Tarrytown, when asked if he’s thought about his debut. “… I think for me, especially over the last year or so, I’ve really gotten to know myself, and thinking about the future and stuff like that, I don’t tend to play my best. So just trying to stay in the present moment, and if I get an opportunity, then great. It’s just another game. I’ve played, including playoffs, over 160 American League games, so it’s just another game. 

“But it would be really cool for sure.” 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND RANGERS STATS

It hasn’t been a smooth regular season for Garand — his save percentage has dipped from a .913 last year to an .896 through 36 games — to this point, but Garand felt as if he had played “really well” over his last nine or 10 games with the Wolf Pack.

That marked a different tone from early January, when Martin was summoned after Shesterkin’s injury and Sullivan said Martin, the 30-year-old who’d appeared in just six games for Hartford at that point and was more than two years removed from his last NHL game, gave the Blueshirts the “best chance to win.” Garand had earned call-ups before, including earlier this season when Quick landed on injured reserve, but that never led to an appearance. 

Since The Letter 2.0, the Rangers have given 2023 first-round pick Gabe Perreault an extended look on their first line. They’ve given 22-year-old Jaroslav Chmelar consistent reps on the fourth line. They’ve used time on the penalty kill as windows of opportunity to experiment with younger pieces such as Tye Kartye. Garand, then, would be another player to capitalize on the organization’s current strategy. 

“There’s a lot of things that have gone into the decision to bring Dylan up,” Sullivan said. “The biggest point is that he’s played extremely well in Hartford. He’s given those guys a chance to win night in and night out, and he’s deserving.” 

Until this point, the marquee start in Garand’s career occurred last May, when he logged a game for Team Canada in the IIHF Men’s World Championship and stopped all 11 shots against Slovenia.

He occupied a place on the goaltending depth chart alongside likely future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Binnington — gold medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, respectively. That allowed him to get a taste of NHL life, Garand said.

When he’s with the Rangers, he’s able to observe and learn from Quick, who he asked Saturday about what he remembered from his first game, and Shesterkin. 

And finally, according to Sullivan’s tentative plan, Garand might get a chance to translate that knowledge, that experience from all those AHL games, into an NHL game. 

“The thing about the American League, it’s the second-best league in the world but nobody really wants to play there in the sense that we all want to play in the NHL,” Garand said. “Like, we don’t take it for granted. We’re playing professional hockey for sure, but everyone’s dream is to play in the NHL.”

The journey is long from over for the Nashville Predators, but for the first time this season, they are in a Wild Card spot.

Saturday's 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights pushed Nashville ahead into the Wild Card 2 spot with 73 points. However, it needed some help to stay there.

Los Angeles needed to lose to Buffalo in any fashion, while Seattle needed to lose to Columbus in regulation in order for the Predators to maintain possession of the final playoff spot. 

The Sabres scored three unanswered goals in the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie and handing the Kings a 4-1 loss. That kept Los Angeles one point out of WC2 with 72 points.

Seattle fell into a 3-0 hole against Columbus and was unable to recover, losing 5-2 and trailing the Predators by two points with 71. If the Kraken were to win, they would've tied the Predators in points, but have the tiebreaker in regulation wins. 

THE BOYS ARE BUZZIN' pic.twitter.com/BuMkhDsIDO

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) March 21, 2026

To add a cherry on top, San Jose (70 points) lost to Philadelphia, 4-1, and Winnipeg (68 points) lost to Pittsburgh in a shootout, 5-4. 

The Predators were the worst team in the NHL for the first two months of the season before turning things around at Thanksgiving.

By New Year's Eve, following a 4-2 win over the Golden Knights, the Predators were just a point outside of Wild Card position, the first time they'd come within a game of a playoff spot.

However, for two and a half months, the Predators could not get past the threshold, coming within a point of WC2 multiple times. Saturday's win was the first time that Nashville has actually been in the playoff spot. 

It's an exciting moment for Nashville, but there are still 13 games left in the regular season. There is still more than enough time for the Predators to clinch and lose the Wild Card.

Its biggest challenge will come in a six-game road trip from March 29 to April 9; it'll see Los Angeles twice, San Jose, along with Utah (WC1), Tampa (Atlantic 2), and Anaheim (Pacific 1). 

The Sharks also come into town on Tuesday, trailing the Predators by three points for the final Wild Card spot. 

Nashville has a quick turnaround from Saturday, playing the Blackhawks in Chicago at 2 p.m. on Sunday. 

In November of 2023, Roby Jarventie had every reason to believe his Ottawa Senators' career was well on its way.

From November 4-24 that year, the Senators' 2020 second-round pick played in seven games, including their two Global Series games in Sweden that year. But after being returned to Belleville on Nov. 26, that when the injuries set in, and he hasn't been back in the NHL since.

29 months later, that will change on Saturday night. 

After Leon Draisaitl's injury, Jarventie was recalled earlier this week and will skate on the Oilers' fourth line with Adam Henrique and Josh Samanski. 

"Yeah, I always knew if I stayed healthy, I'd have a chance (to get back to the NHL)," Jarventie told the media. "So, yeah, just really happy to be here, just enjoying every day."

Jarventie was one of Pierre Dorion's top draft picks in 2020 (33rd overall), but a month after the big winger's seven-game run in Ottawa, Dorion was fired. Two months after that, Jarventie ended up having knee surgery to correct a problem that had been hampering him for several years.

"It's unfortunate for him," former Belleville head coach David Bell told the Belleville Sens Entertainment Network. "It's just a nagging knee that they've tried to band-aid along the last couple of years, and it just got to the point where he needed surgery to get this thing completely fixed.'

Five months later, new GM Steve Staios opted to package Jarventie up with a 2025 fourth-round pick (David Lewandowski) and sent him to Edmonton for forwards Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson.

Jarventie was asked on Friday if he was given a fair shake in Ottawa, and trailed off a little as he tried to choose his words carefully.

"(My NHL debut) came pretty early in the year (2023), my first call-up," Jarventie said. "I remember I had a pretty good camp. I almost made a team out of camp and was probably the last one to get sent down. And then, yeah, pretty early, I got my call-up, so a couple of injuries, but, yeah..."

After the trade, in his first training camp with the Oilers in the fall of 2024, Jarventie's other knee began barking at him. As a result, he played all of two games in AHL Bakersfield last season.

So when this year rolled around, he was under strict load management orders. Early in the season, the. Condors treated him like a starting goalie, not allowing him to play back-to-back games. It seems to have worked out. He's had a career-high 36 points in 52 AHL games before his recall to Edmonton this week.

The Senators got Bourgault up to Ottawa for two games this season, so we're a long way from adding the Jarventie trade to the Sens' list of regrets.

But his draft selection is a different story, and it's not exactly a tale of hindsight either.

When Jarventie was picked 33rd overall, John Peterka was sitting right there, chosen by Buffalo with the very next pick at 34. The Sens had just chosen Peterka's German teammate, Tim Stutzle, third overall and fans figured Peterka was the obvious selection.

On Saturday, as Jarventie prepares to play his eighth career NHL game, now with another organization, Peterka, now in Utah, has 192 points in 308 career NHL games.

Steve Warne
The Hockey News

This article was originally published at The Hockey News. For more Senators news, analysis, and features, visit the Ottawa Senators site at The Hockey News.

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The Buying and Selling Of Jakob Chychrun Never Quite Worked Out In Ottawa
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The Buffalo Sabres picked up a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. With this, the Sabres have improved to a 44-20-6 record and have a six-point lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Atlantic Division standings.

New Sabres forward Sam Carrick played a big role in Buffalo's victory, as he scored the game-winning goal at the 11:12 mark of the third period.

Carrick's goal was a nice one, too, as he showed skill with the puck before beating Kings goalie Anton Forsberg with a sweet backhander. Sabres forward Zach Benson also deserves major props, as he took a big hit to set up Carrick. 

With this clutch performance, Carrick now has five goals, six points, and a plus-4 rating in eight games for the Sabres so far. This is after he had four goals and 10 points in 60 games with the New York Rangers before the trade. 

Clearly, Carrick is having an excellent start with the Sabres, and it will be fascinating to see how he builds on it from here. 

LOOK AT THIS GUY GO! 🤩

Sam Carrick now has FIVE goals since joining the @BuffaloSabres! 🦬 pic.twitter.com/qJ2Ha4emBh

— NHL (@NHL) March 21, 2026

Sometimes in an NHL fight, the person throwing the punches can feel it as much as the person receiving them.

That's what happened when San Jose Sharks tough guy Ryan Reaves and the Philadelphia Flyers' Garrett Wilson squared off less than two minutes into their game on Saturday, March 21.

After the two threw the requisite number of punches and were separated, Reaves showed his injured finger to the on-ice officials as he grimaced in pain.

Reaves pulled on his finger and went to the Sharks bench instead of immediately to the penalty box. A trainer appeared to try to get the forward's dislocated finger back in place.

Ryan Reaves dropped the gloves with Garrett Wilson and appeared to have DISLOCATED HIS FINGER in the scrap 😳

Hockey guy tough... 💪 pic.twitter.com/n5hXsoR49y

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 21, 2026

Reaves then skated to the penalty box to serve his five minutes, but went to the dressing room to get his finger examined.

He came out for one more shift, then didn't play in the second or third periods, though he stayed on the bench.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Christian Dvorak scored a tiebreaking goal early in the third period and added an assist, Dan Vladar made 24 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Saturday to complete a three-game West Coast sweep.

Owen Tippett scored in the second period and defenseman Travis Sanheim and Noah Cates added empty-net goals in the final two minutes as the Flyers won their third straight and for the fifth time in six games. Philly was coming off a 3-2 overtime win over Anaheim on Wednesday and 4-3 shootout victory over Los Angeles on Thursday. The Flyers completed a California sweep for the second time in franchise history and extended their road winning streak to seven games.

Dmitry Orlov scored for San Jose, which lost its fourth in a row and for the seventh time in nine games. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 24 of 26 shots.

After a scoreless first period, Tippett got the Flyers on the board with his 24th of the season 2:26 into the second. Tippett took a pass from Trevor Zegras, got past the Sharks' Nick Leddy and beat Nedeljkovic with a shot to the glove side.

Orlov evened the score with his third of the season on a power play at 13:12 with a shot from the slot off a feed from William Eklund. Macklin Celebrini also assisted.

Dvorak put the Flyers ahead 1:47 into the third, scoring on the power play after San Jose's Mario Ferraro was sent off for roughing. The assists went to Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov, who picked up the 100th point of his NHL career.

The Sharks pulled Nedeljkovic late and the Flyers capitalized. Sanheim scored his eighth of the season and Cates netted his 15th, matching his career high of 38 points set in 2022-23 when he had 13 goals and 25 assists.

Up next

Flyers: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Sharks: At the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust has been a tremendous player during his NHL career.

He broke into the NHL during the 2014-15 season and has never looked back, compiling 229 goals and 491 points in 12 NHL seasons. On Saturday, he hit a big career milestone, playing in his 700th NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets.  

Rust's two assists helped the Penguins beat the Jets 5-4 in the shootout, giving the team 86 points for the season. Rust assisted on Rickard Rakell's goal in the first period and Erik Karlsson's goal in the third period. 

Rust now joins Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang as the only Penguins to play in 700 or more games with only Pittsburgh. It's an incredible accomplishment and goes to show what a great Penguin he's been throughout his career. 

His two points on Saturday extended his point streak to six games. He has five goals and 10 points on this point streak and 26 goals and 56 points in 62 games this year. 

Rust will try to extend that point streak to seven when he plays in his 701st NHL game on Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

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The Los Angeles Kings (28-25-16) blew a game in what could've been their biggest win of the season, where they were competing wire-to-wire against the best team in the league, the Buffalo Sabres (44-20-6), until it came down to the final period.  

LA's defense was great for the first 40 minutes of the game, before entering the third period tied, but the Sabres scored two goals in the final frame to hold on and get the 4-1 victory on Saturday afternoon.

The Kings were great on the faceoff, winning 67.3% compared to the Sabres' 32.7%, and avoided the shutout, ending the Sabres' shutout streak since last Saturday. 

But what this game showed was that there are levels to this: the mistakes Los Angeles made in the third period, Buffalo took advantage of to close out the game. 

After suffering that heartbreaking loss on Thursday to the Philadelphia Flyers, where they gave up three goals in the second period, Los Angeles had an opportunity to pick up their biggest win of the season, but came up short in the final moments.  

The game began with Artemi Panarin once again showing the Kings why he's a game-changer, especially on the power play, improving the stat to nearly 25% since he's been on the team. 

LAK Goal - Breaking Bread!

Panarin opens the scoring on the power play. Heads-up work by Kopitar in the bumper spot, just enough on the shot to get in. 1-0.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 21, 2026

Anze Kopitar found Panarin with a slick pass to earn his 700th point on home ice, tying Marcel Dionne for the most ever in Kings history. 

It was an even first-period matchup for the most part. Despite the Kings getting on the board first to lead 1-0, the Sabres still weren't going away, outshooting Los Angeles 13-8 in the opening frame. 

Both goaltenders were excellent in the game, Anton Forsberg once again showing why he should be the permanent starter over Darcy Kuemper, saving several shots that 

Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen did a great job at limiting the Kings' chances of extending this lead, especially in the second period, when LA had a power play in the final minute of the period and failed to generate shots. 

Buffalo finally got on board when Tage Thompson scored the nasty rebound goal after going around Forsberg and bringing the puck back to the net to tie the scoreboard 1-1.

BUF Goal - Tage Thompson ties the game at 1. Nasty goal, sheeeeeeeeesh.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 21, 2026

The Kings were much better in the second period today, despite giving up a goal; the defense held the Sabres to just seven shots and got a lot of timely saves to end the period even. 

The third period was quiet until the 8:48-minute mark when the Sabres scored to take their first lead. After Joel Edmundon stepped up for a big hit, Brandt Clarke was left alone to defend a 2-on-1, and the Sabres took advantage of that sequence to lead 2-1. 

Los Angeles challenged the call for a potential high stick, but the goal would stand, and the delay would put the Sabres on the power play. And Buffalo would of course capitalize on the power play, scoring on the rebound after it went off defenseman Cody Ceci, giving Buffalo a 3-1 lead. 

The Sabres defense picked up in the final period after getting that big stop in the second period, where they were all over the Kings' offense on the power play. Their intensity picked up in the final period, holding Los Angeles to single-digit shots. 

Buffalo sealed the deal with an empty-net goal in the final two minutes of the match to take this game from the Kings on the road, ending their three-game road trip undefeated, while Los Angeles goes 0-1-1 in its two-game homestand.  

Key Takeaways

With the loss now, the Kings fall out of the final playoff spot after the Nashville Predators won today, now holding a one-game lead over Los Angeles. 

Give credit to the Kings for playing hard and staying in this game until the final period, but there are levels to this, and the Sabres showed Los Angeles why they're a championship contender and the Kings aren't. 

Anton Forsberg was great, stopping 29 of 32 shots against the Sabres, coming up with big saves today, but in the final period, the Sabres flipped the switch. 

Panarin scored the lone goal early on the power play to give the Kings that momentum lead, but that was all the offense could get against the Sabres' defense. 

Luukkonen was also phenomenal on the crease for the Sabres, stopping 26 of the Kings' 27 shots, especially in the final period. He was huge for holding Los Angeles scoreless in the final 40 minutes of regulation. 

FINAL - Kings 1, Sabres 4

0-1-1 on the homestand, three straight on the road begins tomorrow in Utah.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 21, 2026

The Kings will play the Utah Mammoth tomorrow night at 6:00 PM PT, beginning their three-game road trip. 

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The San Jose Sharks were back in action on Saturday afternoon as they looked to get back in the win column against the Philadelphia Flyers following three straight losses.

Just a couple of minutes into the game, Garrett Wilson and Ryan Reaves dropped the gloves to get the energy going in the SAP Center. After the fight, Reaves skated over to the Sharks’ trainer with an apparent hand injury and went to the dressing room.

Collin Graf was called for holding just over five minutes into the first period, giving the Flyers the first power play opportunity of the night. During the penalty kill, Shakir Mukhamadullin blocked a shot with his left leg which caused him quite a bit of discomfort. Despite an attempt to skate it off during the TV timeout, he ended up going down the tunnel shortly afterwards. 

Around the halfway point in the period, Trevor Zegras was called for kneeing Sharks forward Alexander Wennberg, giving the Sharks their first man advantage of the afternoon. During the stoppage in play, Mukhamadullin returned to the Sharks’ bench. The Flyers nearly scored a shorthanded goal, but they were denied by Kiefer Sherwood, who had hustled back to make a goal-line save. 

Reaves went back down the tunnel shortly after the power play expired. 

The Flyers were called for too many men on the ice with 4:20 remaining in the period. The Sharks were unable to get much going on the man advantage, but did hit the post with just under a minute remaining in the first. 

Overall, the Sharks left much to be desired in the first period. They were very sloppy, specifically with passing and puck control. 

Reaves once again returned to the Sharks’ bench to start the second period. At 2:26 in the second period, Owen Tippett opened the scoring for the Flyers, giving them a 1-0 lead. Philipp Kurashev took down Rasmus Ristolainen behind the Philadelphia net, giving the Flyers their second power play of the night a quarter of a way through the second period. 

The Sharks then got their second power play of the night with 7:41 remaining in the second, as Emil Andrae sat in the penalty box for delay of game. During the power play, Dmitry Orlov scored his third of the season off of a nice pass by William Eklund, tying the game at 1-1. 

Another fight broke out late in the second period after Barclay Goodrow threw a hit on Trevor Zegras. Noah Cates stepped up for his teammate and immediately threw off the gloves. John Klingberg and Travis Konecny were chirping at one another quite a bit late in the period, but nothing came of it before the teams went to their locker rooms for the second intermission. 

Garnet Hathaway threw a heavy hit on Celebrini early in the third period, causing Mario Ferraro to go after him. Ferraro got the only penalty on the play, giving the Flyers their fourth power play of the night. While it was a costly penalty, the Sharks had to show that they weren’t going to let anything happen to their young superstar. The Flyers scored on the power play, with Christian Dvorak getting the goal and making it 2-1 for the visitors. 

Michael Misa had a prime opportunity to restore the tie, but his stick broke on his shot attempt, and the puck floated softly toward Dan Vladar. Celebrini drew a penalty behind the Sharks’ net when he got tripped up by Zegras, giving the Sharks a key power play chance. The Sharks looked phenomenal on the power play, generating shot attempt after shot attempt, but the Flyers were able to keep the puck out of the net despite the heavy pressure. 

Moments after the penalty expired, Celebrini was penalized for slashing. The Sharks killed off the penalty with little issue and immediately started putting pressure back on the Flyers. 

Ryan Warsofsky pulled Alex Nedeljkovic out of the net with two minutes remaining, sending Will Smith over the boards as the extra attacker.

Travis Sanheim put away an empty-net goal to put the final nail in the coffin, as the Flyers took a 3-1 lead with 1:12 remaining. Cates then added a second empty-netter for the Flyers, making it 4-1.

The Sharks have now lost four straight games, and they'll have to try to get momentum back on their side while on the road. They'll head to Nashville to face the Predators in their next game on Tuesday.