NHL-Highlights of Thursday's NHL games
Dec 11 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's National Hockey League games:
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Predators 5, Blackhawks 1
Patrick Kane's point-scoring streak reached 24 games on Thursday but the Nashville Predators earned two points that mattered more to them.
Jumping out a 3-0 lead in the first period and getting a stellar effort from Pekka Rinne, Nashville managed a split of its home-and-home series with the Chicago Blackhawks thanks to a 5-1 verdict at a sold-out Bridgestone Arena.
Rinne bagged 35 saves in winning for just the second time since Nov. 17.
The only puck that got past Rinne was one that Kane, who has not been held off the scoresheet since Oct. 15 at Washington, shoveled in off a rebound at 5:43 of the third period.
James Neal scored twice and Eric Nystrom, Craig Smith and Filip Forsberg also scored for the Predators.
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Flyers 4, Blues 2
Claude Giroux scored one goal and assisted on another in a three-goal second period, which carried the Flyers over the Blues, the Flyers' first win in St Louis in almost 10 years.
Michael Raffl, Matt Read and Ryan White also scored for the Flyers, who snapped a four-game losing streak with their first win in St Louis since Dec. 17, 2005.
Robby Fabbri and David Backes scored for the Blues.
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Lightning 4, Senators 1
Bouncing back at home, Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov scored twice and Ben Bishop stopped the first 24 shots he faced in a win vs. Ottawa at Amalie Arena.
Valtteri Filppula and J.T. Brown also scored for the Lightning.
Cody Ceci scored his third goal of the season with 7:54 left, with assists to Bobby Ryan and Mark Stone for the Senators' only goal.
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Red Wings 3, Canadiens 2
Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm scored 1:11 apart in the third period to give Detroit a come-from-behind win against Montreal at Joe Louis Arena.
It was Helm's second goal of the game for Detroit, which has points in its past 12 games. Petr Mrazek made 23 saves to get the win.
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Panthers 4, Capitals 1
Jaromir Jagr scored a milestone goal, helping Florida defeat Washington at the BB&T Center.
Jagr, 43, got career goal No. 731, tying him with Marcel Dionne for fourth place in NHL history. Brandon Pirri and Aaron Ekblad also scored for the Panthers and Logan Shaw got an empty-netter with 1:08 left for his second goal in two games.
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Jets 6, Blue Jackets 4
Mathieu Perreault scored the game-winner and assisted on three other goals as Winnipeg held on to beat Columbus.
Perreault's fourth of the season put the Jets up 5-2 near the midway point of the third period. The Blue Jackets clawed back, but an empty-net goal from Blake Wheeler put the game out of reach.
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Flames 4, Sabres 3
Johnny Gaudreau scored the game-winning goal at 15:10 of the third period as Calgary edged Buffalo at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Sean Monahan had two goals and an assist for the Flames, who have won four straight games and eight in a row on home ice. Markus Granlund also scored for Calgary, while Gaudreau had an assist for a two-point outing.
Rasmus Ristolainen scored all three goals for the Sabres, who lost their third straight game, all on the road. (Editing by John O'Brien)
