Nylander's Five-Point Night Headlines a Wild Saturday Across the NHL

DENVER

William Nylander’s five-point night headlined a wild Saturday across the NHL. Two goals and a career-high three assists — tying his single-game career high — plus his 700th NHL point, and a move past George Armstrong and Frank Mahovlich into sole possession of seventh on the Maple Leafs' all-time goal register. The Avalanche threw everything they had at Toronto at Ball Arena. Nylander simply had more.

The Leafs' 6-3 win was a track meet that Nylander decided almost single-handedly in the second period. Nick Blankenburg opened the scoring against his former team just 3:03 into his Maple Leafs debut — the fourth-fastest goal from the start of a team debut in franchise history — before Nathan MacKinnon took over the first period with goals at 10:46 and 15:14 to give Colorado a 2-1 lead. Then came Nylander's middle frame: a power-play goal at 6:53 on a feed from rookie Gavin McKenna, then — after Brock Nelson restored Colorado's lead at 12:25 — the equalizer at 16:47, the 297th goal of his career and his 700th point. Forty-six seconds later, Easton Cowan buried a one-timer to give Toronto the lead for good. Auston Matthews added a power-play goal early in the third and an empty-netter to finish with two goals and two assists of his own.

The milestones piled up behind the box score. Nylander's 700 points make him the seventh-fastest Swedish player in NHL history to reach the mark. McKenna, the 18-year-old rookie, became the first Maple Leafs player that young to record a point in three straight games since Russ Courtnall in 1984. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves, Toronto improved to 3-2-1, and Colorado lost for the first time in three home games. The Avalanche played without forward Logan O'Connor, who was away from the team following the sudden passing of his father, former NHL defenseman Myles O'Connor.

Across the country in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights needed extra time but got the same result. Mitch Marner scored on the power play at 2:40 of overtime, taking a pass from Mark Stone off a face-off win and beating Darcy Kuemper from the high slot — his eighth career overtime winner and his first with Vegas. Trevor Connelly had his first multipoint game in the NHL, opening the scoring on a power-play one-timer at 2:28 of the second off a cross-ice feed from Stone, who finished with two assists. Carter Hart made 26 saves, and the Knights are 5-1-0 with four straight wins.

Artemi Panarin had the Kings' goal, tying it 1-1 in the second, and Kuemper made 30 saves for Los Angeles — but the Kings fell to 0-2-2, the first four-game winless start in franchise history under first-year coach Peter Laviolette. For more on the Knights' streak, see our full recap of Saturday's win and their road-trip run through Minnesota and Nashville.

On Long Island, the Lightning needed all of Brandon Hagel's heroics. Tied 3-3 after the Islanders stormed back with three straight second-period goals — Tony DeAngelo, Matthew Schaefer (tipped by Jean-Gabriel Pageau) and Brayden Schenn's power-play equalizer with seven seconds left in the period — Hagel ripped a long wrister past Ilya Sorokin with 1:44 to go for the winner, then completed his fourth career hat trick into the empty net just 21 seconds later. He added an assist for a four-point night, Jake Guentzel scored twice, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves as Tampa won its fourth straight. The Islanders, 2-3-0, had Schaefer serenaded by the UBS Arena crowd after his 19-year-old showcase — 27:07 of ice time and eight shots — but it wasn't enough.

In St. Louis, the Blues got off the schneid the hard way. Down 2-0 to Columbus after first-period goals from Valeri Nichushkin and Kent Johnson, St. Louis roared back behind Jimmy Snuggerud's two goals and three assists from Dylan Holloway. After Cole Sillinger tied it 3-3 in the third, Jonatan Berggren broke the tie at 9:33 on a delayed penalty — tripped by Mathieu Olivier, he was there to lift in the rebound after Jet Greaves robbed Mason McTavish — and Pavel Buchnevich's empty-netter sealed the 5-3 win, ending a three-game skid. Jordan Binnington made 20 saves; Sean Monahan played his 900th NHL game for the Blue Jackets.

The rest of the board: the Senators rallied past the Predators 3-2 in a shootout, the Canadiens outlasted the Red Wings 1-0 in a shootout, and the Penguins edged the Stars 2-1 in a shootout. The Wild beat the Panthers 4-1 behind Jesper Wallstedt's 29 saves — the same Minnesota club Kirill Kaprizov just carried in Florida — and the Oilers topped the Sharks 3-1 as Tristan Jarry made 19 saves and Connor McDavid pushed his early-season points total to 13. The Bruins rolled the Flyers 5-1 behind a three-point night from Fraser Minten, the Devils beat the Canucks 4-1, the Mammoth downed the Sabres 4-1, the Hurricanes handled the Blackhawks 5-2, and the Ducks took the home-and-home with the Flames 4-2.

For more Vegas hockey, see our Knights-Maple Leafs shootout final from Thursday and the full breakdown of the four-game streak.