SUNRISE, Fla. — Noel Acciari completed his second straight hat trick with a penalty shot and added an assist in Florida’s five-goal second period in the Panthers’ 7-4 victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday night.
Acciari had the natural hat trick in a Florida-record 3:59 span, pushing his season goals total to a career-high 11.
The 28-year-old former Providence player began the run at 7:26 of the second, struck again at 7:58, and slipped his first career penalty shot through goalie Anton Khudobin’s pads with 8:35 left in the period to make it 7-1. Acciari got the short-handed penalty shot after he was hooked by John Klingberg on a breakaway.
Acciari had his first career three-goal game Tuesday night in a 6-1 victory over Ottawa.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and three assists for a second consecutive four-point outing, and Vincent Trocheck added a goal and two assists. Anton Stralman and Colton Sceviour also scored, Aleksander Barkov had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves.
CAPITALS 6, DEVILS 3
NEWARK, N,J. (AP) — Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and two assists, and Washington beat New Jersey.
Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson each had a goal and an assist as the Capitals rebounded from Monday’s 3-0 loss at Columbus, improving to 16-3-1 on the road. Jonas Siegenthaler and Richard Panik also scored, and rookie Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves.
Washington’s 26-6-5 record is currently the NHL’s best. It is the only team in the league not to lose consecutive games in regulation this season.
Kyle Palmieri, Blake Coleman and Miles Wood scored for the Devils, who were denied their first three-game winning streak of the season. Mackenzie Blackwood had 21 saves before being relieved by Gilles Senn in the third period.
The four points for Backstrom gave him 900 in his career.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, RANGERS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — William Nylander and Mitchell Marner each scored their second goal of the game early in the third period as Toronto doubled up New York.
Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev also scored, and Frederik Andersen made 19 saves as Toronto won its third straight.
Brady Skjei, Ryan Strome and Pavel Buchnevich scored for New York. Alexandar Georgiev made 34 saves as the Rangers’ losing streak reached three games.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
The Associated Press