In some injury news from the Edmonton Oilers, defenceman Darnell Nurse was out of the lineup for Thursday night's road game in Florida. The team said it would just be a day-to-day thing, so it doesn't seem as if an extended absence is in the cards, but teams are so cagey about injuries nowadays that this could be anything from a slightly sprained ankle to a heart transplant.

Goals from Nate Schmidt and Carter Verhaeghe halfway through the third period proved the difference for Florida as they took a 4-3 win in that game against Edmonton. Uvis Balinskis and Anton Lundell had scored earlier in the game, and it was enough for the two points over their opponent from last year's Stanley Cup final.

Aaron Ekblad had a pair of assist, three shots, a block, two PIMs, and two hits in a fantastic multi-cat fantasy effort.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 of 26 shots faced for the win.

Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl, and Brett Kulak had the goals for Edmonton. Draisaitl had three shots, a block, and two PIMs to go with his goal.

Stuart Skinner allowed four goals on 36 shots for the loss.  

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Some news on Pittsburgh forward Michael Bunting:

Michael Bunting had surgery to remove his appendix, per Mike Sullivan. Out for a while.

— Matt Vensel (@mattvensel) February 27, 2025

Kevin Hayes was on the top power-play unit for Pittsburgh while Danton Heinen took Bunting's spot on the third line.

After an embarrassing loss on the road in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, the Penguins handed the Flyers an embarrassing loss of their own on Thursday.

The Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 lead, which they held with 31 minutes left in the game. Pittsburgh fought back to tie things up 4-4 in the third period before Evgeni Malkin earned his team the extra two points with an overtime winner.

Malkin had a huge offensive game with two goals, two assists, three shots, three blocks, and a hit. He had just four points in eight January games, and posted four points on Thursday night. Hockey!

Erik Karlsson also had a big game for the Penguins with two goals, one assist, and four shots.

Philip Tomasino had the other goal for Pittsburgh. He finished with one shot, two PIMs, and three hits. He has two goals and two assists in four games since the Four Nations break, and has posted 2.35 points per 60 minutes since American Thanksgiving. That is a 71^st percentile mark among regular forwards (at least 250 minutes played), or a high-end second-liner. Just like he was for much of his Nashville tenure. Funny how that works.

Joel Blomqvist got the win, stopped 21 of 22 shots after relieving Alex Nedeljkovic halfway through the game.

Matvei Michkov had two goals (one PP), an assist, and four shots in the loss. Owen Tippett had a goal and an assist of his own, posting four shots along the way. Tippett has four goals in three games since the schedule resumed.

Rasmus Ristolainen had an assist, four shots, a block, and a hit.

Samuel Ersson was in net for all five goals against on 25 shots faced.

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Good news for the New York Rangers and Chris Kreider:

Chris Kreider is skating. He missed the past two games with an upper body injury.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) February 27, 2025

With Adam Fox injured for the foreseeable future, the Rangers need as many of their stars in the lineup (and playing well) as they can get. Kreider is counted among them, so let's hope he can find some magic down the stretch.

It is also worth noting that JT Miller missed that practice, and without Fox on the ice, the Rangers practiced a five-forward power play. Assuming Miller is on the top unit when he's in the lineup, it certainly seems as if they're going to try the five-forward PP setup before looking to one of their defencemen for a replacement. We will see how long this actually lasts, but it's the plan for now.

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Montreal gave an update on forward Kirby Dach, who missed Tuesday's game and was not in the lineup on Thursday, either:

#Habs say there will be an update on Kirby Dach in 24 hours.

— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) February 27, 2025

We won't speculate on what's wrong and how long he may be out, but when a team says they'll provide a medical update on a player at a specific date and time, it's hard to imagine it's good news. Given Dach's injury history over the last few years, the hope is that it's more 'he will be out 4-6 weeks' with some sort of sprain rather than something worse. We will find out on Friday.

Montreal fought back from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to take a 4-3 overtime win at home to San Jose. The hero of the night was Cole Caufield as he pulled off a goal-of-the-year play to lift the Canadiens to the two points:

Cole Caufield you dirty dog! pic.twitter.com/OMYVPivUE7

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) February 28, 2025

Caufield assist on a Nick Suzuki goal earlier in the game, and Nick Suzuki scored another, so both players had multi-point games on the night. Suzuki has three goals and five assists since returning from the Four Nations break, and is back on a point-per-game pace (60 points in 59 games).

With Dach out of the lineup, Owen Beck was again on the second line and registered his first career NHL point on an Alex Newhook goal. Beck had two shots and two hits to go with his assist and has looked every bit the part of a regular NHLer in his time with the big club.

Lane Hutson assisted on the second Suzuki goal and now has 40 assists on the season. The TSN broadcast said he was the first rookie defenceman to reach 40 assists in fewer than 60 games since Nicklas Lidstrom.

Sam Montembeault stopped 23 of 26 shots for the win.

Fabian Zetterlund, Will Smith, and Nico Sturm had the goals for San Jose. Smith had a sweet assist on the Zetterlund goal, too, and is now up to 26 points in 52 games. Not bad for a rookie skating under 15 minutes a game on a Lottery team.

Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 33 shots for the loss.

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Important news on Boston forward Trent Frederic given that the Trade Deadline is a week from today:

Trent Frederic (lower body) is week-to-week.

— Fluto Shinzawa (@FlutoShinzawa) February 27, 2025

Frederic has not had a good season and if he's out until the end of March, it seems hard to imagine that a playoff team is going to take a chance on him sight unseen. Maybe something changes, but it feels like something that may have to wait until the offseason now.

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Roman Josi was not in the lineup for Nashville on Thursday night. With him out of the lineup, the team turned to a five-forward power play with Gustav Nyquist effectively taking Josi's spot.  

Nashville won that game at home to Winnipeg by a 2-1 margin thanks to goals from Filip Forsberg and Tommy Novak (PP). Forsberg finished the night with three shots, a block, and four PIMs.

Ryan O'Reilly assisted on Forsberg's goal, posting five shots and three blocks with a hit.

Juuse Saros stopped 23 of 24 shots faced for the win.

Brady Skjei was eventually moved to the top PP unit in the third period, but that was with Nashville up 2-1 and 14 minutes remaining. It could just have been to protect the lead.

Neal Pionk scored Winnipeg's only goal, registering three shots, a block, two PIMs, and three hits in a great multi-cat night.

Eric Comrie took the loss, giving up two goals on 30 shots.

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Columbus and Detroit play in an outdoor Winter Classic on Saturday, but first they squared off in a game with huge playoff implications on Thursday night. The Blue Jackets skated out of Detroit with a 5-2 win, a massive two points, especially in regulation.

James van Riemsdyk scored twice for Columbus, Kent Johnson had a goal and an assist, Sean Kuraly got on the board, and Kirill Marchenko added a late insurance tally. Marchenko finished the game with four shots and a pair of hits, and has three goals, two assists, eight shots, three hits, and two blocks in three games since the NHL resumed their schedule.

The big night went to Boone Jenner, playing his third game of the season since returning from a lengthy absence. He had three assists, seven shots, and a block in over 18 minutes of ice time. It is a great story for a player who has had a lot of bad injury and offseason bad luck over the years.

Daniil Tarasov stopped 29 of 31 shots for a big Columbus win.

J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist for Detroit while Alex DeBrincat had the other goal. DeBrincat registered six total shots, two PIMs, and two hits in a great multi-cat fantasy night.

Cam Talbot allowed four goals on 29 shots for the loss.

Cole Sillinger was injured halfway through the first period for the Jackets and did not return. It was van Riemsdyk who took his spot on the second line and, needless to say, he made the most of his opportunity.

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St. Louis went into Washington and handed the Capitals a 5-2 loss. It was the first time Washington lost a game by at least three goals since before Christmas.

Philip Broberg had a monster game with a pair of goals, the second being a dive-across-the-crease-like-Superman-type of goal:

What an unbelievable play by Philip Broberg to score his 2nd goal of the night!

It's the first multi-goal game of his career!#stlblues pic.twitter.com/3fhaK1HvKU

— BluesMuse (@STLBluesMuse) February 28, 2025

He would later assist on an empty-net tally from Jake Neighbours, giving Broberg two goals, one assist, and two shots on the night. He is up to 21 points in 47 games on the season, and just two of those points have come on the power play.

Dylan Holloway and Colton Parayko had the other tallies. Holloway totaled two shots, two blocks, and two hits while Parayko had two shots and three blocks.

Joel Hofer stopped 16 of 18 shots for the win.

Connor McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois had the goasl for Washington. McMichael also assisted on PLD's goal, giving him nine points in his last nine games.

Charlie Lindgren took the loss for the Caps, allowing four goals on 18 shots.

Tom Wilson was a game-time scratch for the Capitals.

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Andrei Vasilevskiy was the star for Tampa Bay on Thursday night as he stopped all 27 shots he faced to shutout the Calgary Flames 3-0. That was his fourth shutout of the season, tied for the most for a season since the 2020 Bubble season. He has now given up just 54 goals in 27 starts since December 1^st, posting a .931 save percentage along the way.

Nikita Kucherov (PP), Erik Cernak, and Brandon Hagel had the goals for the Lightning. Hagel also assisted on that Cernak goal, posting two shots and two PIMs in total. He has five points in three games since returning from the Four Nations Faceoff, and is on pace for a 40-goal season.

Dustin Wolf gave up two goals on 22 shots for the loss.

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Carolina's offence showed some signs of life thanks to a 5-2 win at home to Buffalo. Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen (PP) both scored, and Rantanen assisted on the Aho goal, too. It was Rantanen's first multi-point game since his trade to the Hurricanes, and if they can start rolling offensively, maybe we'll see fewer tweets about him being traded again before the Trade Deadline.

Seth Jarvis, Taylor Hall, and Jordan Staal scored the other goals for Carolina. Jarvis finished the game with three shots, a block, and a hit, and he has 14 goals and 25 points in his last 24 games.

Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 14 of 16 shots for the win.

Alex Tuch (PP) and JJ Peterka had the goals for Buffalo. Tuch totaled four shots and a hit in the game, and has 12 goals in 22 games since the Christmas break.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was pulled eight minutes into the game after allowing two goals on seven shots. James Reimer allowed two more goals on 28 shots over the next 50 minutes.

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Goals from Alexander Romanov and Kyle Palmieri was enough for the New York Islanders to skate out of Boston with a 2-1 win. David Pastrnak broke Ilya Sorokin's shutout halfway through the third period, but it was the only shot to get past the Islanders netminder as he stopped 38 of 39 shots for the win.

Pastrnak finished the game with nine shots, a block, and a hit in nearly 24 minutes of ice time.

Jeremy Swayman gave up two goals on 20 shots in a losing effort.

Earlier in the day, Boston announced they put Oliver Wahlstrom on waivers.

There was a scary incident with Matthew Poitras as he ran into an opening in the Islanders bench as the door had just been opened for a line change. He left the game and did not returns.

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Utah laid the wood at home to Minnesota on Thursday night thanks to a 6-1 score. Their top guys did all the damage, too:

• Clayton Keller: One goal, four assists (two PP), three shots
• Nick Schmaltz: One goal, two assists, four shots
• Barrett Hayton: One goal (PP), one assist (PP), three shots
• Logan Cooley: One goal, one assist, one shot
• Dylan Guenther: One goal (PP), two shots, two blocks, two PIMs, one hit
• Mikhail Sergachev: Two assists (one PP), one shot, five blocks, one hit
• Sean Durzi: One goal, three shots, two PIMs

Keller now has 69 points this season, which ties him for ninth in the league with Rantanen and Jack Hughes. He is eighth in the league by points per 60 minutes.

Karel Vejmelka stopped 15 of 16 shots for the win.

Frederick Gaudreau scored Minnesota's only goal and Marc-Andre Fleury was in net for all six goals on 31 shots against.

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Anaheim fought back from a 2-0 first-period deficit at home to Vancouver to take their matchup on Thursday night by a 5-2 score.

Both Ryan Strome and Troy Terry had a goal and two assists in the win while line mate Frank Vatrano also got on the board. Vatrano totaled four shots and three hits, and has two goals, one assist, 10 shots, 11 hits, and three blocks in four games since the NHL returned to action last weekend.

Cutter Gauthier and Jackson LaCombe had the other goals for Anaheim. Gauther has 8 even strength goals in 25 games since the Christmas break, which is tied for the lead on the Anaheim roster. He is tied for 20^th by goals per 60 minutes at even strength among regular forwards across the league in that span.

Lukas Dostal stopped 22 of 24 shots for the win.

Tyler Myers had a goal, an assist, two shots, two blocks, and two PIMs in the loss for a very good multi-cat night. Teammate Pius Suter had the other goal.

Arturs Silovs stopped gave up four goals on 24 shots in the loss.

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Vegas nearly blew a huge lead to Chicago on Thursday night but managed to hang on for a 7-5 win. The Golden Knights jumped out to a massive 5-1 lead after the first period but Chicago scored four of the next five goals to make it a 6-5 game in Vegas's favour with 10 minutes left in the game. A late goal from Ivan Barbashev provided the insurance the Golden Knights needed, helping them hold the lead that they never technically lost (even if worries were mounting).

Vegas's new-look third line did a lot of the damage against Chicago as Barbashev had two goals (one PP) on two shots, added two assists, managed a pair of blocks, and added a hit for good measure. New line mate Keegan Kolesar tallied a pair of goals of his own, registering five shots, a block, and a hit. The third man on the line – Brett Howden – had a trio of assists and a shot.

The other goals came from Tomas Hertl (PP), Pavel Dorofeyev, and Nicolas Hague. Hertl assisted on Dorofeyev's goal, giving the former a multi-point night, adding two hits to go with his two shots. Hertl is 1 of 29 players with at least 23 goals and 23 assists on the season.

Noah Hanifin had two assists (one PP), five shots, a block, and a hit in the win.

Nick Foligno,  Colton Dach, Ethan Del Mastro, Ilya Mikheyev, and Philipp Kurashev had the goals for Chicago.

The only Blackhawks skaters with multi-point nights were Connor Murphy (three assists) and Frank Nazar (two assists). Murphy had a shot, six blocks, and three hits to go with those helpers.

In a Vegas-Chicago game that had 12 goals, Connor Bedard, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone combined for one point (an Eichel PP assist). Hockey!

Ilya Samsonov hung on for the win despite allowing five goals on 22 shots.

Petr Mrazek was pulled after allowing five goals on 15 shots.

Foligno left the game after the second period and did not return.