Stars, Rangers put on offensive show

STARS OUTSCORE RANGERS IN OFFENSIVE THRILLER ON BROADWAY

* Patrick Eaves (1-2-3) and Patrick Sharp (2-0-2) triggered the Stars' offense with goals 12 seconds apart in the first period, while captain Jamie Benn (1-2-3) had his sixth three-point game of the season.

TUESDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps
Dallas 7, NY RANGERS 6
COLUMBUS 4, Carolina 1
TORONTO 4, Buffalo 3
Ottawa 6, ST. LOUIS 4
New Jersey 4, MINNESOTA 3
Chicago 6, COLORADO 4
CALGARY 5, Florida 2
VANCOUVER 1, Nashville 0
ANAHEIM 2, Tampa Bay 1 (OT)

ROOKIES HELP MAPLE LEAFS CONTINUE WINNING WAYS

The Toronto Maple Leafs (21-13-8, 50 points) erased an early 2-0 deficit with four straight goals to improve to 9-1-1 in their past 11 games and move within one point of the Boston Bruins (23-19-5, 51 points) for second place in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs hold five games in hand.
* Auston Matthews scored a go-ahead goal in the second period to take sole possession of the rookie lead in goals (22) and points (38). Elias notes that Sergei Berezin was the last Maple Leafs rookie to score more than 22 goals in a season, finishing with 25 in 1996-97, which was five months before Matthews was born.
* Five other rookies, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and Nikita Zaitsev, also found the score sheet for the Maple Leafs. Elias notes that Maple Leafs rookies have combined for 167 points this season (61-106-167), 114 points more than the next-closest team, the Winnipeg Jets 26-27-53).

BLUE JACKETS RECLAIM TOP SPOT IN NHL STANDINGS

The Columbus Blue Jackets scored twice in a span of 35 seconds in the first period, with their first goal coming 11 seconds after the Carolina Hurricanes opened the scoring, to become the first team to reach 30 wins this season.
* At 30-9-4 (64 points), the Blue Jackets are tied with the Capitals (29-9-6, 64 points) in terms of points for first place in the NHL. The Blue Jackets have played one fewer game.
* Brandon Dubinsky (2-0-2) scored his third game-winning goal of the season to help the Blue Jackets improve to 10-1-0 in their past 11 games at Nationwide Arena.
* Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves in his return from a three-game absence to record his League-leading 27th win of the season. He's 27-6-2 with a 1.97 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and three shutouts on the season.

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

The Chicago Blackhawks (28-14-5, 61 points), Calgary Flames (24-20-3, 51 points) and New Jersey Devils (19-18-9, 47 points) each overcame multiple deficits to earn wins:
* Rookies Tanner Kero (2-1-3) and Vinnie Hinostroza (2-0-2) each had their first NHL multigoal games to rally the Blackhawks past the Colorado Avalanche. Kero, who had two goals and three assists in his first 28 games, also set an NHL career high for points in a game.
* The Flames faced a pair of one-goal deficits before scoring four unanswered goals, highlighted by three-point games by Mikael Backlund (2-1-3) and Mark Giordano (1-2-3), to improve to 5-1-0 in their past six home games.
* The Devils tied the game twice before Beau Bennett scored the go-ahead goal with 2:17 remaining in regulation to lift them to victory in the finale of their four-game road trip (3-0-1) and to a 5-0-1 mark in their past six road games.

LOOSE PUCKS

Captain Henrik Sedin scored the lone goal in the Vancouver Canucks' victory to move within one of 1,000 career points (232-767-999). … Ryan Miller posted his 38th NHL shutout and second this season as the Canucks extended their home point streak to seven games (6-0-1). … Rickard Rakell scored his team-leading 19th goal and fifth game-winner as the Anaheim Ducks improved to 8-1-2 in their past 11 games. … Mark Stone (2-0-2) and Mike Hoffman (2-0-2) each scored twice as the Ottawa Senators won for the third time in their past four games to climb into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference. … ICYMI: Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon (1-1-2)

for a spectacular goal. … Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk scored the game-winning goal to extend his point streak to eight games (3-9-12), while teammate Nazem Kadri (0-1-1) had a point for the sixth straight game (5-3-8). … Florida Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck (5-4-9) and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Valtteri Filppula (1-4-5) extended their point streaks to five games. … Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa had three assists, including his 600th in the NHL. … Hurricanes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, a native of Parma, Ohio, stopped all 17 shots he faced while making his NHL debut in his home state. … Avalanche forward Rene Bourque (700), St. Louis Blues forward Patrik Berglund (600) and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Cody Franson (500) played in milestone games. … The New York Islanders named assistant general manager
Doug Weight as interim coach
. … MUST SEE:
Outtakes from the "Sharks for Life" ad campaign
featuring Brent Burns and Joe Thornton.

SNEAK PEEK AT WEDNESDAY'S ACTION

All Times Eastern
Arizona @ Winnipeg, 7:30 p.m., SNW, FS-A, NHL.TV
Pittsburgh @ Montreal, 7:30 p.m., SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, RDS, ROOT, NHL.TV
Boston @ Detroit, 8 p.m., TVAS, NBCSN, NHL.TV
Florida @ Edmonton, 9:30 p.m., SN1, FS-F, NHL.TV
San Jose @ Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m., NBCSN, NHL.TV

ORIGINAL SIX AND CALIFORNIA FOES CLASH ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIVALRY

An all-Original Six game and a season-series finale between California rivals highlight the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry doubleheader. First, the Bruins (23-19-5, 51 points) take on the Detroit Red Wings (19-19-6, 44 points) in their final regular-season visit to Joe Louis Arena, where the Bruins hold a 20-15-4 edge in 39 all-time regular-season games, including a 1-0 victory on Oct. 29, 2016. In the second game, the San Jose Sharks (26-16-2, 54 points) and Los Angeles Kings (22-18-4, 48 points) close their five-game season series at Staples Center in Los Angeles (SJS: 2-1-1; LAK: 2-2-0).

REMINDER: NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING MIDSEASON RANKINGS

NHL Central Scouting will release its midseason rankings for the 2017 NHL Draft today at 10 a.m. ET. The rankings, which will be available on NHL.com, feature the top 217 skaters and 31 goaltenders in North America as well as the top 120 skaters and 10 goaltenders internationally.