Comebacks Ruled Thursday Night in the NHL, From a Three-Goal Rally to Three Overtime Winners

Late drama everywhere

Thursday night in the NHL belonged to the third period. The Sharks scored three goals in a 2:50 span during the third period at SAP Center, with Smith scoring twice, to stun the Canucks 3-2. The Kings went the other direction and still survived: they held a four-goal lead in the third period at Crypto.com Arena, watched it disappear, and then recovered for a 6-5 overtime win over the Senators on Quinton Byfield's game-winning goal. The Islanders needed even less overtime, with Schaefer scoring twice, including the winner 33 seconds into the extra period, to edge the Wild 4-3 in a game played Thursday, October 29. m:…1196 m:…8648 m:…1608

The pattern held in Buffalo, where the Sabres beat the Anaheim Ducks 7-6. Thompson recorded his 10th career hat trick and five points in the game, and Krebs assisted on all three of Thompson's goals after being moved to the first line because Konsta Helenius was injured and out of the game. The win was Buffalo's fourth multi-goal comeback win of the season, and it moved the Sabres to 6-4-3, with five of six possible points collected on their current road trip, which concludes in Los Angeles on Saturday. m:…0070

The goalie who will not lose

Not every late lead collapsed. Carolina's Kochetkov made 24 saves against the Columbus Jackets, including 11 in the third period, as the Hurricanes held on for a 3-2 win even after Columbus scored two goals in a span of 2:54 in the third. The win kept Kochetkov at 9-0-0 on the season. Carolina's goals came from Logan Stankoven in the second period, Mark Jankowski 16 seconds into the third, and Jordan Martinook at 15:51. m:…5655

The night's other results were more straightforward, but no less lopsided in the details. The Blues beat the Bruins 4-1 at Enterprise Center, ending a two-game scoring drought, with Thomas and Broberg each recording one goal and two assists. Detroit beat Chicago 4-1 behind Arvidsson, who recorded four points on three goals and one assist, matching his career high and posting his second straight multi-point game. Detroit moved to 6-4-3 with 15 points while Chicago fell to 4-9-0, and John Gibson stopped 18 shots for Detroit against 27 saves by Spencer Knight for Chicago. m:…1874 m:…0664

One more close finish

Washington closed out the night's close finishes with a 4-3 win over Nashville on Thursday night. Hutson scored two goals against the Predators, becoming the first rookie defenseman in Capitals history in over three decades to have a two-goal game, and Alex Tuch scored the game-winning goal. Tuch has now scored 10 goals in 12 games with the Capitals, Charlie Lindgren made 25 saves, and Washington finished the first month of the season with an 8-4-0 record. Jack St. Ivany also made franchise history in the win, becoming the first player in Capitals franchise history to record multiple assists in each of his first two games. m:…8918

Taken together, the night rewarded teams that kept playing after falling behind and punished teams that stopped. Three games went to overtime, one three-goal lead vanished before overtime rescued it, and the league's hottest goalie needed 11 third-period saves to stay perfect. Early-season standings are still sorting themselves out, but Thursday showed how thin the gap is between a comeback win and a blown lead. m:…8648 m:…5655