Best of NHL: Semyon Varlamov stops career-high 57 shots in Avalanche win

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DENVER -- Semyon Varlamov stopped a career-high 57 shots, Blake Comeau scored the first of Colorado's three second-period goals over a 3:33 span and the Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 on Thursday night.

Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen also scored in the second for Colorado. Carl Soderberg added a goal, and Patrik Nemeth got his first NHL goal as the Avalanche improved to 5-1 at home. Colorado now embarks on a four-game, 10-day road trip that includes two contests in Stockholm, Sweden.

Varlamov rebounded from a forgettable game in which he allowed seven goals at Vegas last week. He preserved a 5-3 lead in the third by turning back 22 shots.

Victor Rask scored 55 seconds into the game for Carolina, which outshot the Avalanche 60-27. Elias Lindholm and Derek Ryan also had goals.

The Hurricanes pulled goaltender Cam Ward with around 1:45 remaining, but couldn't get anything past Varlamov. His previous high for saves was 54 on Jan. 6, 2015, at Chicago.

Colorado extended its lead to 4-2 in the second when Landeskog scored off a rebound. The Hurricanes challenged the goal, contending that Rantanen's skate may have been offside as Nathan MacKinnon brought the puck into the zone. The replay confirmed the goal and Carolina was assessed a delay-of-game penalty (see full recap).

Miller lifts Rangers over Lightning in OT
TAMPA, Fla. -- J.T. Miller scored 1:19 into overtime and the New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Thursday night.

Miller skated around defenseman Anton Stralman and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy. New York also got a goal from Chris Kreider, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots.

Yanni Gourde had a goal and Vasilevskiy made 33 saves for the Lightning. Vasilevskiy had won nine consecutive decisions.

Kreider opened the scoring during a 3-on-1 at 18:34 of the first.

Gourde tied it at 1 with a short-handed goal off a nifty pass through the slot by Victor Hedman 11 minutes into the second.

Vasilevskiy stopped Kevin Shattenkirk's breakaway shot and made a stick save on Jesper Fast's in-close rebound after Michael Grabner's shot hit the post in the first. He also made several strong saves in the third following Tampa Bay turnovers (see full recap).

Scheifele nets hat trick as Jets beat Stars
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Mark Scheifele had a hat trick, Patrik Laine scored his first goal in five games and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Dallas Stars 5-2 on Thursday night to extend their points streak to six games.

Laine's goal came after he told reporters at the morning skate that he didn't have a lot of confidence and felt he couldn't do many "positive things" on the ice. He has five goals and two assists in 12 games.

The Jets have won three straight to improve to 6-3-2. They are 4-0-2 on the points streak.

Tylers Myers also scored, Blake Wheeler added three assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to improve to 7-0-1.

Alexander Radulov scored for Dallas, extending his goals streak to four games. Mattias Janmark also scored, and Ben Bishop stopped 22 shots.

Winnipeg scored three goals in a 4:18 span in the first period, including a pair on the power play.

Scheifele scored once during the first period and twice in the third, sending the hats raining down with an empty-netter with a minute left. He has seven goals this season (see full recap).

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