OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Claude Giroux’s game-winning goal Wednesday night likely won’t stand out in his mind, but you can bet Ridly Greig will never forget it.
The 20-year-old Greig was making his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators and Giroux picked up a Greig rebound to score what proved to be the winner against the New York Islanders in a 2-1 victory.
TORONTO (AP) — Mitch Marner scored 19 seconds into overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday night in a matchup of Eastern Conference contenders.
Pontus Holmberg scored early and Timothy Liljegren had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (30-11-8). Ilya Samsonov stopped 27 shots and improved to 14-0-1 at home, further cementing his place in Toronto’s crease ahead of Matt Murray.
“Dialed,” teammate William Nylander said. “On top of his game.”
Filip Chytil scored twice for New York (26-14-8), and Igor Shesterkin made 32 saves.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — James Harden hit two 3-pointers and had a driving layup in the final four minutes against his former Brooklyn teammates and the Philadelphia 76ers stretched their winning streak to six games, outscoring the Nets 137-133 on Wednesday night.
Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 27 points, and Joel Embiid had 26. Harden added 23, and Philadelphia was 35 of 36 from the foul line.
“I don’t care about all that stuff,” Harden said when asked if it meant more to score against his former team.
Seth Curry had a season-high 32 points for Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving had 30 for the Nets, who have lost five of the last seven games without Kevin Durant. The Nets lost despite shooting 64.5% from the floor.
The game was the first regular-season matchup between Embiid and former teammate Ben Simmons since a February 2022 trade that sent Simmons to Brooklyn for Harden. Simmons missed the rest of the 2022 season with various injuries, then Embiid was injured and missed the Sixers’ win in Simmons’ Philadelphia return Nov. 22.