TORONTO -- Steven Stamkos had a natural hat trick and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Toronto 5-3 Wednesday night in a game that included a frightening injury to Maple Leafs defenseman Paul Ranger.
Ranger left the ice on a stretcher after his head hit the boards following a first-period hit from Alex Killorn. He was "stable, conscious and alert," according to the Maple Leafs, after being taken to the hospital for what the team called a "precautionary assessment."
Toronto announced the update on Ranger's condition on its Twitter account.
James Reimer gave up a goal on the first shot he faced, and the Maple Leafs lost their third straight (see full recap).
Jets edge Avalanche in overtime
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Blake Wheeler scored in overtime on a shot through the crowd to give the Winnipeg Jets a 5-4 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
It was the fourth time in five games this season between the Jets and Avalanche that went to overtime.
Ryan O'Reilly, Gabriel Landeskog, Nick Holden and Cody Mcleod scored for Colorado, which is trying earn the second spot in the Central Division.
NHL
Andrew Ladd scored twice for the injury-depleted Jets. Eric Tangradi and Evander Kane also scored (see full recap).
Blackhawks shut out Blues
CHICAGO -- Corey Crawford stopped 23 shots for his second shutout this season to backstop the Blackhawks to a physical 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night that gave Chicago coach Joel Quenneville his 700th NHL win.
Duncan Keith, Andrew Shaw, Marcus Kruger and Ben Smith scored as Chicago ended the league-leading Blues' nine-game point streak (8-0-1) and dealt St. Louis its first regulation loss against a Central Division opponent this season. The Blues entered 20-0-2 against division foes and hadn't lost in regulation since a 1-0 defeat at Anaheim on Feb. 28.
Quenneville, who previously guided St. Louis and Colorado, has the most wins of any active NHL coach and ranks third all-time behind Al Arbour and Scotty Bowman, now the Blackhawks' senior adviser of hockey operations (see full recap).