NHL Capsules: Zach Parise, Eric Staal lead Minnesota Wild to 3-1 win over San Jose Sharks

ST. PAUL, Minn.– Zach Parise scored in his return to Minnesota’s lineup and Devan Dubnyk made 20 saves as the Wild held on for a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.

Eric Staal had two goals for the Wild, who won for the third time in four games. Jason Pominville assisted on Parise’s 15th goal to open the scoring. Parise and Pominville each returned after missing three games with the mumps.

Minnesota (90 points) moved back ahead of idle Chicago (89 points) for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference.

Melker Karlsson scored for San Jose, which had won three in a row and had an eight-game point streak snapped. Martin Jones stopped 25 of 27 shots.

Penguins 4, Sabres 3

PITTSBURGH– Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary scored 50 seconds apart late in the third period to cap a furious rally by Pittsburgh.

The Sabres led by three after the first period, but Pittsburgh ramped up the pressure to win its second straight and move into sole possession of second place in the Metropolitan Division.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist for the Penguins. Justin Schultz added a goal and two assists. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 28 shots he faced after replacing Matt Murray to start the second period.

Jack Eichel scored to extend his points streak to an NHL-best 10 games. Ryan O’Reilly scored in his third straight game and Brian Gionta picked up his 14th of the season, but the Sabres crumpled late. Anders Nilsson finished with 41 saves, but the Sabres saw their flickering playoff hopes take another hit.

Blue Jackets 3, Devils 0

NEWARK, N.J.– Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves in posting his second straight shutout and franchise-record 34th win of the season, and Columbus beat reeling New Jersey.

Boone Jenner, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Sam Gagner scored as the Blue Jackets won for the fourth time in six games (4-1-1) and sent the Devils to their seventh straight loss (0-5-2).

Cory Schneider made 19 saves for the Devils, who were shutout for the sixth time this season.

The shutout was the fifth of the season for the 28-year-old Bobrovsky, and the win allowed him to break the single-season club record set by Steve Mason in 2008-09.

Flames 5, Islanders 2

CALGARY, Alberta– Sean Monahan had a goal and an assist and Calgary beat New York for its seventh straight victory.

Brian Elliott made 33 saves for his sixth straight win. Elliott is 7-0-1 since his last regulation loss on Feb. 5 when he made 28 saves during a 4-3 loss in New York to the Rangers.

Michael Frolik, TJ Brodie, Micheal Ferland and Kris Versteeg also scored for the Flames.

John Tavares and Jason Chimera scored for the Islanders. They are 3-2-1 on a nine-game trip.

Thomas Greiss started in net for the Islanders and stopped 17 of 21 shots in the first period before being replaced by Jean-Francois Berube, who finished with 15 saves.

Canucks 2, Ducks 1

ANAHEIM, Calif.– Richard Bachman made 43 saves, Bo Horvat and Markus Granlund each scored and Vancouver beat Anaheim.

Bachman got his first win since Oct. 30, 2015 and is unbeaten in two career starts for Vancouver.

Patrick Eaves scored for the second straight game and Jonathan Bernier made 25 saves for the Ducks, who have not won consecutive games since Jan. 17-19. Anaheim’s three-game winning streak at home ended, and the Ducks find themselves tied with Calgary for third place in the Pacific Division after the Flames won their seventh straight game earlier in the day.

Blues 3, Avalanche 0

DENVER– Paul Stastny scored his first goal against his former team, Jake Allen stopped 27 shots and St. Louis ended a five-game skid by beating Colorado.

Stastny got the Blues going with a power-play goal early in the first period, his first score in 11 career games against Colorado. He spent eight seasons with the Avalanche before leaving for St. Louis.

Kyle Brodziak and Patrik Berglund also scored for the Blues, who moved into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Hurricanes 2, Coyotes 1

GLENDALE, Ariz.– Eddie Lack stopped 24 shots two days after being called out by his coach, and Derek Ryan scored on a strange bounce in the third period to lift Carolina over Arizona.

Lack was criticized by coach Bill Peters on Friday following a poor performance against Tampa Bay. The goalie was sharp in his ninth start of the season Sunday, helping the Hurricanes end a four-game losing streak with their second victory in 11 games.

Ryan punched in the game-winner with just more than three minutes left when a shot caromed off the stick of Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun, then off the crossbar and out front. Tuevo Teravainen also scored for Carolina, which has won six straight in Arizona.

Peter Holland scored and Mike Smith stopped 33 shots in his 300th game with the Coyotes.