NHL capsules: Travis Zajac’s 3 points lead Devils past Penguins, 3-1
NEWARK, N.J. – Travis Zajac scored two goals and set up another as the New Jersey Devils limited Pittsburgh to a season-low 16 shots in posting a 3-1 victory on Saturday night, ending the Penguins’ four-game winning streak.
Blake Coleman also scored and Stefan Noesen had two assists in helping the Devils win their third straight since returning from the All-Star break. Keith Kinkaid made 15 saves and benefited from a goaltender interference call that denied Sidney Crosby a third-period goal.
Evgeni Malkin, the NHL player of the month in January with 12 goals, scored in the third period. He now has eight goals in his last four games, 15 since Jan. 1, and 29 overall. Rookie goaltender Casey DeSmith made 35 saves for the Penguins, who looked sluggish after beating Washington on Friday night.
Sidney Crosby, who also missed an open net in the second period, had his 11-game point scoring streak stopped. The run is tied for the NHL best this season.
Lightning 4, Canucks 2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Yanni Gourde scored late in the second period to give Tampa Bay a three-goal lead, and they went on to their fifth win in six games.
Chris Kunitz, Victor Hedman and Cory Conacher also scored for Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots. Nikita Kucherov had two assists.
Thomas Vanek and Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who were vying to win their third straight at home for the first time this season. Jacob Markstrom finished with 24 saves.
Kings 6, Coyotes 0
LOS ANGELES – Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves for his 10th career shutout, Jake Muzzin and Trevor Lewis scored on special teams, and Los Angeles won its second straight against the Pacific Division after five straight regulation losses.
Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo each had a goal and an assist for the Kings.
Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves for the Coyotes, who had their streak of four consecutive wins against the Kings and three straight in Los Angeles end.
Jets 3, Avalanche 0
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots for his fifth shutout of the season as Winnipeg improved to 5-0-2 in its last seven games.
Patrik Laine scored his team-leading 24th goal, rookie Jack Roslovic was credited with his second and Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-netter for the Jets. Blake Wheeler had two assists.
Semyon Varlamov had 29 saves for Colorado in his return after missing 10 games with an injury and then backing up Jonathan Bernier in the overtime win at Edmonton on Thursday night.
Ducks 5, Canadiens 2
MONTREAL – Defenseman Jeff Petry scored two goals to help Montreal end a three-game losing streak.
Logan Shaw, Joe Morrow and David Schlemko also scored for the Canadiens.
Corey Perry and Rikard Rakell scored for Anaheim, which was coming off an overtime loss in Ottawa on Thursday night.
The Ducks outshot Montreal 45-29, but Antti Niemi, starting in place of Carey Price, made several brilliant stops.
Senators 4, Flyers 3, SO
PHILADELPHIA – Mike Hoffman scored the only shootout goal in the sixth round of the tiebreaker to lift Ottawa past Philadelphia.
The Senators looked like they had the game won in regulation, but Nolan Patrick tied it with 2.6 seconds left in the third period to force overtime.
Neither team scored in the 5-minute 3-on-3 period and neither looked like it was going to score in the shootout, either. After six Flyers shooters and five Senators missed, Hoffman finally connected with a pretty move that beat Michal Neuvirth and sent Ottawa to consecutive victories for the first time since Jan. 5-6.
Derick Brassard, Matt Duchene and Chris DiDomenico scored in regulation and Ryan Dzingel had a pair of assists for Ottawa.
Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton also scored in regulation for Philadelphia, which lost its fourth straight to hurt its playoff position.
Blues 1, Sabres 0
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Carter Hutton stopped 27 shots for his third shutout of the seasona nd 11th of his career, and Carl Gunnarsson banked in a shot off the crossbar with 5:41 left to lead St. Louis.
Hutton improved to 9-1-1 in his past 11 games, in which he’s allowed just 17 goals. His best save came with 32 seconds left when he spread-eagled through the crease by kicking out his right skate to stop Sam Reinhart, who was set up alone at the right post.
Hutton was also fortunate with 3 seconds left when Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot from the blue line hit the post in a game that proved to be a goaltending dual.
Buffalo’s Robin Lehner made 32 saves in the loss.
Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 1
BOSTON – Tuukka Rask made 23 stops and posted a point for a career-best 20th straight game, leading surging Boston past Toronto.
David Pastrnak and Torey Krug each scored on a power play in the second period and Patrice Bergeron added his team-leading 22nd goal for the Bruins. Tim Schaller had an empty-netter as Boston earned at least a point for the 20th time in 21 games, moving four points ahead of Toronto for second in the Atlantic Division.
Rask hasn’t lost in regulation since Nov. 26. He improved to 18-0-2 in his last 20 starts, and had an assist on Schaller’s score.
The Maple Leafs had their four-game winning streak stopped and lost for the first time in seven games against Boston after going 5-0-1.
Mitchell Marner was credited with a goal for Toronto after Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy redirected the center’s shot into his own net.
Islanders 4, Blue Jackets 3
NEW YORK – Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored early in the third period and Jaroslav Halak made 46 saves as New York rallied past Columbus.
The Blue Jackes led 3-2 heading into the third after Nick Foligno scored on a breakaway late in the second. The Islanders were outshot 26-12 in the first period and 40-28 through 40 minutes as Columbus dominated the game for significant stretches.
However, Eberle tied it 3-3 with his 18th goal at 2:49 of the third when he corralled a loose puck at the top of the slot and whipped it past backup Columbus goalile Joonas Korpisalo. Nelson then managed to redirect a rebound past Korpisalo at 5:14 for his 11th of the season and only his second goal since Dec. 7.
Nick Leddy and Josh Bailey also scored for the Islanders, who won for the first time in three games since the All-Star break. They lost the first two by combined 9-1 margin against Florida and Toronto.
Josh Anderson and Cam Atkinson also scored for Columbus, which has lost six of its last eight. Korpisalo finished with 34 saves.
Panthers 3, Red Wings 2
SUNRISE, Fla. – Jonathan Huberdeau scored with 7.7 seconds left in the third period to lift the Florida past Detroit.
Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad also scored for the Panthers. Harri Sateri made 26 saves for his third straight NHL win. Keith Yandle had two assists.
Danny DeKeyser scored both goals for Detroit and Petr Mrazek stopped 30 shots in his third straight start.
Stars 6, Wild 1
DALLAS – Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist during a four-goal second period, and Dallas cruised past Minnesota.
Mattias Janmark and Benn scored on the power play, Tyler Seguin scored on an assist from Benn, and Stephen Johns added an unassisted goal during the second-period flurry. Alexander Radulov and Dan Hamhuis scored in the third period for the Stars, Seguin also had two assists, and Kari Lehtonen stopped 30 shots to win his fourth straight.
Jason Zucker spoiled Lehtonen’s shutout bid at 5:40 of the third period. Alex Stalock stopped 25 of the 29 shots he faced through the first two periods, and Devan Dubnyk gave up two goals on nine shots in the third.
Predators 5, Rangers 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kevin Fiala scored twice and Pekka Rinne stopped 20 shots as Nashville improved to 8-1-1 in its last 10 games.
P.K. Subban, Colton Sissons and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Predators. Rinne has allowed only two goals in his last three games, including shutouts in his previous two outings. He had the Predators’ second-longest shutout streak in franchise history at 171:47 before finally allowing a goal early in the third period.
J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanjejad scored for New York, which had just eight shots on goal through two periods, and Henrik Lubqvist finished with 22 saves. The Rangers lost for the fifth time in six games.
Flames 4, Blackhawks 3, OT
CALGARY, Alberta – Sean Monahan scored 59 seconds into overtime and Calgary snapped a six-game losing streak.
On an odd-man rush, TJ Brodie dropped the pass into the slot for Monahan, who buried his team-leading 24th of the season past Jeff Glass on the blocker side.
Matt Stajan, Johnny Gaudreau and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary, which was 0-2-4 during its skid. Mike Smith stopped 25 shots.
Nick Schmaltz, Vinnie Hinostroza and Anthony Duclair scored for Chicago, which went 2-1-1 on a four-game trip. Glass finished with 35 saves.