Panarin, Crawford lead Blackhawks past Blue Jackets 3-1
CHICAGO: Artemi Panarin had two goals, Corey Crawford made 32 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Friday to reach the cusp of clinching the Central Division.
Panarin scored in the opening minute, then added an emptynetter with 44 seconds left for his 28th goal of the season. Marian Hossa also scored in the first period for Chicago, and Patrick Kane assisted on all three goals as Chicago extended its division lead to nine points over idle Minnesota.
PENGUINS 4, RANGERS 3, SO: Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist in regulation and then got the clinching tally in the shootout as Pittsburgh snapped a four-game skid.
Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust also scored for the Penguins, and Matt Murray stopped 30 shots for his 29th win of the season. Pittsburgh pulled one point behind Columbus for second place in the Metropolitan Divisioin and homeice advantage in their likey firstround playoff series.
6, CAPITALS 3: Christian Dvorak scored two unassisted goals and the Arizona Coyotes chased Capitals goalie Braden Holtby early while snapping Washington's six-game winning streak.
Alexander Burmistrov also scored twice for the Coyotes, giving him three this season. He scored 13:12 into the game to make it 3-0 and prompted Capitals coach Barry Trotz to replace Holtby with Philipp Grubauer. Holtby returned to the net for the final two periods, but only stopped 18 shots in the game.
AVALANCHE 2, BLUES 1, SO: Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene scored shootout goals, Calvin Pickard had 27 saves through overtime and two more in the shootout and Colorado beat St. Louis.
Jake Allen had 31 saves and Ryan Reaves scored for the Blues, who clinched a playoff spot by earning a point.
2, DEVILS 1: Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier scored to help New York preserve its slim playoff chances.
Jaroslav Halak stopped 26 shots as the Islanders pulled four points behind Boston for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. New York won at home for the first time since beating the Devils here on Feb. 19, going 0-4-1 at Barclays Center in between.
KINGS 2, CANUCKS 0: Jarome Iginla scored his 625th career goal and Jonathan Quick made 35 saves for his 44th career shutout to lead Los Angeles.
Tyler Toffoli also scored for the Kings, who are clinging to slim playoff hopes and now sit eight points behind Nashville for the second wild card in the Western Conference with five games remaining for each team.
FLAMES 5, SHARKS 2: Matt Stajan got his first goal in 24 games during Calgary's three-goal second period, and the Flames clinched a playoff berth.
Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Alex Chiasson and Sam Bennett also scored for Calgary, which won three out of the four meetings this season against San Jose. Brian Elliott finished with 36 saves as the Flames pulled one point behind the third-place Sharks in the Pacific Division with four games remaining for each team, including a matchup in the season finale at San Jose.