Ducks and Predators top NHL standings
NEWARK: Anaheim’s win against Arizona and Nashville’s defeat at New Jersey on Tuesday put the Ducks and the Predators level on points atop the NHL standings as the play-off race heated up.
Nashville suffered their fourth-successive loss — a season-worst skid — while Anaheim swept pass an Arizona team in a losing tailspin.
Among other results, the New York Islanders reclaimed the outright lead in the Metropolitan Division by taking a point from an overtime loss at Dallas, San Jose won convincingly at Vancouver to tighten the race for the play-off spots in the West, and Minnesota kept up their pace in that race by downing Ottawa.
New Jersey goaltender Cory Schneider made 33 saves to deny Nashville and give the Devils a 3-2 win that boosted their slim play-off hopes.
Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas scored first-period goals in front of a sparse crowd that came out on a snowy night, and Mike Cammalleri was awarded a goal with 1:14 remaining in the game.
Mike Fisher had the sole goal for the Predators, who last lost four straight in March last year.
Dallas’ Cody Eakin scored 2:18 into overtime to give the Stars a 3-2 win against the Islanders, snapping a run of six successive losses.
Brett Ritchie and Vernon Fiddler scored on third-period rebounds as Dallas rallied for a 2-1 lead and they went on to win in overtime for the first time this season, having lost the previous seven attempts.
Josh Bailey scored for the Islanders in the first period and Anders Lee tied it for New York with two seconds remaining in regulation.
San Jose’s Matt Nieto had two goals and an assist to lead the Sharks to a 6-2 win at Vancouver, cutting the gap between the two divisional rivals to three points.
Chris Tierney, Melker Karlsson, Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for San Jose, which have won seven straight in Vancouver.
Henrik Sedin had both goals for Vancouver, which has not only the Sharks, but also Calgary and Los Angeles only three points back.
Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle scored the winner in a shoot-out to give the Wild a 3-2 win over an Ottawa team that had won its previous five games.
Matt Dumba had both Wild goals in regulation for his first-ever two-goal game.
Ottawa goalie Andrew Hammond made 36 saves but lost for the first time in six NHL starts. Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan scored for the Senators.
Calgary’s Jiri Hudler scored 1:23 into overtime to five the Flames a 3-2 win at Philadelphia.
Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar and Trevor Lewis each had a goal and two assists to lead the Kings to a 5-2 win against Edmonton, ending an untimely run of three successive defeats.