Devils’ win extends Flyers’ losing skid
Philadelphia drops its third straight entering pivotal stretch of games
Michael Mcleod, Kyle Palmieri, Yegor Sharangovich and Travis Zajac scored and the New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Tuesday night.
The top four teams in the East Division make the playoffs and the Flyers entered a pivotal stretch just two points behind Boston for the final spot. Starting with the Devils, the Flyers played five straight games against teams behind them in the standings. Trying to make a push at jumping back into the playoff race, the Flyers pinned yet another loss on shaky defense and goalie Carter Hart.
The Flyers dropped their third straight.
Predators 2, Red Wings 0: Juuse Saros made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season and Nashville beat Detroit. Mikael Granlund and Mathieu Olivier scored for Nashville, which has won four of its last five. Detroit has lost two straight.
Blackhawks 3, Panthers 2: Kevin Lankinen made 33 saves, Patrick Kane had two assists and Chicago stopped a four-game slide by holding off Florida. Dominik Kubalik, Pius Suter and Carl Soderberg scored for Chicago in the opener of a six-game homestand. It was the Blackhawks’ first victory against the Panthers in five games this season.
Lightning 2, Stars 1: Steven Stamkos and Yanni Gourde scored in the second period and Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his franchise-record 12th straight win as Tampa Bay beat Dallas and extended their dominance in the season series between last year’s Stanley Cup finalists.
Notes: The NHL has fined San Jose Sharks forward Kurtis Gabriel and coach Bob Boughner after a pregame altercation with the Los Angeles Kings. Gabriel was fined about $3,000 and Boughner docked $5,000 on Tuesday. The Sharks were also assessed a conditional fine of $25,000, which will be collected if there is any similar inappropriate behavior in the next year. ... The NHL is instituting changes to the draft lottery that make it more difficult for the last-place team to drop out of the top three in the selection order. Beginning with the 2021 draft, only the first two picks will be subject to the lottery instead of the top three, and no team can move up more than 10 picks. Starting in 2022, no team will be able to win the draft lottery — for either of the first two spots — more than twice in a five-year span . ... The NHL announced Tuesday that the Montreal Canadiens have had their games through Sunday postponed. The league made the announcement a day after the Canadiens’ game against the visiting Edmonton Oilers was postponed following the addition of Montreal forwards Joel Armia and Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the NHL’S COVID protocol list . ... Sabres goalie Carter Hutton has been sent home for further testing on a lowerbody injury, leaving the slumping team with no experienced presence in net during a season that’s gone from bad to worse. Interim coach Don Granato on Tuesday said Dustin Tokarski will make his first NHL start in more than five years Wednesday, when Buffalo opens a two-game series at the Pittsburgh Penguins. Minor-league journeyman Michael Houser, who was only signed on Friday, will serve as the backup.