Montreal lords over Edmonton
Paul Byron scored twice and added an assist in the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-1 victory last night in Edmonton against the Oilers.
Alex Galchenyuk and Max Pacioretty also scored, and Carey Price made 24 saves as Montreal pushed two points ahead of the Ottawa Senators for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens have won seven of their last eight.
Milan Lucic scored for the Oilers, who have dropped three in a row.
Montreal had the bulk of its chances in the scoreless first period, putting 15 shots on Oilers goalie Cam Talbot against six Oilers shots on Price, who returned after sitting out a game because of the flu.
Byron picked the puck up in front and sent it under Talbot for his 17th of the season with 6:27 left in the third to tie it. Just over a minute later, Galchenyuk tipped a shot up high over Talbot for his 16th.
Byron and Pacioretty added empty-net goals, with Pacioretty pushing his season total to 32.
Rangers 4, Red Wings 1 — Ryan McDonagh scored twice and Kevin Hayes added a goal and an assist as visiting New York knocked off Detroit.
Derek Stepan also scored for the Rangers, who won their NHL-leading 25th road game of the season and improved to 19-5-1 this season in games following a loss. Frans Nielsen scored for the Red Wings. Blackhawks 4, Wild 2 — Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin scored on the team’s first two shots, Corey Crawford made 42 saves and host Chicago doubled up Minnesota to pull within a point of the Central Division and Western Conference leader.
Trevor van Riemsdyk and Marian Hossa also scored for the Blackhawks, who ended a two-game slide and won for the 13th time in their last 16. Kane’s goal was his team-leading 30th and 10th in eight games.
Eric Staal and Mikael Granlund tallied for the Wild, who have dropped 3-of-4.
Ducks 5, Capitals 2 — Corey Perry had two goals and an assist, Ryan Getzlaf added a goal and two assists, and host Anaheim sent NHL-leading Washington to its fourth consecutive loss.
Ryan Kesler also had a goal and two assists for the Ducks, who won three of four to move ahead of the Calgary Flames for second place in the Pacific Division. Rickard Rakell also scored his 29th goal, and Jonathan Bernier made 25 saves.
Capitals defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was suspended two games for charging Los Angeles Kings defenseman Kevin Gravel. He missed last night’s game and will miss a home game tomorrow night against Minnesota.
Sharks 5, Stars 1 — Joe Pavelski scored twice, backup goalie Aaron Dell made 29 saves to win his fourth straight start, and host San Jose beat Dallas.
Patrick Marleau, Joel Ward and Chris Tierney also scored to give the first-place Sharks their sixth win in eight games. San Jose remained seven points ahead of Anaheim in the Pacific Division with a game in hand.