Reimer shuts out Habs
James Reimer stopped 37 shots for his second shutout in three games and the Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0, last night in Sunrise, Fla.
It’s been a busy month for Reimer since starter Roberto Luongo was injured Dec. 4, and he capped December with another stellar show. He also beat the Ottawa Senators, 1-0, a week ago with a 38-save effort.
“Now that it’s going good for us, it’s fun,” Reimer said. “A year can be a roller coaster, sometimes things go your way sometimes they don’t. You just have to take it in stride and enjoy it when it’s going well.”
Vincent Trocheck and Connor Brickley scored for the Panthers, who won their fifth straight game with Reimer in goal. Brickley also had an assist.
Carey Price made 32 saves for Montreal, which has lost four straight. The Canadiens have been held to one goal or fewer in four straight games.
Capitals 5, Devils 2 — Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson had a goal and two assists each, Alex Ovechkin had three assists and host Washington beat New Jersey to move atop the Metropolitan Division.
Braden Holtby stopped 25 shots as Washington won its eighth straight home game. Christian Djoos had a goal and an assist, and Tom Wilson and Matt Niskanen also scored for the Capitals.
New Jersey had gone eight games without a regulation loss. John Moore scored late in the first period and Travis Zajac midway through the third. Corey Schneider stopped 30 shots.
Also, the Devils acquired goalie Eddie Lack from Calgary for defenseman Dalton Prout. Lack will report to the AHL.
Blues 3, Hurricanes 2 — Scottie Upshall broke a tie midway through the third period with his first goal in 11 games and host St. Louis held off Carolina.
Upshall took a pass from Brayden Schenn and beat goalie Scott Darling between the legs for his sixth goal of the season and first in 11 games.
Kyle Brodziak and Partrik Berglund also scored for the Blues, and Carter Hutton made 22 saves. St. Louis won for just the third time in 10 games and snapped the Hurricanes’ four-game winning streak.
Derek Ryan and Lucas Wallmark scored for Carolina. Scott Darling stopped 26 shots.
Predators 3, Wild 0 — Juuse Saros made 29 saves for his second shutout this season, P.K. Subban, Scott Hartnell and Viktor Arvidsson scored, and Nashville knocked off visiting Minnesota for a split in the back-to-back, home-andhome set.
Calle Jarnkrok had two assists for the Predators, who earlier in the day placed Filip Forsberg on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, ending his regular-season and postseason consecutive games streak at 325.
Alex Stalock made 26 saves for the Wild.