Pacioretty, Habs prevail
Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist to help the Montreal Canadiens break a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 win against the Capitals last night in Washington.
Paul Byron also scored for the Canadiens. Antii Niemi, playing in place of Carey Price, who had been in goal for eight consecutive games, stopped 24 shots.
John Carlson and Lars Eller scored for the Capitals, and Philipp Grubauer finished with 22 saves. Eller scored in the final minute, after Washington fell behind 3-1 on an empty-net goal.
Pacioretty, who has six goals in the last six games, scored Montreal’s first goal at 7:08 in the second period and added the empty-netter with 1:18 remaining.
Byron’s 13th of the season, midway through the third period, put the Canadiens ahead 2-1.
The Capitals, who returned from a five-day bye with an overtime loss at New Jersey on Thursday night, have lost back-toback games for the second time this season.
Panthers 4, Golden Knights 3 — In Sunrise, Fla., Aaron Ekblad scored the game-winner 40 seconds into overtime, Aleksander Barkov had a goal and two assists and James Reimer made 33 saves as Florida edged Vegas, the surprising Western Conference power and expansion team.
Ducks 2, Kings 1 — Ryan Kesler deflected home Francois Beauchemin’s shot for the tiebreaking goal with 7:39 to play and host Anaheim beat Los Angeles to win its second Freeway Faceoff in seven days. Adam Henrique scored early in the third period and John Gibson made 23 saves for the Ducks, who have won 6-of-9.
Jonathan Quick stopped 29 shots in the Kings’ sixth consecutive loss, their longest skid of the season.
Elsewhere in the NHL — New York Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk will have surgery on his left knee and is expected to be out indefinitely. The prized free agent acquisition, who signed a four-year, $26.6 million deal to come to his hometown team, said he has been playing through an injury all season and felt “it was the right time to get the surgery.”
Shattenkirk has five goals and 18 assists in 43 games for the Rangers after totaling 13 and 43 over 80 games for St. Louis and Washington last season. Other than lockout-shortened 2012-13, he has had at least 30 assists and 40 points every year.