Predators blank Sabres
Pekka Rinne stopped 35 shots for his eighth shutout of the season and the Nashville Predators set a franchise record by earning a point in their 15th consecutive game with a 4-0 win against the Sabres last night in Buffalo.
Mike Fisher and Ryan Johansen scored goals 4:34 apart in the second period, and Filip Forsberg and Ryan Hartman sealed the victory by scoring in the final four minutes.
The NHL-leading Predators improved to 14-0-1 in their past 15, and also extended their team-best road winning streak to nine.
Rinne won his 11th straight to match his personal best. He’s allowed just 18 goals in this stretch. The shutout was the 51st of his 12-year career and third in nine games.
And Rinne also improved to 40-9-4 in becoming the NHL’s seventh goalie to win 40 games in a season three or more times.
The Predators haven’t lost in regulation since a 3-1 defeat to Detroit at home Feb. 17. And they improved to 12-0-3 in their past 15 road games since a 3-0 loss at Vegas on Jan. 2.
Kings 4, Wild 3 — In St. Paul, Minn., Jeff Carter scored his second goal of the game with 33.8 seconds left in overtime and Los Angeles recovered after giving up a two-goal lead to beat Minnesota.
Tanner Pearson and Dustin Brown also scored for Los Angeles, which has alternated wins and losses during its past nine games. The Kings pulled into a tie with Anaheim for third place in the Pacific Division with 86 points.
Panthers 2, Canadiens 0 — Roberto Luongo stopped 28 shots for his third shutout of the season and 76th of his career, leading Florida to a win in Montreal.
Aaron Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov scored to help the Panthers inch closer to a playoff position, pulling three points behind idle new Jersey for the second wild card in the East.