Bobrovsky shuts out Capitals
Sergei Bobrovsky made 13 of his 20 saves in the third period to lift the Blue Jackets past the Washington Capitals, 3-0, last night in Columbus, Ohio.
Anthony Duclair, Nick Foligno and Artemi Panarin scored for the Blue Jackets, who won their fourth straight and remained in third place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind Washington. Columbus faces the division-leading New York Islanders tomorrow night.
Bobrovsky didn’t have to work especially hard, at least not until the Capitals pulled their goalie in the final few minutes. It was Bobrovsky’s 27th career shutout.
Bobrovsky’s counterpart had a busier night. Braden Holtby had 29 saves and held off the Blue Jackets on four power plays with a few close calls.
Duclair scored on an odd-man rush 6:32 into the second period, snapping a shot in between Holtby’s pads from the left circle. Foligno got an insurance goal with 3:48 left in the game, banking one in off the post from the slot. Panarin scored an empty-net goal with 10 seconds left. The first period was scoreless, with Holtby surviving an aggressive Blue Jackets forecheck that resulted in 25 shot attempts, 11 of them on target. He made nice nearside saves on two shots by Cam Atkinson during Columbus’ first power play, and Foligno hit the post from close range late in the period.
The Capitals didn’t get to double figures in shots on goal until more than halfway through the second period. They lost the first of a six-game road swing after beating Los Angeles at home Monday night.
Lightning 6, Flames 3 — NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists, Brayden Point added three points, and host Tampa Bay routed Calgary.
Kucherov has 88 points, including seven in his past two games after going a pair without getting on the scoresheet.
Kucherov and Point (72) are the second pair of Tampa Bay teammates to reach 70 points in 57 team games. Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier did it in 2006-07.
Cedric Paquette, Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde and Steven Stamkos also scored for the NHL-leading Lightning.
Stars 3, Panthers 0 — Anton Khudobin recorded his second shutout of the season and Tyler Seguin had two goals and an assist as Dallas topped Florida in Sunrise, Fla.
Esa Lindell also scored, and Alexander Radulov had two assists for Dallas, which snapped a two-game losing streak and won for the sixth time in eight games.
With Stars goalie Ben Bishop out, Khudobin made his third consecutive start, stopping 30 shots and winning for just the second time in six starts. It was the eighth shutout of Khudobin’s career.
Sabres 3, Islanders 1 — Jack Eichel set up two goals in leading host Buffalo past New York.
Jason Pominville scored the go-ahead goal 6:49 into the second period. Jeff Skinner scored off a faceoff draw won by Eichel, and Johan Larsson sealed the victory with 2:25 left. Linus Ullmark stopped 24 shots to improve to 3-0-1 in his past four starts.
The Sabres improved to 3-2-1 six games into a sevengame homestand. Overall, Buffalo improved to 28-21-7 and picked up its 63rd point, one more than last season.