Flames beat Columbus, increase lead in Pacific

Johnny Gaudreau scored his team-leading 35th goal, Michael Frolik added a goal and an assist, and Calgary earned a 4-2 win over Columbus on Tuesday.

David Rittich made 31 saves to win his fourth start in a row. Andrew Mangiapane and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for the Flames, and Austin Czarnik had two assists.

The Flames moved three points ahead of San Jose in the Pacific Division, though the idle Sharks clinched a playoff berth Tuesday when Minnesota lost to Colorado.

Oliver Bjorkstrand and defenseman Zach Werenski scored for Columbus, which is clinging to a one-point lead for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots in the loss.

At St.

Paul, Minn., Philipp Grubauer made 36 saves to lift Colorado over Minnesota, tightening the race for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference.

The Wild remain one point behind Arizona for the final spot, but the Avalanche are now only two back.

At Dallas, Alexander Radulov had two goals in the third period to move the Stars closer to a playoff berth.

Dallas holds the first wild-card spot and is two points behind St. Louis for third in the Central Division.

At St. Louis, Jaden Schwartz had three goals and an assist, David Perron added two goals and two assists, and the Blues routed Edmonton.

At Newark, N.J., Brett Connolly sparked a three-goal second period, and Washington moved into first place in the Metropolitan Division with a victory over New Jersey.

At Raleigh, N.C., Dougie Hamilton scored in the shootout, Petr Mrazek stopped Pittsburgh cold, and Carolina beat Pittsburgh.

At Philadelphia, Brendan Gallagher, Shea Weber and Max Domi scored goals, Carey Price stopped 32 shots, and Montreal moved within a point of Columbus for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

— At Nashville, Tenn., Pekka Rinne shut out Toronto for the second time this season, and Brian Boyle, Wayne Simmonds and Filip Forsberg got the goals for the Predators.

Nashville won its third straight, and Toronto lost for the fourth time in five games.

At Uniondale, N.Y., Sean Kuraly scored twice, Tuukka Rask earned his 45th career shutout, and Boston beat New York.

At New York, Andreas Athanasiou scored twice, and Detroit beat the Rangers