Carolina wins, takes two-point lead over Panthers

Jordan Martinook broke a tie with 3:50 remaining, his first goal in 18 games since returning to the lineup, and the host Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 on Saturday.

The victory gave Carolina 87 points and sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. The Florida Panthers, idle Saturday, are second with 85 points.

Martinook’s third goal of the season came on a redirection of Vincent Trocheck’s shot as a long shift was winding down.

Steven Lorentz scored first for Carolina, which has earned at least one point in 13 straight home games for the secondlongest stretch in franchise history. Sebastian Aho added an emptynetter with 20.9 seconds left.

Frederik Andersen made 28 saves in his first game since March 3 after dealing with an undisclosed ailment.

Derick Brassard scored his 200th NHL goal in the second period for the Flyers, whose road losing streak reached 11 games (0-9-2). Martin Jones stopped 33 shots.

Lorentz had gone 21 games without scoring before converting at 8:34 of the second.

Brassard’s tying goal at 16:50 of the middle period came when Andersen failed to control the puck on an initial shot.

That was the first goal allowed by the Hurricanes in more than 128 minutes dating to last Sunday’s second period against Seattle. Carolina shut out Colorado on Thursday night.

With rookie Seth Jarvis out of the Carolina lineup after sustaining an unspecified injury two nights earlier, center Derek Stepan played for just the third time in the past 12 games. It was his 800th NHL game. He got his 500th career point with an assist on the game’s first goal.

Flyers center Morgan Frost appeared in his first game of the month, with Scott Laughton out since suffering a head injury in the second period Thursday night at Florida.

Blues 7, Predators 4: The St. Louis Blues, helped Saturday by Robert Thomas, are doing their best to buy some breathing room in the Central Division.

Thomas had two goals and two assists for the Blues on the road and has four goals in the last two games.

St. Louis, second in the

Central Division, padded its lead over Minnesota to three points and Nashville to five points.

The Predators are in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

David Perron also had two goals, including an empty-netter with 1:57 left, and Justin Faulk added a second empty-net goal 24 seconds later.

Brandon Saad and Torey Krug each had a goal and an assist as St. Louis improved to 2-0-1 in the season series with Nashville. Jordan Kyrou had three assists.

ETC.

Surgery for Landeskog: Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is scheduled to undergo knee surgery Monday, the team announced. There’s no timetable yet for Landeskog’s return.

The Avalanche are in firm control of the top spot in the Western Conference and are eyeing their second straight Presidents’ Trophy, which goes to the team with the NHL’s best regular-season record.

Landeskog has a teamleading 30 goals this season. It’s the second time he has had at least 30 goals.