Strong finish helps Wild topple Preds
Devan Dubnyk stopped 19 shots and Jason Zucker scored his 30th goal and added an assist to lead the Minnesota Wild past the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Saturday night.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise also scored for the Wild, who overcame a slow first period to outwork the West’s top team and hand the Predators their second straight loss. After taking only six shots in the opening period, the Wild offense outshot Nashville 24-11 the rest of the way.
Pekka Rinne had 26 saves and Ryan Johansen scored his 13th goal for Nashville.
Nashville nursed a 1-0 lead after Johansen’s goal at the 8:37 mark of the first period. But things changed quickly after the first — Minnesota outshot Nashville 14-5 in a second period that saw Eriksson Ek’s fifth goal of the season, followed by Niederreiter’s 18th at 13:45.
Zucker beat Rinne’s glove side at 1:29 of the third period to give Minnesota some breathing room, and Parise added an empty-netter with 1:41 to play.
DEVILS 2, LIGHTNING 1>> Keith Kinkaid made 35 saves and the New Jersey Devils took another major step toward making the playoffs for the first time since 2012. Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri scored for New Jersey.
CAPITALS 6, CANADIENS 4>> Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson each scored twice and Nicklas Backstrom had four assists for Washington. Jay Beagle and T.J. Oshie also scored for the Capitals, who strengthened their grip on first place in the Metropolitan Division. Charles Hudon scored twice for Montreal and Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher each had a goal for the Canadiens.
PANTHERS 4, COYOTES 2>> Denis Malgin snapped a tie with 3:45 left and Florida overcame a two-goal deficit by scoring four times in the third period. Vincent Trocheck had two goals and an assist for the Panthers, who remained three points behind New Jersey for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Clayton Keller and Richard Panik scored for the Coyotes.
RANGERS 5, SABRES 1>> Jimmy Vesey had two goals and an assist, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 43 shots, and the New York Rangers completed a sweep of the teams’ three-game season series. Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Neal Pionk
each added a goal and an assist.
BLACKHAWKS 3, ISLANDERS 1>> Anton Forsberg stopped 30 shots to help Chicago snap a five-game losing streak. Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad scored in the second period, and Brent Seabrook added an emptynetter for the Blackhawks.
HURRICANES 5, SENATORS 2>> Phillip Di Giusseppe and Jordan Staal each had a goal and assist to lead Carolina. Brock McGinn, Noah Hanifin and Jeff Skinner also scored, and Cam Ward stopped 34 shots to help preserve the Hurricanes’ slim playoff hopes. Bobby Ryan and Thomas Chabot scored for the Senators. Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson made an emotional return to the ice, playing for the first time since he and his wife announced Tuesday that their son Axel had been stillborn.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, RED WINGS 3>> Nazem Kadri scored with 7:26 left, helping the Maple Leafs extend their club-record home winning streak to 13 games. Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown and William Nylander also scored for Toronto.
BLUES 2, BLUE JACKETS 1>> Jake Allen made 33 saves, Alexander Steen scored on St. Louis’ first shot of the game, and the Blues stopped the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 10-game winning streak.
AVALANCHE 2, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1>> Gabriel Landeskog beat Marc Andre-Fleury with a nifty move in the shootout and Colorado kept Vegas from clinching a playoff spot.
OILERS 3, KINGS 2>> Connor McDavid scored two goals to lead Edmonton, which also got a goal from Pontus Aberg. Jeff Carter scored and assisted for the Kings.