Raanta's third shutout leads Hurricanes past Senators
Antti Raanta made 32 saves for his third shutout in 21 appearances this season, and the host Carolina Hurricanes beat the Ottawa Senators 4-0 on Friday night.
Brent Burns, Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas and Brady Skjei scored in Carolina’s fifth straight win and 12th in 13 games overall. Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho each had two assists.
The Senators were blanked for the second time this season, and they went back-to-back games without a team point for the first time in more than a month.
Jeff Skinner scored twice and Craig Anderson made 53 saves against his former team to lead visiting Buffalo. The 41-year-old Anderson spent three seasons with the Panthers (200609). He helped the Sabres get to 64 points and pull into a three-way tie for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with Detroit and Florida. The Sabres have not been to the playoffs since 2011 — the longest such drought in the NHL. Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers.
Nathan MacKinnon scored 19 seconds in for visiting Colorado, which got four goals on its first five shots. MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher each had a goal and assist. Bowen Byram and Matt Nieto also scored for the Avalanche. Mason Appleton had the goal for Winnipeg.
Jesse Ylonen had a goal and an assist and Jake Allen made 24 saves for visiting Montreal. Chris Tierney, David Savard, Josh Anderson and Nick Suzuki also scored for the Canadiens. Owen Tippett and Ivan Provorov scored for Philadelphia. Carter Hart made 26 saves.
William Nylander scored 1:05 into overtime for host Toronto. David Kampf also scored for the Maple Leafs (36-15-8), and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves. Minnesota (32-21-6) had won four in a row. Brandon Duhaime scored for the Wild, and Filip Gustavsson made 22 stops.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak has been suspended for two games for elbowing Buffalo Sabres captain Kyle Okposo in the head. The NHL’s department of player safety announced the suspension Friday, a day after Cernak struck Okposo with his left elbow during Tampa Bay’s 6-5 overtime loss. The play took place late in the third period, and no penalty was called.
In a video explaining the suspension, the league said Cernak extended his elbow to make sure he did not miss the hit and that the onus was on him to deliver a clean hit instead. Cernak, 25, will miss games this weekend at Detroit and Pittsburgh. The suspension will cost him $31,892.