Smith stops 31 shots, Coyotes blank Capitals

Matt Murray # 30 of the Pittsburgh Penguins makes the second period save on Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders

at the Barclays Center on April 2, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (AFP) LOS ANGELES, April 3, (AP): Jordie Benn scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:58 to play, as the Dallas Stars rallied from a third-period deficit to assert their Western Conference supremacy with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Benn scored his first goal since Dec 21 after Patrick Eaves tied it early in the third. Jamie Benn also scored his 41st goal for the Stars, who claimed a lateseason meeting of division leaders.

Coach Lindy Ruff won his 700th career game as Dallas (48-22-9) moved four points ahead of St. Louis atop the Central Division and eight points ahead of Los Angeles (46-27-5) in the conference standings.

Penguins 5, Islanders 0 In New York, the Penguins clinched a playoff berth behind Matt Murray’s 23 saves for his first NHL shutout.

Surging Pittsburgh improved to 45-25-8 with its fifth straight win and has outscored opponents 25-10 in that stretch.

The Penguins made the postseason for the 10th straight year and solidified their grip on second place in the Metropolitan Division.

Oskar Sundqvist, Patric Hornqvist, Matt Cullen, Phil Kessel and Tom Kuhnhackl scored for Pittsburgh, and Sidney Crosby got his 600th NHL assist. Crosby, the NHL’s first star for March, played in his 704th game as a Penguin, passing Brooks Orpik for fifth place on the franchise’s alltime list.

Flyers 3, Senators 2 In Philadelphia, the Flyers got two power-play goals from Wayne Simmonds and a strong effort from goaltender Steve Mason as they continued to surge toward the playoffs.

Thanks to the Islanders dropping a home game against Pittsburgh, the Flyers moved within two points of the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Flyers built a 2-0 lead on power-play goals in the second period after a sloppy, scoreless first. Their first goal came when Jakub Voracek, playing the point, intercepted a failed clearing attempt by Ottawa’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Voracek, uncovered at the point, quickly fired the puck toward the net to a wide-open Simmonds, who redirected the puck past Andrew Hammond 1:30 into the second period.

Sabres 4, Rangers 3 In New York, Ryan O’Reilly scored two first-period goals in a 2:52 span as the Buffalo Sabres put a hold on the New York Rangers’ hopes of clinching a playoff berth.

Zamgus Girgensons and Matt Moulson also scored on a night the Sabres sent Henrik Lundqvist to the bench in less than 21 minutes and had the sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden booing several times.

Chad Johnson had 33 saves and Buffalo killed off a late two-man disadvantage in improving to 6-2-2 in its last 10 games, and snapping a nine-game losing streak against the Rangers dating to April 2013.

Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller and Derek Stepan scored for the error-prone Rangers.

Lightning 3, Devils 1 In Tampa, Florida, Brian Boyle scored the go-ahead goal on a third-period power play to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New Jersey Devils.

Boyle made it 2-1 on Tampa Bay’s seventh power play and third of the third period on a backhand rebound with 8:28 to play.

Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who remained two points behind Atlantic Division-leading Florida. Ben Bishop stopped Mike Sislo’s breakaway shot in the first and finished with 25 saves.

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos will miss 1-to-3 months with a blood clot in his right arm, and is scheduled to have surgery Monday to repair it.

New Jersey got a goal from Adam Henrique. Cory Schneider, who hadn’t played since March 4 due to a right knee injury, was back in the lineup and made 33 saves.

Red Wings 3, Maple Leafs 2 In Toronto, Brad Richards and Mike Green each had a goal and an assist as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jimmy Howard made 32 saves for the Red Wings, who moved past the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division with 91 points.

Kyle Quincey also scored for Detroit, which is trying to extend its streak of making the playoffs to 24 straight seasons.

Colin Greening and William Nylander scored for Toronto, and Garret Sparks made 23 saves.

Panthers 4, Canadiens 3 In Sunrise, Florida, Aleksander Barkov scored the winning goal with 28.1 seconds left as the Florida Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat Montreal.

Tanner Glass # 15 of the New York Rangers checks Jake McCabe #29 of the Buffalo Sabres during their games at Madison Square Garden on April 2,

in New York City. (AFP)

Barkov finished with two goals and two assists, and Jaromir Jagr and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for Florida. Aaron Ekblad also had a pair of assists, while Huberdeau and Brian Campbell had one each.

Brendan Gallagher scored in his return to the Montreal lineup, and David Desharnais and Torrey Mitchell added goals. Joel Hanley, Max Pacioretty, Lars Eller, Paul Byron, Darren Dietz and Tomas Plekanec recorded assists. Montreal’s Mike Condon made 34 saves, while Roberto Luongo had 24 for Florida.

Blue Jackets 5, Hurricanes 1 In Raleigh, North Carolina, Brandon Saad scored three goals for his first career hat trick as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Carolina Hurricanes.

Boone Jenner and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored, and Alexander Wennberg and David Savard had two assists apiece. The last-placed Blue Jackets scored three goals in the second period and snapped a fourgame losing streak.

Jeff Skinner scored and Eddie Lack made 22 saves for the Hurricanes, who were mathematically eliminated from the playoff race. They had kept their long-shot postseason bid alive by earning points in 12 of their previous 14 games.

Sharks 3, Predators 2, So In Nashville, Tennessee, Logan Couture scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the San Jose Sharks to a comeback victory over the Nashville Predators.

Tomas Hertl scored a pair of third-period goals and Joe Thornton assisted on both for San Jose, winners of three of four.

Shea Weber and Calle Jarnkrok had the goals for the playoff-bound Predators, who have lost four straight. Despite the skid, Nashville clinched its second consecutive playoff berth Friday night when the Washington Capitals defeated the Colorado Avalanche in regulation.

Coyotes 3, Capitals 0 In Glendale, Arizona, Mike Smith stopped 31 shots for his second shutout since returning from injury, and Shane Doan and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored 27 seconds apart early in the third period as the Arizona Coyotes beat the NHL-leading Washington. Brad Richardson also scored in the third and Max Domi had two assists in teaming with Doan on a dominant night by Arizona’s second line.

Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves filling in for No. 1 goaltender Braden Holtby in the Capitals’ second loss in three games since claiming the Presidents’ Cup for best record in the NHL.

Flames 5, Oilers 0 In Edmonton, Alberta, Joni Ortio made 28 saves for his second career shutout, while Johnny Gaudreau and Mikael Backlund each scored two goals as the Calgary Flames snapped a two-game losing skid with victory over Edmonton.

Joe Colborne also scored for the Flames, who played their final game against their Alberta rivals at Rexall Place in Edmonton, with the Oilers moving into a new downtown arena next season. It was Ortio’s first shutout of the season, and first since blanking Vancouver 1-0 on Jan. 10, 2015.