Islanders fall to Blackhawks
CHICAGO: Jonathan Toews scored twice and assisted on both of Marian Hossa’s goals to lead the Chicago Blackhawks past the slumping New York Islanders 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Toews recorded his first four-point game this season as the Blackhawks won their third straight and improved to 7-1-1 since Feb. 24 when leading scorer Patrick Kane broke his collarbone against Florida.
New York’s Nikolay Kulemin scored at 5:29 of third period to end Corey Crawford’s shutout bid, but the Islanders lost their season-worst fourth straight.
Although Crawford made 38 saves, he wasn’t tested heavily by the goal-starved Islanders. New York has scored only one goal in each of its four consecutive losses.
The Islanders are five points behind the Atlantic Division-leading New York Rangers, who have played four fewer games. Michal Neuvirth made 26 saves in place of injured No. 1 goalie Jaroslav Halak.
CANADIENS 3, PANTHERS 2
PK Subban scored the last of Montreal’s three second-period goals as the Canadiens held on to beat Florida. Jacob De La Rose had a goal and an assist, and Alexei Emelin also scored for the Canadiens. Dustin Tokarski made 41 saves in his first start in six games and earned his second win in seven starts. Brandon Pirri and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers.
Dan Ellis stopped 22 shots in his sixth straight start. The Canadiens won for just the third time in nine games, but they remain atop the Atlantic Division with 95 points. The Panthers lost their second straight after winning three consecutively.
DEVILS 2, PENGUINS 0
Cory Schneider made 35 saves in earning his fifth shutout of the season, and New Jersey sent Pittsburgh to its third straight loss.
Jacob Josefson scored in the second period for the Devils, who are 9-3-2 in their last 14 games to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Adam Henrique iced the game with an emptynet goal with 49 seconds to go. The shutout loss was the second in three games for the Penguins, who have scored only one goal in that span. This was their second straight game without star forward Evgeni Malkin, who has a lower-body injury. Sidney Crosby missed the first game in that stretch after being unable to play following warmups. Pittsburgh’s Thomas Greiss made 17 saves.
SABRES 2, BRUINS 1
Anders Lindback made seven of his 44 saves in overtime, then shut out Boston for three rounds of the shootout as Buffalo rallied to win.
Lindback stopped Torey Krug on Boston’s last chance in the shootout, clinching his first victory as a starter this season. Lindback was 0-10-2 as a starter with Dallas and the Sabres, who acquired him on Feb. 11. Rasmus Ristolainen scored Buffalo’s only goal early in the third period to tie it, and the Sabres earned their first victory over Boston this season.
Tyler Ennis had the only goal in the shootout, putting a wrist shot under the crossbar that was confirmed after the officials gathered to discuss it. Niklas Svedberg had 23 saves for Boston. Loui Eriksson scored for Boston 9:55 into the game.
SENATORS 2, HURRICANES 1
Mark Stone scored the winning goal 4:46 into overtime, and Andrew Hammond became the second goalie in NHL history to allow two goals or fewer in each of his first 12 starts as Ottawa edged Hurricanes. Hammond (11-0-1) matched the record set by Boston’s Frank Brimsek, who also went 12 consecutive games in 1938 without giving up more than two goals.
Hammond made 35 saves to outduel Carolina’s Anton Khudobin, who stopped 31 shots but lost for the first time in six career appearances against Ottawa.
Elias Lindholm gave Carolina a 1-0 lead in the first period with his 15th goal. Patrick Wiercioch tied it in the second for Ottawa with his second. The Senators are 12-1-1 since a 6-3 home loss to the Hurricanes on Feb. 16.
Matt Dumba scored 22 seconds into overtime to give Minnesota a win over Nashville. Charlie Coyle had the other two goals for Minnesota, which won for the third time in four games.
Roman Josi scored both goals for the Predators, who have lost three of four and five straight at home. Just after overtime began, Zach Parise left a drop pass for Dumba at the top of the right circle, where he ripped a slap shot past goalie Pekka Rinne.
Blake Wheeler scored two goals and added an assist to help Winnipeg top San Jose. The Jets built a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele and Andrew Ladd. Wheeler scored his first of the game in the second period and another in the third.
Scheifele and Drew Stafford had a pair of Anaheim 44 Vancouver 40 Los Angeles 34 Calgary 38 San Jose 34 Arizona 21 Edmonton 19 St. Louis Nashville Chicago Minnesota Winnipeg Colorado Dallas
Montreal
WILD 3, PREDATORS 2
JETS 5, SHARKS 2
W45 43 42 39 35 32 32
44 20 25 22 27 28 41 39 20 21 21 24 23 26 28
20 7 4 13 5 8 8 12 5 8 6 7 12 11 10
7 208 197 186 205 195 145 164 218 205 202 199 196 184 218
187 195 185 172 185 198 231 239 170 176 158 175 188 193 229
159 95 84 81 81 76 50 50 95 94 90 85 82 75 74
95 assists, and Ladd also had an assist for Winnipeg (35-23-12), which began a three-game homestand. Joe Pavelski scored twice and Joe Thornton assisted on both for the Sharks (34-28-8), who started a seven-game road trip. Ondrej Pavelec made 38 saves for the Jets in his first consecutive starts since late November. San Jose’s Antti Niemi started his sixth straight game, but was replaced by Alex Stalock after allowing three goals on eight shots.
BLUES 4, FLAMES 0
Alex Steen scored two goals and Brian Elliott made 25 saves to lead St. Louis over Calgary. Jori Lehtera and David Backes also scored for St. Louis, which won for the fifth time in six games and moved into sole possession of first place in the Central Division - one point ahead on Nashville.
The Blues are in a three-way tie for first overall in the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers. Jonas Hiller made 22 saves to fall to 21-18-4 for Calgary, which tumbled out of a Western Conference playoff spot after Winnipeg beat San Jose.
CANUCKS 4, FLYERS 1
Alexandre Burrows scored a pair of goals 17 seconds apart in the third period, and Vancouver beat Philadelphia. Burrows, back after missing a win Saturday over Toronto because of a groin injury, broke a 1-1 tie at 6:44.
Fans barely had a chance to sit when Burrows scored his second of the night and 14th of the season off a rebound of Daniel Sedin’s shot at 7:01. Sedin assisted on each goal by Burrows. Alexander Edler added a goal and an assist, and Radim Vrbata scored into an empty net for the Canucks, who moved three points ahead of Calgary for second place in the Pacific Division. Eddie Lack made 27 saves. Michael Raffl had the lone goal for Philadelphia, and Steve Mason stopped 31 shots. —AP