Allen’s shutout lifts Blues to 9th straight win over Avalanche
Panarin scores twice as Blue Jackets top Blackhawks
DENVER: Jake Allen made 32 saves for his second shutout of the season, Vladimir Tarasenko and Zach Sanford scored 57 seconds apart, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Saturday in Denver. Tarasenko added an assist and Jaden Schwartz also scored to help the Blues to their ninth straight win. It’s the club’s longest winning streak since a nine-game run from Oct. 15-Nov. 5, 2002. Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots as Colorado lost for the ninth time in 10 games. The Avalanche have dropped six straight at home. Allen, who made just his second start since Jan. 17, backstopped St. Louis to its second straight shutout win. The
Blues have not allowed a goal in 127 minutes, 14 seconds.
LIGHTNING 3, CANADIENS 0 Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Vasilevskiy broke the franchise record for career shutouts as host Tampa Bay extended its point streak to nine games (7-0-2) by blanking Montreal. Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson also scored for the Lightning, who have a league-leading 92 points and extended their winning streak to five games. Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 25-9 during the streak. Vasilevskiy stopped all 20 shots he faced for his sixth shutout of the season and the 18th of his career, surpassing Ben Bishop for the franchise record. Vasilevskiy has five shutouts in his past 14 starts, including shutouts in each of his past two contests.
ISLANDERS 5, OILERS 2
Ryan Pulock, Valtteri Filppula, Mathew Barzal, Anders Lee and Brock Nelson scored for New York, which beat Edmonton in the Islanders’ final regular-season game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Metropolitan Divisionleading Islanders have won five of six. The Oilers have lost four straight and 10 of 11 (1-8-2). Robin Lehner made 34 saves for the Islanders, who will play their final 12 regular-season games and any first-round home playoff games at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Beyond that, all subsequent home games will be played at Barclays Center, where New York is 12-6-2 this season.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, PREDATORS 1 Max Pacioretty scored two goals, and Malcolm Subban made 29 saves as Vegas snapped a franchiserecord, five-game home losing streak by beating Nashville in Las Vegas. It was the fourth two-goal game of the season for Pacioretty. Oscar Lindberg had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Pirri and Shea Theodore also scored goals for Vegas, which won at home for the first time since Jan. 19, when it defeated Pittsburgh 7-3. Kevin Fiala scored a goal for Nashville, which took its fourth loss in five games and was outshot 50-30.
COYOTES 2, MAPLE LEAFS 0
Darcy Kuemper earned his second shutout of the season, and Alex Galchenyuk and Josh Archibald scored second-period goals as Arizona defeated Toronto in Glendale, Ariz. Kuemper stopped 21 shots in picking up his 13th career shutout as the Coyotes won both games between the teams this season. The Coyotes are 14-3-1 in the past 18 meetings between the teams. Frederik Andersen made 27 saves for the Maple Leafs, who are 3-2-0 with one game left on a six-game trip.
Tampa Bay outscored its opponents
SHARKS 3, CANUCKS 2 Joe Pavelski scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and goalie Martin Jones beat his hometown team for the second time in a week as host San Jose defeated Vancouver. Pavelski, Timo Meier and Logan Couture all registered a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who have won seven of eight. Jones made 32 saves to improve to 9-1-1 against the Canucks in his career. Antoine Roussel and Brock Boeser tallied for Vancouver, which is 3-5-1 since the All-Star break, and Loui Eriksson played in his 900th NHL game. Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.
BLUE JACKETS 5, BLACKHAWKS 2 Artemi Panarin recorded two goals and an assist as Columbus won for the fifth time in its past six games in defeating host Chicago. Ryan Murray recorded three assists for the Blue Jackets, giving the defenseman the first three-point game of his six-year NHL career. Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cam Atkinson and Josh Anderson also scored for Columbus, which got 39 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist for Chicago, and Jonathan Toews added a goal. Kane has recorded at least one point in each of his past 17 games (13 goals, 24 assists), tying Florida’s Mike Hoffman for the longest point streak in the NHL this season. It was also Kane’s 16th straight game with an assist, tying Jaromir Jagr for the sixth-longest assist streak in NHL history.
FLAMES 5, PENGUINS 4 Calgary got points from 12 players and broke a fourgame losing streak by edging host Pittsburgh. Andrew Mangiapane, Michael Frolik, Austin Czarnik, Travis Hamonic and Sam Bennett scored, and Derek Ryan had three assists for Calgary, which held on after taking a 5-2 lead through two periods. Mike Smith stopped 34 of 38 Pittsburgh shots. Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist, Sidney Crosby a goal and two assists and Jake Guentzel also scored for the Penguins, who had won two straight. Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel had two assists, the first making him the 17th American player to reach 800 points.—Reuters