Ducks reassert superiority over Canucks
VANCOUVER, British Columbia: Anaheim won 4-0 at Vancouver on Tuesday to maintain its lead atop the NHL standings following the resumption from the All-Star break, and continue its recent dominance of the Canucks.
The Ducks stayed three points clear of nearest rival Nashville, which won in overtime against Colorado.
The day’s other key games came in the Metropolitan Division, where the leading New York Islanders beat the crosstown Rangers to stay three points above Pittsburgh, which rallied for a home win over Winnipeg.
Anaheim goaltender Frederick Andersen made 17 saves in his third career shutout, while Matt Beleskey, Kyle Palmieri, Rickard Rakell and Patrick Maroon scored for the Ducks, who have won six straight.
The Ducks are 3-0-1 against the Canucks this season and 9-0-1 over the past 10 versus their Pacific Division rival.
Islanders’ goalie Jaroslav Halak stopped 40 shots and came within 8.1 seconds of his second consecutive shutout of the Rangers as the hosts won the New York showdown 4-1.
Mikhail Grabovski returned from injury and scored in the first period, Matt Martin doubled the lead in the second, and Ryan Strome and All-Star John Tavares had goals in the third for the Islanders, who have won all three meetings this season with the Rangers.
Carl Hagelin spoiled Halak’s shutout bid in the closing seconds.
Pittsburgh’s David Perron and Brandon Sutter scored power-play goals less than 4 minutes apart in the third period to help the Penguins beat Winnipeg 5-3.
Nick Spaling, Steve Downie and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the Penguins while Kris Letang had a career-high five assists as Pittsburgh ended a four-game losing streak despite playing without injured stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Adam Lowry, Jacob Trouba and Chris Thorburn scored for the Jets, who had won their previous five.
Nashville’s Craig Smith scored on a breakaway at 2:46 of overtime to give the Predators a 4-3 win against Colorado.
Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg and Colin Wilson also scored for the Predators, who pushed the NHL’s best home record to 19-2-1 and tied the franchise record with their eighth straight home win.
Cody McLeod, Jarome Iginla and Nick Holden scored for the Avalanche.
Detroit extended its winning run to six games with a 5-4 victory at Florida.
Luke Glendening scored twice and Stephen Weiss had a goal and two assists against his former team, while Henrik Zetterberg and Drew Miller also scored for the Red Wings.
Brad Boyes, Nick Bjugstad, Brandon Pirri and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, who have lost four successive home games and five in a row overall.
Montreal goaltender Carey Price stopped 40 saves for his 25th victory of the season as the Canadiens held off Dallas 3-2.
Alexei Emelin, Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal.
Jamie Benn and Patrick Eaves had the goals for Dallas, which is four points off the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Carolina’s Eric Staal and Justin Faulk each had a goal and an assist to lift the Hurricanes to a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay.
Columbus’ Cam Atkinson and Fedor Tyutin each had a goal and an assist as the Blue Jackets defeated Washington 4-3.
Calgary inflicted Buffalo’s 12th straight loss by beating the Sabres 4-1, with Flames rookie Johnny Gaudreau scoring twice.
Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds scored in regulation and got the winning goal in a shootout to lift the Flyers to a 4-3 victory over Arizona.
Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle scored the tiebreaking goal on a breakaway with 4:23 remaining to lift the Wild over Edmonton 2-1.