Predators snatch victory against Rangers
NASHVILLE: Nashville regained sole ownership of the lead in the NHL Central Division by edging the New York Rangers 3-2 on Saturday, with Mike Ribeiro scoring the winning goal.
The Predators moved clear of idle St Louis and crept within a point of league leader Anaheim.
Elsewhere, Pittsburgh hung onto the Metropolitan Division lead despite a heavy defeat at Vancouver, as the second-placed New York Islanders also lost, at Boston.
Tampa Bay dropped into a share of the Eastern Conference lead with Detroit after losing to Los Angeles, ending a run of 10 successive home victories.
Nashville, coming off only their third regulation loss at home this season against Anaheim on Thursday, secured victory thanks to Ribeiro’s goal, which was his 700th career point.
Pekka Rinne made 30 saves in his second game back from a knee injury while Roman Josi and captain Shea Weber also scored for the Predators.
Rick Nash scored his league-leading 33rd goal, and Ryan McDonagh also netted for the Rangers, who missed a chance to close within two points of the Metropolitan lead.
Boston’s Loui Eriksson scored the goahead goal with 7:34 left and the Bruins held on for a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders.
Tuukka Rask stopped 39 shots and Patrice Bergeron also scored for the Bruins, who have collected points in 14 of their past 16 games.
John Tavares had a power-play goal for the Islanders.
Pittsburgh remained a point clear of the Islanders atop the division despite a 5-0 hammering at Vancouver.
Ryan Miller made 31 saves for his sixth shut-out of the season, Alexandre Burrows had a goal and an assist, and Bo Horvat, Shawn Matthias, Zack Kassian and Daniel Sedin each scored for the Canucks.
Tampa Bay lost their outright lead in the Atlantic after a 4-2 home defeat by Los Angeles.
Justin Williams had two goals while Tyler Toffoli and Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings, who won on the road for only the sixth time in 24 trips this season.
Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning, who lost at home for the first time in two months.
Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec and Dale Weise each scored twice to power the Canadiens to a 6-2 win against New Jersey.
PK Subban assisted on three power-play goals while Andrei Markov and Lars Eller also scored for the Canadiens, who moved within two points of the East lead.
Michael Cammalleri and Jacob Josefson scored for the Devils, who had taken at least a point from their previous six games.