Fontaine and Vanek lead Wild past Blues
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA: Justin Fontaine had a goal and two assists, and linemate Thomas Vanek also scored as the Minnesota Wild breezed by the St Louis Blues with a 6-3 victory on Saturday.
Chris Stewart, Zach Parise, Jonas Brodin and Mikko Koivu contributed goals, too, and Charlie Coyle and Ryan Suter each had two assists for the Wild, who improved to an NHL-best 22-6-2 since trading for goalie Devan Dubnyk on Jan 14.
Dubnyk, acquired from Arizona for a third-round draft pick, has started all 30 of those games. He made 26 saves to beat the Blues on a second straight weekend.
Vancouver’s Radim Vrbata set up the equaliser for Nick Bonino in the second period and scored the go-ahead goal during a 5-on-3 power play in the third, leading the Canucks over the Los Angeles Kings 4-1.
Eddie Lack made 25 saves for Vancouver. Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvath scored empty-net goals in the final minute.
In Calgary, Alberta, Rene Bourque scored his second goal of the game at 4:01 of overtime to give Columbus Blue Jackets a 3-2 win over the Flames.
Artem Anisimov also scored for Columbus, which have won six of seven overall including their first sweep of Western Canada. Sean Monahan and Jiri Hudler scored for Calgary.
Jesper Fast and JT Miller scored, and Mats Zuccarello had the lone goal for New York in the shoot-out as the Rangers edged the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.
Fast’s goal at 12:59 of the second gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead after Miller had tied it 3:39 into the period.
The Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 after Brandon Pirri scored the winning shoot-out goal.
Tomas Plekanec scored in the first period and Carey Price made 29 saves for his second shut-out in a row and ninth of the season as the Montreal Canadiens beat the San Jose Sharks 2-0, while Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves in his return to the lineup as the New York Islanders ended a four game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils.
In other games, Kyle Turris scored the winning goal as the Ottawa Senators extended their winning streak to six games by topping the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3, the Winnipeg Jets blanked the Washington Capitals 3-0 and the Nashville Predators shut out the Buffalo Sabres 3-0.