Minnesota’s Dubnyk befuddles Avalanche
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Devan Dubnyk made 18 saves for his NHL-leading fifth shutout this season as the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-0 on Tuesday night for its eighth straight victory.
Charlie Coyle scored his teamleading 11th goal and Mikko Koivu added his eighth for the Wild, which has outscored its past five opponents 19-5. Minnesota has allowed a leaguelow 58 goals in 31 games.
Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov returned after missing four games with a groin injury and stopped 31 of 33 shots.
The Avalanche has lost four consecutive games and 11 of 13 while being outscored 49-26. PENGUINS 7, RANGERS 2: In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby picked up his NHL-leading 22nd goal and Evgeni Malkin added a goal and two assists as Pittsburgh toppled New York to move into a tie with the Rangers atop the Metropolitan Division.
Bryan Rust, Phil Kessel, Justin Schultz, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bonino also scored for the Penguins, who improved to 8-0-2 in December. Matt Murray made 26 saves and is unbeaten in regulation in his last 13 home starts as the Penguins cruised despite missing injured defensemen Kris Letang and Trevor Daley.
Michael Grabner collected his teamhigh 14th goal for New York. BLUE JACKETS 3, KINGS 2: In Columbus, Ohio, Cam Atkinson had two goals and scored in the shootout, helping Columbus beat Los Angeles for its franchise-record 10th straight victory.
Curtis McElhinney made 44 saves and Sam Gagne scored the decider in the shootout, keeping Columbus unbeaten since Nov. 26.
CANADIENS 5, DUCKS 1: In Montreal, Jeff Petry had a goal and two assists as Montreal downed Anaheim.
Paul Byron had a goal and a helper while Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Chris Terry also scored for Montreal.
PANTHERS 4, SABRES 3: In Sunrise, Fla., Jaromir Jagr had three assists to pull into a tie for second place on the NHL’s career points list, and Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck scored in the shootout as Florida beat Buffalo.
Jagr pulled even with Mark Messier with 1,887 points, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (2,857). Roberto Luongo stopped 33 shots, including both attempts in the shootout, to pull into a tie with Terry Sawchuk for fifth alltime in the NHL with 447 wins.
BLUES 3, STARS 2: In Dallas, David Perron put in a wraparound goal at 1:55 of overtime, lifting St. Louis to a victory over Dallas.
On a delayed penalty, Perron picked up a loose puck to the left of the net, skated behind it and scored from the right side before Dallas goalie Antti Niemi could recover.
LIGHTNING 4, RED WINGS 1: In Tampa, Fla., Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in relief of Ben Bishop as Tampa Bay beat Detroit.
Bishop was hurt 12 minutes into the first period, going down after kicking out his right leg to make a pad save on Nick Jensen’s shot. The Lightning said Bishop, who skated gingerly to the bench, has a lower-body injury.
SENATORS 4, BLACKHAWKS 3: In Chicago, Derick Brassard and Tom Pyatt scored 10 seconds apart during Ottawa’s three-goal second period as the Senators beat Chicago for their third consecutive victory.
Bobby Ryan added a goal and an assist as Ottawa stopped a seven-game road losing streak against Chicago.
PREDATORS 5, DEVILS 1: In Newark, N.J., James Neal scored twice in the first period and Juuse Saros stopped 27 shots as Nashville beat New Jersey.
Ryan Johansen and Mattias Ekholm each had a goal and an assist, and Filip Forsberg also scored and Viktor Arvidsson had three assists for the Predators.
ISLANDERS 4, BRUINS 2: In Boston, Thomas Greiss stopped 48 shots and Anders Lee scored twice and had an assist as New York beat Boston to snap a five-game winless streak.
CANUCKS 4, JETS 1: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Jannik Hansen scored twice and Bo Horvat got his 10th goal of the season, helping Vancouver beat Winnipeg. SHARKS 4, FLAMES 1: In San Jose, Calif., the Sharks’ Joonas Donskoi scored two goals in the four-goal second period in defeating Calgary.