Mrazek, Red Wings blank scuffling Devils
Petr Mrazek had 37 saves in posting his second straight shutout and third of the season as the Detroit Red Wings beat the slumping Devils, 3-0, last night in Newark, N.J.
Tyler Bertuzzi, David Booth and Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings, who snapped a two-game losing streak and won for the second time in six games.
Cory Schneider, sidelined two of the previous three games with an illness, made 27 saves for the Devils, who are 2-5-3 in their past 10 and will play the Bruins tonight at the Garden. New Jersey was without leading scorer Taylor Hall, who also will miss tonight’s game because of a hand injury.
Mrazek clearly is giving coach Jeff Blashill something to think about. He made 27 saves in shutting out Chicago on Jan.14, and he now has three shutouts in 14 games with a 5-5-1 record.
Jimmy Howard, who has carried the load for the Red Wings in goal, has allowed seven goals in his past two outings.
Lightning 2, Blackhawks 0 — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 40 saves in his NHL-best seventh shutout, Chris Kunitz scored a shorthanded goal in the second period and Tampa Bay won in Chicago.
Yanni Gourde also scored as Tampa Bay stopped a season-high three-game slide and leapfrogged idle Vegas for the best record in the NHL. The Lightning, who lost to Chicago in the 2015 Stanley Cup finals, improved to 11-0-2 against the Blackhawks in their past 13 regular-season meetings.
Avalanche 4, Maple Leafs 2 — Blake Comeau scored the go-ahead goal with 7:43 left and Colorado beat host Toronto to extend its winning streak to 10 games.
Comeau beat a backchecking Auston Matthews to the net and redirected Carl Soderberg’s feed past goalie Frederik Andersen to put Colorado ahead, 3-2. Gabriel Landeskog added an empty-net goal in the final minute to seal it.
Gabriel Bourque and Nail Yakupov also scored for the surprising Avalanche (27-16-3), who have surged into a crowded race for the two Western Conference wild cards. Jonathan Bernier made 29 saves for his ninth straight win in place of injured Semyon Varlamov.
Matthews and Patrick Marleau scored for the Maple Leafs (26-18-5). Andersen stopped 23 shots in defeat.
Wild 3, Senators 1 — In St. Paul, Minn., Jason Zucker scored for the fourth straight game and Alex Stalock made 37 saves to help Minnesota beat Ottawa.
Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund also scored for Minnesota, which is 4-0-2 in the past six games.
Matt Duchene scored his seventh goal for Ottawa. Mike Condon made his first start since Dec. 30 and made 33 saves as the Senators lost for the fourth time in five games.
The game had a sparse crowd because of a blizzard in the Twin Cities.
Sabres 2, Flames 1 — Jack Eichel scored 1:30 into overtime to give Buffalo its first win in Calgary in more than 14 years.
Eichel one-timed a pass from Rasmus Ristolainen for his 19th of the season, putting it past Mike Smith to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, six assists).
Coyotes 3, Islanders 2 — In Glendale, Ariz., Nick Cousins scored his second goal of the game 2:21 into overtime to lift Arizona over New York.
Cousins added an assist and the Coyotes ran their points streak to five games, a season high. Arizona has points from seven of eight games, with six of those going to overtime. Brendan Perlini scored for the third time in three games and Antti Raanta stopped 32 shots.