Greiss, Isles blank ’Canes
Thomas Greiss stopped 45 shots for his first shutout of the season, and the New York Islanders beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-0, last night in Raleigh, N.C.
Johnny Boychuk, Anthony Beauvillier and John Tavares scored for the Islanders, who moved past the Hurricanes into the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Greiss got his eighth career shutout one night after Jaroslav Halak had 50 saves in a 3-0 home win against the crosstown-rival Rangers.
Cam Ward finished with 20 saves for the Hurricanes, who lost their second straight and fell into a tie with Columbus one point behind the Islanders for the conference’s last playoff spot.
Jeff Skinner had his game-tying goal in the third period waved off after a replay review ruled he was offside when he entered the zone. Carolina failed to get a better scoring chance the rest of the night despite getting nearly twice as many shots as the islanders.
The Hurricanes outshot the Islanders 16-7 in the first period and 28-15 through the second, but Greiss kept Carolina off the scoreboard with a superb effort, turning aside scoring chance after scoring chance.
Flyers 2, Blue Jackets 1 — Sean Couturier scored 1:52 into overtime to lift Philadelphia to a victory, ending an 11-game losing streak in Columbus.
Wayne Simmonds also scored for Philadelphia, and Michael Neuvirth — filling in for the injured Brian Elliott — stopped 35 shots to pick up his eighth win of the season. The Flyers’ streak on the Blue Jackets’ home ice dated back to 2005.
Cam Atkinson tied it for Columbus late in the third period, and Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 23 saves in the Blue Jackets’ first overtime loss this season.
Stars 2, Blues 1 — Ben Bishop stopped 27 shots and host Dallas held on to beat St. Louis, moving past the Blues into third place in the Central Division.
Mattias Janmark and Stephen Johns scored for Dallas, which had a seasonlow 16 shots on goal while winning for the sixth time in seven games. The Stars, who had not been this high in the standings since Nov. 5, are tied with the Blues with 72 points, but have two games in hand.
Brayden Schenn spoiled Bishop’s shutout bid with a power-play goal with 1:14 remaining, and Jake Allen finished with 14 saves for St. Louis.
Jets 6, Avalanche 1 — Blake Wheeler had two goals and assists and Mark Scheifele assisted on three goals as host Winnipeg defeated Colorado.
Wheeler ended a 15-game goal drought and Scheifele now has seven points in his last three games.
Kyle Connor, Andrew Copp, Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg, which is 5-2-1 during its 10-game homestand.
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves to pick up his 30th win of the season. It was the most wins by a Jets goalie since the franchise moved to Winnipeg from Atlanta prior to the 2011-12 season.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Mikael Backlund signed a six-year, $32.1 million deal to stay with the Calgary Flames, deciding against testing free agency this summer.
The 28-year-old center had a breakout performance last season with 22 goals and 31 assists in 81 games.