San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Pavelski’s 31st goal breaks tie to lead Sharks to victory
Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and Timo Meier each had a goal and an assist, and the Sharks topped the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday night at SAP Center.
Pavelski snapped a 2-2 tie 13:06 into the third period. Meier and Couture assisted on Pavelski’s team-leading 31st goal.
The Sharks won for the seventh time in eight games to remain in a tie with Calgary for the Pacific Division lead.
Martin Jones stopped 31 shots as San Jose extended its point streak against Vancouver to 13 games (12-0-1) with its eighth straight home win against the Canucks. Vancouver hasn’t won at San Jose since March 31, 2016.
Antoine Roussel and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver.
The Canucks trailed 2-1 before Boeser scored 4:31 into the third. It was Boeser’s 21st goal of the season and his 100th career point.
The Sharks had gone in front on Couture’s 21st goal 11:08 into the second.
The Canucks are 2-5-1 over their past eight games after going 4-1-1 over their previous six. Vancouver is one point behind Minnesota for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
The Sharks jumped in front on Meier’s 21st goal at 3:45 of the first period on a power play. The Canucks tied it less than a minute later on Roussel’s seventh goal.
Sharks All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson had an assist on Meier’s goal in his first game back after missing nine games with a groin injury. Karlsson has at least one assist in 17 of his last 19 appearances.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Blues continue roll
St. Louis goalie Jake Allen made 32 saves in just his second start in a month, Vladimir Tarasenko and Zach Sanford scored 57 seconds apart in the third period and the visiting Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 for their ninth straight victory.
Allen was the No. 1 goaltender for the Blues earlier this season, but has been supplanted by rookie Jordan Binnington. Binnington is 11-1-1 in 13 games and has won his past seven starts.
Colorado has lost six in a row at home.
Flames 5, Penguins 4: Michael Frolik, Austin Czarnik, Travis Hamonic and Sam Bennett scored in the second period to help visiting Calgary end a four-game skid. Evgeni Malkin scored two third-period power-play goals for Pittsburgh.
Flyers 6, Red Wings 5: Travis Konecny cored his second goal of the game 1:27 into overtime for host Philadelphia, which won despite blowing a four-goal third-period lead.
Coyotes 2, Maple Leafs 0: Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots and host Arizona spoiled Auston Matthews’ return to his hometown with a victory over Toronto. Alex Galchenyuk and Josh Archibald scored.
Senators 4, Jets 3: Ryan Dzingel scored at 3:44 of overtime to lift Ottawa past host Winnipeg. Mark Stone, Rudolfs Balcers and Matt Duchene scored power-play goals, and Stone and Dzingel each had one assist.
Lightning 3, Canadiens 0: Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist in the third period and host Tampa Bay beat Montreal for its fifth consecutive victory. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves in his second consecutive shutout and franchise-record 18th for his career. Vasilevskiy tied Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury for the NHL lead with six shutouts.
Islanders 5, Oilers 2: Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee scored in the third period and New York beat visiting Edmonton in the final game of the regular season at Barclays Center. Ryan Pulock, Valtteri Filppula, and Brock Nelson also scored, and Devon Toews had two assists to help New York win for the fifth time in six games.
Hurricanes 3, Stars 0: Petr Mrazek stopped 33 shots in his third shutout of the season and the Carolina beat visiting Dallas to move into a wildcard playoff spot. The Hurricanes improved to 16-5-1 in their past 22 games, the most wins and points in the NHL in that span.
Blue Jackets 5, Blackhawks 2: Artemi Panarin had two goals and an assist against his former team, and Columbus beat host Chicago for its fifth win in six games. Pierre-Luc Dubois added a goal and an assist for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves.
Golden Knights 5, Predators 1: Max Pacioretty scored twice, Malcolm Subban made 29 saves in his first start since early January and host Vegas defeated Nashville.
Bruins 4, Kings 2: Charlie McAvoy scored with 1:13 remaining, and Boston beat host Los Angeles for its fifth consecutive victory. Jake DeBrusk scored for the third consecutive game and Tuukka Rask made 23 saves for the Bruins, who are 7-0-3 in their past 10 games.
Briefly: The Oilers, who on Friday acquired goalie Cam Talbot from the Flyers for goalie Anthony Stolarz, dealt center Ryan Spooner to the Canucks for center Sam Gagner . ... Vancouver right wing Jake Virtanen was placed on injured reserve because of an upper-body injury . ... The Penguins activated defenseman Justin Schultz, who missed 53 games because of a fractured left leg.