Avalanche roll to 9th straight win, 3-1 over Rangers
DENVER (AP) Nathan MacKinnon, Erik Johnson and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist, Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves and the streaking Colorado Avalanche beat the New York Rangers 3-1 on Saturday for their ninth consecutive win.
The Avalanche have won eight straight at home and haven't lost since Arizona beat them on Dec. 27. Colorado has outscored opponents 37-15 in the last nine games and has not trailed during the winning streak.
Colorado has won nine in a row for the first time since October 2000, the last season it won the Stanley Cup.
Pavel Buchnevich scored and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 shots for New York.
MacKinnon has goals in five straight games and has at least one point in each game of Colorado's streak. He is second in the NHL in scoring with 59 points (23 goals, 36 assists).
BRUINS 4, CANADIENS 1
MONTREAL (AP) - David Pastrnak scored twice and set up another goal to help surging Boston beat Montreal for the third time in eight days.
Torey Krug had a goal and two assists and Riley Nash added an empty-netter for the Bruins, who are 12-0-4 in their past 16 games.
Max Pacioretty scored for the Canadiens, who finished 1-2-2 during a stretch of five games in eight days since their midseason break.
FLYERS 3, DEVILS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist, Michal Neuvirth made 28 saves and Philadelphia scored all its goals in the first period against New Jersey.
Ivan Provorov and Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Flyers, who won their sixth in the last seven to move closer to a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils, who called on goalie Ken Appleby for his NHL debut after Keith Kinkaid was injured in the first period.
Kinkaid made his third straight start in place of Cory Schneider (illness) but left after appearing to injure his right leg while giving up his third goal. Appleby, called up from Binghamton of the AHL on Friday, stopped all 24 shots he faced.
STARS 7, SABRES 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Mattias Janmark had two goals and an assist, and Esa Lindell added a goal and two assists as Dallas routed Buffalo.
Jamie Benn and Radek Faksa each had a goal and an assist, and Remi Elle also scored for the Stars, who return home after a 3-0-1 trip. Benn extended his point streak to seven games.
John Klingberg tallied three assists and Jason Spezza had two. Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves for Dallas.
The Sabres lost for the seventh time in eight games and were booed off the ice after the second and third periods in their most lopsided defeat of the season.
Sam Reinhart scored Buffalo's goal. Robin Lehner stopped 15 shots before being replaced by Chad Johnson (10 saves) after allowing a fourth goal midway through the second.
HURRICANES 3, RED WINGS 1
DETROIT (AP) - Elias Lindholm's second goal of the game broke a third-period tie and Carolina went on to beat Detroit.
Lindholm made the most of an increased role, filling in for leading scorer Sebastian Aho in the team's first game without him this season. Aho is out with a concussion and lower-body injury.
Lindholm, who replaced Aho on the top line with Jordan Staal and Teuvo Teravainen, scored twice on power plays. Justin Williams gave the Hurricanes a two-goal cushion with 1:58 left. Cam Ward stopped 23 shots.
Tomas Tatar scored and Jimmy Howard made 27 saves for the Red Wings, who have lost four of five.
WILD 5, LIGHTNING 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Zach Parise scored his first goal of the season and Minnesota beat suddenly sputtering Tampa Bay.
Jared Spurgeon, Nate Prosser, Marcus Foligno and Jason Zucker also scored for the Wild, playing their first game after a five-day break. Matt Cullen had an assist for his 700th career point.
Brayden Point scored twice for the NHL-leading Lightning, who lost a season-high third straight. Andrei Vasilevskiy has allowed 23 goals in his past five starts.
The Wild are 6-0-2 at home since Dec. 27, outscoring opponents 32-16.
ISLANDERS 7, BLACKHAWKS 3
CHICAGO (AP) - Rookie defenseman Ryan Pulock had a goal and a career-high four assists, Anthony Beauvillier scored two power-play goals and New York beat slumping Chicago.
Brock Nelson had a goal and two assists and John Tavares added a goal and an assist as the Islanders won at Chicago for the first time since a 4-2 victory on March 15, 2009. Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle also scored in the opener of a three-game trip.
Chicago returned from its five-day break with its third loss in four games. Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist for the Blackhawks - including his 800th career point - and Anton Forsberg made 30 saves before he was replaced by Jeff Glass after a costly mistake in the third. Erik Gustafsson got his first career goal.
SHARKS 2, PENGUINS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Tomas Hertl scored a tiebreaking, power-play goal early in the third period and Aaron Dell made 31 saves to lead San Jose over Pittsburgh in a rematch of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final won by the Penguins.
Timo Meier also scored and Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns added two assists each to help the Sharks win for the fourth time in five games. Dell did the rest to improve to 8-0-1 in his last nine starts.
Conor Sheary scored for the Penguins, who had won five of six. Casey DeSmith made 34 saves.
COYOTES 5, BLUES 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Christian Dvorak scored twice and Antti Raanta made 25 saves to help Arizona beat St. Louis.
The Coyotes broke a 12-game skid against St. Louis with their first win in the series since a 3-2 overtime triumph on Nov. 12, 2013. The streak was tied for the longest current run of its kind in the NHL; Chicago has won 12 straight over Buffalo.
Zac Rinaldo, Brendan Perlini and Christian Fischer also scored for Arizona, which had lost five in a row overall.
Brayden Schenn and Alexander Steen scored for the Blues, who had won two straight following a seven-day break.
The Coyotes scored four times in the opening 13:15. Dvorak converted back-to-back goals in a span of 3:04 to chase goalie Carter Hutton, who gave up three goals on 12 shots.
Clayton Keller added two assists for the Coyotes, who had a season-high 44 shots on goal.
PREDATORS 4, PANTHERS 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - P.K. Subban scored to cap a three-goal second period for Nashville, and the Predators beat Florida for their fifth straight victory.
Kevin Fiala scored two goals, and Nick Bonino had a goal and two assists for his first multi-point game since joining Nashville as a free agent last summer. Calle Jarnkrok had three assists for the first time in his career.
Pekka Rinne made 37 saves to improve to 23-8-3 for the Predators, who matched their longest winning streak this season.
Vincent Trocheck, Derek MacKenzie and Keith Yandle scored for the Panthers, who gave goalie James Reimer the night off on the second game of a back-to-back after he had made 17 consective starts.
JETS 2, FLAMES 1, SO
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler scored in the shootout and Winnipeg ended Calgary's seven-game winning streak.
Little opened the shootout with a wrist shot inside the post and past Mike Smith. After Mark Jankowski and Sean Monahan were stopped by Connor Hellebuyck, and Smith stopped Patrik Laine, Wheeler clinched it on a deke to his forehand.
Mathieu Perreault scored in regulation for the Jets, who improved to 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. TJ Brodie scored for the Flames.
Hellebuyck had 30 saves for the Jets, and Smith stopped 33 shots in defeat.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, SENATORS 3
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Connor Carrick snapped a tie midway through the third and Toronto scored three times in the final period to rally past Ottawa.
The win stopped a four-game losing streak for the Maple Leafs, who also got third-period goals from Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Zach Hyman scored in the first, Jake Gardiner had three assists and Frederik Andersen made 15 saves.
Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman and Tom Pyatt scored to give the Senators a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes. Craig Anderson made 29 saves.
OILERS 5, CANUCKS 2
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Jesse Puljujarvi had a goal and two assists, Patrick Maroon scored twice and Edmonton defeated Vancouver in its return from a weeklong break.
Jujhar Khaira and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers, who have won three in a row.
Daniel Sedin and Brandon Sutter had the goals for the Canucks, who won their previous two games.
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