DENVER (AP) Gabriel Landeskog beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a
nifty move in the shootout
Custom Arizona
Coyotes Jerseys , and the Colorado Avalanche kept expansion Vegas
from clinching a playoff spot by beating the Golden Knights 2-1 on
Saturday.Semyon Varlamov stopped all three Vegas attempts in the shootout. He
finished with 39 saves, including seven in overtime.Carl Soderberg was back on
the ice after missing two games with an illness and contributed with a
first-period goal. Colorado remains in the thick of the Western Conference
playoff picture after getting its 26th home win, tied for third-most in
Avalanche history.The Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights are on the
doorstep of earning their playoff spot and a win over the Avalanche would¡¯ve
wrapped it up. Fleury, back in net after sustaining an undisclosed injury
Tuesday, made 29 saves.Jonathan Marchessault tied the game early in the third
for Vegas, moments after Fleury made an incredible save.DEVILS 2, LIGHTNING
1NEWARK, N.J. (AP) ¨C Keith Kinkaid made 35 saves and the New Jersey Devils took
another major step toward making the playoffs for the first time since 2012 with
a victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri scored
for New Jersey, which has elevated its playoff chances with wins in five of
seven games ¨C including outstanding efforts in beating the two-time defending
Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the Eastern Conference-leading
Lightning on consecutive nights.Andrei Vasilevskiy had 29 saves as the Lightning
lost for only the third time in 16 games (12-3-1).CAPITALS 6, CANADIENS
4MONTREAL (AP) ¨C Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson each scored twice and Nicklas
Backstrom had four assists as Washington defeated Montreal.Jay Beagle and T.J.
Oshie also scored for the Capitals, who strengthened their grip on first place
in the Metropolitan Division. Backstrom posted his 20th career game with at
least four points and second this season.Charles Hudon scored twice for
Montreal. Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher each had a goal for the
Canadiens, who are 2-8-2 in their last 12 games.Canadiens goalie Carey Price
struggled in his second start since returning from a concussion.PANTHERS 4,
COYOTES 2SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) ¨C Denis Malgin snapped a tie with 3:45 left and
Florida overcame a two-goal deficit by scoring four times in the third period to
rally past Arizona.Vincent Trocheck had two goals and an assist for the
Panthers, who remained three points behind New Jersey for the final Eastern
Conference playoff spot. Florida has two games in hand on the Devils.Jamie
McGinn added an empty-netter with 14 seconds to play.Clayton Keller and Richard
Panik scored for the Coyotes, and Derek Stepan had two assists.In a matchup of
backup goalies, James Reimer made 26 saves for the Panthers while starting in
place of an ailing Roberto Luongo. Darcy Kuemper stopped 43 shots for
Arizona.RANGERS 5, SABRES 1NEW YORK (AP) ¨C Jimmy Vesey had two goals and an
assist, Alexandar Georgiev stoped 43 shots, and the New York Rangers completed a
sweep of the teams¡¯ three-game season series.Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and
Neal Pionk each added a goal and an assist as the Rangers improved to 13-3-0 in
the last 16 meetings with the Sabres.Sam Reinhart spoiled Geogiev¡¯s shutout bid
with 4 1/2 minutes remaining for the Sabres, who have lost four straight. Robin
Lehner gave up four goals on 12 shots before being replaced near the midpoint of
the second period. Linus Ullmark came on and stopped 10 of the 11 shots he
faced.Kreider and Vesey each scored in the first before Pionk got his first NHL
goal early in the second and Zibanejad made it 4-0 with his team-leading 27th at
8:45 of the second. It gave the Rangers goals on four consecutive shots for the
first time since Jan. 3, 2015, also against the Sabres, according to the Elias
Sports Bureau.BLACKHAWKS 3
www.officialbruinsproonline.com ,
ISLANDERS 1NEW YORK (AP) ¨C Anton Forsberg stopped 30 shots to help the Chicago
snap a five-game losing streak.Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad scored in the
second period, and Brent Seabrook added an empty-netter for the Blackhawks.John
Tavares scored late in the third period and Jaroslav Halak finished with 22
saves as the Islanders lost for the fifth time in six games and 13 in their last
15 (2-9-4).Chicago was eliminated from postseason contention for the first time
since 2008 following its 5-1 loss to Colorado on Tuesday, and pushed the
struggling Islanders to the verge of being knocked for the second straight
year.SHARKS 5, FLAMES 1SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ¨C Evander Kane scored twice to give
him six goals in his past two games against Calgary, and San Jose won its
seventh straight overall.Kane followed up his four-goal performance in Calgary a
week ago with another impactful performance, scoring a short-handed goal in the
second period to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead and an insurance goal in the third.
He got into a scrum with Mikael Backlund and a fight with Travis Hamonic.The
Sharks improved to 10-2 since acquiring Kane just before the trade deadline last
month, including this current streak that is the longest for San Jose since a
seven-game run from March 25 to April 5, 2013.Brenden Dillon, Jannik Hansen and
Justin Braun also scored for the Sharks. Martin Jones made 37 saves.Michael
Stone had the goal for the Flames, who have lost five straight and fallen way
behind in the playoff race.HURRICANES 5, SENATORS 2OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) ¨C
Phillip Di Giusseppe and Jordan Staal each had a goal and assist to lead
Carolina.Brock McGinn, Noah Hanifin and Jeff Skinner also scored, and Cam Ward
stopped 34 shots to help preserve the Hurricanes¡® slim playoff hopes. Carolina
remained nine points behind New Jersey, which also won, for the last wild card
in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining.Bobby Ryan and Thomas
Chabot scored for the Senators, and Mike Condon finished with 19 saves.Ottawa
captain Erik Karlsson made an emotional return to the ice, playing for the first
time since he and his wife announced Tuesday that their son Axel had been
stillborn. A visibly moved Karlsson waved as he received a huge ovation from the
home crowd when announced as part of theMAPLE LEAFS 4, RED WINGS 3TORONTO (AP) ¨C
Nazem Kadri scored with 7:26 left in regulation, helping the Maple Leafs extend
their club-record home winning streak to 13 games with a victory over the
Detroit Red Wings.Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown and William Nylander had the
other goals for Toronto, which also tied a franchise mark with its 45th
win.Frederik Andersen made 38 saves for the Maple Leafs, who split a two-game
road trip earlier this week against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville
Predators.Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Frans Nielsen scored for Detroit and
Jimmy Howard made 25 saves.BLUES 2
Boston
Bruins T-Shirts Authentic , BLUE JACKETS 1COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ¨C
Jake Allen made 33 saves, Alexander Steen scored on St. Louis¡¯ first shot of the
game, and the Blues stopped the Columbus Blue Jackets¡® 10-game winning
streak.Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for St. Louis, which has won five in row.
The Blues have also won four straight games on the road and earned points in
four of their last five away from home.The win was Allen¡¯s 26th of the season
and seventh in his last eight games. Allen leads the NHL with 10 shutouts on the
road since the start of the 2014-15 season.Sergei Bobrovsky, who gave up two
goals on 28 shots, lost for the first time since March 2. Cam Atkinson had the
lone goal for the Blue Jackets, and appeared to have scored another earlier in
the game but had it waved off because he had made a kicking motion with the
puck.WILD 4, PEDATORS 1ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ¨C Devan Dubnyk stopped 19 shots and
Jason Zucker scored his 30th goal and added an assist to lead the Minnesota Wild
past the Nashville Predators.Joel Eriksson Ek, Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise
also scored for the Wild, who overcame a slow first period to outwork the West¡¯s
top team and hand the Predators their second straight loss. After taking only
six shots in the opening period, the Wild offense outshot Nashville 24-11 the
rest of the way to start a crucial stretch of three games in four days.Pekka
Rinne had 26 saves and Ryan Johansen scored his 13th goal for Nashville, which
couldn¡¯t rebound from a loss at home to Toronto on Thursday that snapped a
four-game win streak and franchise-record 15-game point streak.OILERS 3, KINGS
2EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) ¨C Connor McDavid had two goals to take over the NHL
scoring lead, and Edmonton held off Los Angeles for its third straight
victory.Pontus Aberg also scored and Cam Talbot made 27 saves for the Oilers,
who are 4-1-1 in their last six games. During that span, however, they were
eliminated from the playoff race.Jake Muzzin and Jeff Carter had the goals for
the Kings, who remained tied with idle Anaheim for third place in the Pacific
Division.¡ª SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Having missed out on the biggest prize on the
free-agent market, the San Jose Sharks are now content to wait and use their
ample salary cap space to acquire a difference maker in a trade if one becomes
available.The free agency period opened Sunday with star center John Tavares
turning down an offer from San Jose to sign a $77 million, seven-year deal with
his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.The Sharks also finalized a $64 million,
eight-year extension with Logan Couture but saw their hopes of teaming him and
Tavares as a formidable pair of top two centers thwarted.Wilson said he viewed
Tavares as the only difference maker on the open market in free agency and
didn¡¯t feel like he missed out on getting another player while negotiating with
Tavares.¡±It didn¡¯t really get in the way of anything else we were looking at
because our commitment was to take this swing at him
Boston
Bruins Hoodies Authentic , and we knew that if we didn¡¯t get him
and we couldn¡¯t match up to his childhood dream of him going home, we understand
that,¡± Wilson said. ¡±But we¡¯re still positioned, just like we¡¯ve always been
historically to add players through trade.¡±The Sharks still have approximately
$20 million in salary cap space, some of which will be used to re-sign Joe
Thornton in a deal that should be completed quickly, according to Wilson. San
Jose also needs to sign restricted free agent forwards Tomas Hertl and Chris
Tierney but will have money to acquire other players if they become available on
the trade market.Wilson sees no reason to rush into any moves with a core in
place that also includes high-scoring forwards Evander Kane and Joe Pavelski,
defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns, as well as goaltender Martin
Jones.¡±As far as exploring other players, we looked at it. John was the one that
we wanted to swing at,¡± Wilson said. ¡±We feel that we have a very good hockey
team. I mean we had 100 points last year without Jumbo and actually without
Kaner most of the year. We scored 252 goals. We¡¯ve got a good hockey team, but
I¡¯ve always explored every opportunity to add players of this ilk to our team,
and that¡¯s what we did. But do we feel like we lost out on anything? No, not
really.¡±Keeping Couture was much easier than luring away Tavares since he never
had any desire to leave the franchise he initially joined as a first-round pick
in 2007.Couture was San Jose¡¯s most dependable center last season, often
matching up against the opponent¡¯s top line and providing plenty of offense of
his own from the second line. Couture had a career-high 34 goals last year and
was a major part of the power play and penalty killing units.¡±Everyone loves
playing in San Jose,¡± Couture said. ¡±I don¡¯t just say that because I play there.
You ask around the league and a lot of guys have heard all the great things
about playing in San Jose and playing for the Sharks. I think that speaks
volumes of why these big-name free agents have the Sharks on their list, because
of the great things they hear about the organization, and there¡¯s much about the
Sharks that makes it very difficult to want to leave. So I¡¯ve wanted to stay and
I¡¯m very happy.¡±The 29-year-old has 213 goals and 224 assists in 582 career
games. He also has been a postseason standout, leading the NHL with 30 points in
2016 when he helped San Jose reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in
franchise history before losing to Pittsburgh in six games.Couture has 34 goals
and 47 assists in 96 career playoff games, ranking in the top 10 in the NHL in
playoff goals and points since making his postseason debut in 2010.He feels the
pieces are in place for more postseason runs, even without Tavares on board.¡±Our
team¡¯s goal is to win right now,¡± he said. ¡±It¡¯s not to wait a few years. We
want to go out. We want to win. Obviously the goal going into next year is to
win the Stanley Cup. That¡¯s many teams goal. I¡¯m sure Doug has many things he
has going on but obviously that¡¯s not my job.¡ª