Martin St Louis scored three goals and set up another to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
Mathieu Garon made 19 saves and set up St Louis’ first goal as the Lightning snapped a two-game losing streak less than 24 hours after being blown out 8-1 by the Penguins.
Teddy Purcell added three assists for Tampa Bay, which have gone 11-5-2 in their last 18 in making a playoff push.
Photo: AFP
Alexei Ponikarovsky, Petr Sykora and Zach Parise scored for the Devils, who dropped their second straight game. The setback spoiled the debut of defenseman Marek Zidlicky, acquired from Minnesota on Friday.
Ducks 3, Blackhawks 1
In Anaheim, California, Teemu Selanne scored a power-play goal and had an assist to move into 20th place on the NHL’s career scoring list as Anaheim beat slumping Chicago.
Jonas Hiller made 18 saves in his 21st consecutive start for the Ducks, who won for their ninth time in 12 games during their improbable playoff push. Andrew Cogliano scored his first goal of this month for the Ducks, while Sheldon Brookbank also scored as Anaheim avoided a four-game season sweep by Chicago.
Patrick Kane ended the Blackhawks’ month-long 0-for-39 power-play drought with a first-period goal, while Ray Emery stopped 35 shots against his former Anaheim teammates in Chicago’s third consecutive loss.
The Blackhawks have lost 12 of 16 overall, yet still sit comfortably in sixth place in the Western Conference standings.
Wild 4, Sharks 3
In St Paul, Minnesota, Jed Ortmeyer’s first goal of the season gave Minnesota the lead with 4 minutes, 13 seconds left in a victory over San Jose.
The Sharks played more than half of the night without coach Todd McLellan, who was inadvertently hit in the head with a stick during a play in front of the bench early in the second period. After staying down for a bit, McLellan walked gingerly to the locker room.
That scary scene came seconds after Nick Schultz’s first goal of the season — a slap shot four seconds into a Wild power play — tied the game at 2.
Penguins 4,
Blue Jackets 2
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Evgeni Malkin scored his 37th goal of the season and Brad Thiessen made 21 saves in his NHL debut as Pittsburgh beat Columbus.
Pascal Dupuis, Kris Letang and Joe Vitale also scored for Pittsburgh, which woke up from a slow start to win for the ninth time in their past 10 home games. Steve Sullivan added a pair of assists as the Penguins completed a weekend sweep of Tampa Bay and Columbus with ease.
Rick Nash scored a short-handed goal in perhaps his final game with Columbus before the trade deadline. Vinny Prospal also scored for the Blue Jackets.
In other NHL play, it was:
‧ Stars 3, Canucks 2, OT
‧ Panthers 4, Canadiens 2
‧ Senators 5, Islanders 2
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