Brian Elliott made 24 saves for his third straight shutout and Jamie Langenbrunner broke a scoreless tie in the second period to lead the St Louis Blues to a 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
St. Louis, who improved to 30-4-4 at home, have an NHL-leading 105 points — two ahead of the New York Rangers in the battle for the President’s Trophy. St Louis lead Vancouver by four points in the Western Conference standings.
Elliott improved to 23-9-3 with his league-leading ninth shutout. He has not allowed a goal in a franchise-record 186 minutes, 33 seconds, eclipsing the old mark of 186 minutes, 15 seconds set by Manny Legace from Dec. 28, 2007, to Jan. 28, 2008.
Photo: Reuters
Nashville, who need one point to earn a playoff spot, snapped a two-game winning streak.
David Perron and T.J. Oshie added third-period goals for the Blues.
RANGERS 3, WILD 2
Photo: Reuters
In St Paul, Minnesota, Ruslan Fedotenko scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as New York beat Minnesota for some more space in the tightened Eastern Conference playoff race.
Marian Gaborik also scored, frustrating the fans of his former team, and Brian Boyle had a goal for the Rangers, who won for the third time in their last nine road games. They’re now 6-6 in their past 12 games and lead Pittsburgh by three points in the Atlantic Division.
Kyle Brodziak and Mikko Koivu scored power-play goals for the Wild.
SABRES 5, CAPITALS 1
In Washington, Ryan Miller stopped 44 shots and Drew Stafford scored two goals as Buffalo beat Washington to climb into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
It was the fifth straight win for the Sabres, their longest streak since a six-game run in 2009-2010. Buffalo were in 14th place on Feb. 17 before going on a 14-2-4 tear.
Cody McCormick, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Sabres and Miller improved 14-1-3 over his past 18 games, allowing only 32 goals in that span.
Alexander Semin scored for Washington.
DEVILS 2, BLACKHAWKS 1, SO
In Newark, New Jersey, Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias scored in a shootout and Martin Brodeur made 37 saves as to lead New Jersey over Chicago.
Brodeur made a sprawling stop on Andrew Shaw to end the contest and give New Jersey a four-point lead on Ottawa in the race for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
Zajac, who returned to the lineup on Sunday after sitting out with an Achilles’ tendon injury, snapped a shot over Corey Crawford for the winner in the shootout.
Brent Seabrook scored for Chicago midway through the third period to tie it after Petr Sykora gave the Devils the lead with 4:18 left in the opening period.
PANTHERS 3, CANADIENS 2, SO
In Montreal, Wojtek Wolski scored in regulation and added the only goal of the shootout to help Florida boost their playoff hopes with a win over Montreal.
Mikael Samuelsson also scored in regulation for Florida, who outshot Montreal 36-29. The Panthers ended a three-game winless streak and completed a four-game sweep of the season series with Montreal.
The win, combined with Washington’s 5-1 loss at Buffalo, gave the Panthers a five-point lead over the Capitals for first place in the Southeast Division, with a game in hand.
Erik Cole and Louis Leblanc scored for the already-eliminated Canadiens.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Hurricanes 3, Maple Leafs 0
‧ Islanders 5, Penguins 3
‧ Bruins 5, Lightning 2
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