Cory Schneider made 20 saves en route to his sixth NHL shutout, while Mason Raymond scored in the first period as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 on Saturday for their third straight victory.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Kings, coming off a 2-0 home loss to Dallas on Thursday in which they had 40 shots, were shut out for the third time this season. It is the first time they have been blanked in consecutive games since Feb. 16 - Feb. 18 last year.
Schneider has played the last three games for the Canucks, facing 88 shots and allowing only three goals. His other shutout this season was on Jan. 26 at Anaheim.
Photo: Reuters
The Canucks, who maintained their share of the Northwest Division lead with Minnesota, scored the only goal at 11:06 of the first period.
WILD 2, SHARKS 0
In St Paul, Minnesota, Niklas Backstrom made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season, and Ryan Suter had two more assists, leading Minnesota past San Jose for the Wild’s season-high fifth straight victory.
Zach Parise and Jared Spurgeon scored for Minnesota. The Wild are 14-5-1 in their last 20 games, and have won by at least two goals in each victory in the streak.
Backstrom swatted aside Andrew Desjardins’ penalty shot barely three minutes into the game. The goalie is 13-3-1 in his last 17 games, giving up two goals or fewer in 13 of those turns.
Antti Niemi made several tough stops among his 22 saves for the Sharks. The Sharks won their first seven games, but since then they have been unable to stay in a groove. They fell to 2-5-2 in their last nine.
SENATORS 5, LIGHTNING 3
In Ottawa, Jakob Silfverberg, Eric Gryba, Guillaume Latendresse and Daniel Alfredsson scored in a 7:01 span in the first period as Ottawa held off Tampa Bay.
Alfredsson also had an empty-net goal in the final minute. Robin Lehner made 29 saves, and Marc Methot, who missed the last game because of a knee injury, and Kyle Turris each had two assists.
Tyler Johnson scored twice in the third period for Tampa Bay, and Teddy Purcell made it 4-3 with 1:59 left.
Mathieu Garon was yanked from the Tampa Bay net in the first period after allowing three goals on the first 11 shots. Cedrick Desjardins was strong in relief, making 19 saves.
DEVILS 2, PANTHERS 1
In Newark, New Jersey, Travis Zajac set up two goals, and New Jersey rode another solid performance by Martin Brodeur to a victory over Florida.
Patrik Elias and David Clarkson scored for New Jersey, and Brodeur finished with 17 saves as the Devils won their second straight game since the 40-year-old goalie returned to the lineup after being sidelined a month with a pinched nerve in his neck.
The victory might have been costly for New Jersey as star forward Ilya Kovalchuk missed the final 10 minutes after crashing into the boards.
Peter Mueller scored for Florida, which had a two-game winning streak snapped.
In other NHL play it was:
‧ Maple Leafs 3, Bruins 2
‧ Sabres 2, Canadiens 1
‧ Predators 5, Blue Jackets 2
‧ Stars 5, Avalanche 2
‧ Blues 3, Oilers 0
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