Los Angeles ended a run of five-successive road losses by winning 4-1 at St Louis on Thursday, costing the Blues their chance to move to the top of the NHL Central Division.
St Louis’ defeat enabled Colorado to close within four points by beating New Jersey in a shootout, while elsewhere, Boston beat Dallas in a frantic finish to move top of the Atlantic Division, and Montreal kept close by downing Ottawa in overtime.
Los Angeles was helped to victory by an unlikely source, as Trevor Lewis scored twice early in the third period, having previously not scored all season. His first goal came thanks to a deflection off an opponent’s skate, then he got his second on a wraparound during a power play.
Photo: AFP
T.J. Oshie scored his first career goal on a penalty shot in the second period for the Blues, who had won their previous five home games.
Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and also scored in the shootout to lift the Avalanche to a 2-1 win over New Jersey.
Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves and Matt Duchene also scored in the shootout for the Avalanche, who have won three straight despite playing the past two without the injured Paul Stastny and Cory Sarich.
Andrei Loktionov scored for the Devils, who went from a point off second place in the Metropolitan Division and dropped to fifth.
Boston overtook Tampa Bay atop the Atlantic by beating Dallas 4-2, with Milan Lucic scoring his first goal in 10 games and assisting on another.
The game was scoreless with just four seconds to play in the second period, when Lucic passed to David Krejci for the opener.
Dallas tied it early in the third through Erik Cole, but Boston restored their lead soon after when Brad Marchand put in his own rebound and Lucic’s power-play goal at 15 minutes and 46 seconds into the third period made it 3-1.
Jamie Benn netted at 18m 49s to pull Dallas to 2-3, but Boston’s Patrice Bergeron scored into an empty net with 16s left.
Montreal goaltender Carey Price made 40 saves and P.K. Subban scored the overtime winner to give the Canadiens a 5-4 win over Ottawa.
Subban scored 23 seconds into the extra period as his shot trickled through Craig Anderson’s legs.
Tomas Plekanec scored twice and Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais also scored for the Canadiens, who defeated the Senators for the first time this season.
Clarke MacArthur, Erik Karlsson, Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris scored for Ottawa.
Phoenix’s Mike Smith stopped 28 shots for his first shutout of the season, leading the Coyotes past Vancouver 1-0.
Antoine Vermette’s power-play goal in the first period stood as the winner.
Vancouver lost for the eighth time in nine games as an apparent goal from captain Henrik Sedin midway through the third was ruled out after a replay review.
San Jose’s Joe Pavelski, Matt Nieto and Joe Thornton scored in the Sharks’ 3-0 win over Florida.
Alex Stalock made 24 saves for his first career shutout to help San Jose beat the Panthers for the first time in five years.
New York’s Frans Nielsen scored the only shootout goal and assisted on a second-period score by Thomas Vanek in a 2-1 victory for the Islanders against Tampa Bay.
The Islanders’ crosstown rival, the New York Rangers, also had a tight win, edging Detroit 1-0 thanks to Mats Zuccarello’s late goal.
Nashville’s Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators over Philadelphia 4-3.
Minnesota’s Jason Pominville had a goal and an assist as the Wild defeated Edmonton 4-1.
Winnipeg’s Olli Jokinen had a goal and an assist against his former team to lead the Jets over Calgary 5-2, handing the Flames their record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice.
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