Jake Allen stopped 23 shots and the St Louis Blues set a franchise record by extending their points streak to 13 games with a 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
Dmitrij Jaskin scored on a wraparound late in the second period, and Vladimir Tarasenko tapped in David Backes’ pass in the third period for St Louis, who improved its run to 12-0-1. Jaden Schwartz added an empty-netter.
The Blues (34-13-4) won their seventh straight to match a season best, while beating the Sabres for the sixth straight time.
Buffalo (15-34-3) was shut out for the ninth time this season — one short of matching a franchise high — and failed to build off the momentum of a 3-2 win at Montreal on Tuesday, when Buffalo snapped a team-worst 14-game skid.
ISLANDERS 3, FLYERS 2, SO
In Philadelphia, Cal Clutterbuck scored the deciding goal in the seventh round of the shootout. Clutterbuck also scored in regulation for the Islanders, as did Mikhail Grabovski.
Frans Nielsen got a puck past Steve Mason on the first shot of the shootout, and Wayne Simmonds scored on Philadelphia’s last tying attempt in the third round.
After Clutterbuck’s wrister got past Mason, Sean Couturier was denied by Jaroslav Halak on the tying attempt and Philadelphia’s season-high four-game winning streak was over.
New York had lost three straight.
Nick Schultz and Chris VandeVelde scored in regulation for the Flyers.
PANTHERS 3, KINGS 2
In Sunrise, Florida, Brandon Pirri scored with 3 minutes, 5 seconds remaining to lift the Panthers over the struggling Kings 3-2.
Nick Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers, while Roberto Luongo stopped 29 shots.
Pirri grabbed a loose puck in the left circle and fired it past Jonathan Quick. He scored for the fourth consecutive game and the sixth in his past seven.
The Panthers have won their past two games and Luongo beat the Kings for the first time in nine games.
Marian Gaborik and Jamie McBain scored for the Kings, and Quick made 17 saves.
The Kings lost their third straight game and seventh in their past nine.
Los Angeles have dropped nine of their past 11 road games, and remained tied for the fewest road wins in the NHL with Buffalo and Edmonton.
CAPITALS 3, SENATORS 2
In Ottawa, Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal, Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for the Capitals and Braden Holtby picked up his 25th win of the season by stopping 25 shots.
Kyle Turris scored the lone Ottawa goal, and Robin Lehner made 27 saves.
Trailing 2-1 to start the third period, the Senators did their best to score the equalizer, but could not find a way to beat Holtby.
Thursday’s game was a milestone for defenseman Chris Phillips, who set the franchise record by playing in his 1,179th game to surpass Daniel Alfredsson. Alfredsson and former teammate Wade Redden were on hand for the occasion.
DUCKS 5, PREDATORS 2
In Nashville, Tennessee, Jakob Silfverberg scored two goals, and the Ducks took the top of the NHL standings for themselves.
Anaheim and Nashville came in tied atop both the NHL and the Western Conference with 72 points, though the Predators have a game in hand.
The teams also have the league’s winningest goalies with Pekka Rinne back in net for Nashville after missing three weeks with an injured knee. Frederik Andersen made 44 saves in tying Rinne with his 29th win.
Sami Vatanen and Matt Beleskey scored a goal each for Anaheim. The Ducks started a five-game road trip in dominating fashion even with center Ryan Getzlaf scratched after aggravating a lower-body injury in warmups.
Colin Wilson and James Neal each scored in the third period for Nashville, but Corey Perry got an empty-netter with 1:19 remaining.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Lightning 5, Stars 3
‧ Hurricanes 2, Coyotes 1, So
‧ Red Wings 3, Avalanche 0
‧ Sharks 5, Canucks 1
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