The top three teams in the NHL’s Atlantic Division remain separated by just one point after Tampa Bay, Montreal and Detroit all won on Saturday.
Detroit’s 4-1 win cost the New York Islanders a chance to build their one-point gap atop the Metropolitan Division, while Montreal stretched their winning run to five games with an overtime victory against Washington. Both teams remain a point behind the Lightning.
San Jose shut out Chicago in a clash of Western Conference heavyweights, while Boston defeated Los Angeles.
Detroit’s Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist scored power-play goals for the Red Wings, who overcame two second-period penalties and took a 2-0 lead on Brendan Smith’s one-time shot with 47 seconds remaining in the period. Detroit’s Jonathan Ericcson scored in the third period.
Lubomir Visnovsky scored the sole goal for the Islanders on a power play.
Montreal’s Max Pacioretty scored 3 minutes, 8 seconds into overtime to break the deadlock and give the Canadiens a 1-0 win against Washington.
Goaltender Carey Price made 36 saves to post his second shutout in a row.
The Capitals have lost five consecutive road games.
San Jose goalie Antti Niemi made 31 saves in his 31st career shutout as the Sharks beat Chicago 2-0.
Melker Karlsson scored early and Joe Thornton added an empty-net goal for the Sharks, who got their first regulation win over the Blackhawks for three years. Niemi did the rest against his former team as San Jose added the scalp of Chicago to that of Los Angeles and Anaheim in an impressive three-game run against fellow West contenders.
Boston’s Chris Kelly broke a 1-1 tie with 5:27 left in the third period, while Brad Marchand added an empty-netter for his second goal of the game as the Bruins beat Los Angeles 3-1.
Jordan Nolan scored the tying goal for the Kings with seven minutes left before Kelly and Marchand netted for the Bruins.
Dallas scored four power-play goals in a 5-2 win at Winnipeg.
John Klingberg scored a pair of goals and added two assists while Patrick Eaves, Shawn Horcoff and Jason Spezza also scored for the Stars.
Andrew Ladd scored his 18th of the season for the Jets, who have lost three straight.
Tampa Bay extended their home winning streak to 10 and kept their nose in front in the Eastern Conference by beating Columbus 3-1.
Cedric Paquette got his fifth goal in the last three games, while Brett Connolly and Valtteri Filppula also scored and Ben Bishop made 34 saves for the Lightning.
Ryan Johansen scored with 3:26 remaining for the Blue Jackets, who have lost all 18 times they have trailed after two periods.
New York’s Henrik Lundqvist shook off a second-period injury and made 31 saves to help the Rangers beat Carolina 4-1.
Philadelphia sent Toronto spiraling to its ninth straight loss by beating the Maple Leafs 1-0, with Flyers goalie Steve Mason making 30 saves in his shutout.
New Jersey rookie goalie Keith Kinkaid stopped 26 shots as the Devils beat Florida 3-1.
Calgary’s Lance Bouma scored two of Calgary’s four third-period goals as the Flames stormed back to beat Edmonton 4-2.
Ottawa broke away from Arizona to win 7-2, with Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan, Erik Karlsson and Mika Zibanejad each having a goal and an assist.
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GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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