The New York Islanders took a share of the NHL Eastern Conference lead by beating the league-leading Nashville Predators 5-2 on Thursday, with Nick Leddy contributing a goal and two assists.
The Islanders moved level at the top of the East with the Montreal Canadiens, which picked up a point in a shootout loss to the Florida Panthers, and opened a five-point lead in the Metropolitan Division from cross-town rivals the New York Rangers — who also were beaten in a shootout against the Vancouver Canucks — and the Washington Capitals, who comfortably defeated the Winnipeg Jets.
The Islanders were leading by a goal in the third period when Leddy and Josh Bailey scored 1 minute, 39 seconds apart to break the game open.
Photo: AFP
Brian Strait, John Tavares and Johnny Boychuk scored in the first, while goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves for his 32nd win of the season.
New York lost Mikhail Grabovski in the first period after a hit from Eric Nystrom, but still went on to notch their sixth win in seven games.
Filip Forsberg and James Neal scored for the Predators, who remained six points clear at the top of the Western Conference.
Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom scored twice and had an assist to lead the Capitals to a 5-1 victory over Winnipeg.
Backstrom, who has 16 assists in as many games, moved into a tie with Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks at the top of the NHL scoring list with 63 points.
Capitals star Alex Ovechkin added his league-leading 38th goal and an assist — pushing his point streak to six games — while Troy Brouwer had an empty-net goal and an assist. John Carlson also scored.
Toby Enstrom had the sole goal for the Jets.
Vancouver’s Alexandre Burrows and Radim Vrbata scored in the shootout to give the Canucks a 5-4 win at the Rangers.
Henrik Sedin scored twice for the Canucks, including a tying tally on a rebound with 2:00 left in regulation.
Derek Stepan, Rick Nash, Martin St Louis and Carl Hagelin scored for the Rangers, who had won their previous five against Vancouver.
Florida’s Dave Bolland scored in the sixth round of the shootout, lifting the Panthers to a 3-2 victory at Montreal.
Tomas Fleischmann and Steven Kampfer scored in regulation for the visitors.
Brendan Gallagher scored both of Montreal’s goals in the second period. The Canadiens outshot the Panthers 39-21 and blew a 2-0 lead.
San Jose’s Andrew Desjardins scored two second-period goals to lead the Sharks to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars.
Columbus’ Brandon Dubinsky poked the puck past a sprawled Marc-Andre Fleury with 2:17 remaining, sending the Blue Jackets to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Buffalo’s Brian Flynn scored the clinching goal in the shootout, leading the Sabres to a rare road win as they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.
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