Gameday 90 (Thu, 18 Apr) - Results

NY Islanders v Toronto 5-3 - He's just 22 years old, but John Tavares has already mastered the ability to contain his inner excitement and share the credit. As Tavares met with the media following the New York Islanders' convincing 5-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre, the Oakville, Ontario, native could have been excused for doing a little celebration dance. Instead, he made sure the focus was not on him, but rather on the entire group that continues to march toward the playoffs. In truth, there was no denying Tavares was the best player on the ice and that the Maple Leafs simply could not contain him. He led the way for the Islanders with two goals and an assist; his right wing, Brad Boyes, had one goal and two assists, while left wing Matt Moulson had a goal and one assist. Frans Nielsen also scored a third-period goal for the Islanders. Joffrey Lupul and Cody Franson gave Toronto a quick 2-0 lead, but the Maple Leafs didn't score again until Dion Phaneuf's last-minute power-play goal. Indeed it was a rough start. The Maple Leafs killed off an early 5-on-3 Islanders advantage for 1:26 early in the first period, then grabbed a quick 2-0 lead by scoring on their first two shots. Lupul made it 1-0 at 5:05 when he got the puck at the Toronto blue line, raced down the left-wing boards and went around Islanders defenseman Matt Carkner before driving to the net and slipping a shot past Evgeni Nabokov. Two minutes later Toronto defender Franson slipped in from the right point and was spied by center Tyler Bozak who made a perfect pass for the one-timer and a power-play goal. Things then turned nasty as Toronto's Frazer McLaren and New York's Carkner fought, followed by Colton Orr of the Maple Leafs and Eric Boulton of the Islanders four seconds later. The victory gives the Islanders 51 points; they are seventh in the Eastern Conference and moved within striking distance of the fifth-place Maple Leafs, who have 53 points, one more than the Ottawa Senators. Toronto visits Ottawa on Saturday, while the Islanders continue their season-ending five-game trip in Winnipeg against the ninth-place Jets, who trail New York by three points. As has been the case of late, the Maple Leafs struggled to get pucks on net. They were outshot 32-13 in Monday's 2-0 victory against the New Jersey Devils and 37-30 the next night in a 5-1 road loss to the Washington Capitals. Against the Islanders the Maple Leafs were outshot 38-21, including 19-5 in the first period and 15-5 in the second. A win by Toronto over New York coupled with a loss by the Winnipeg Jets would have put the Maple Leafs into the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04. Now it's back to the drawing board. Among the most pressing concerns for the Maple Leafs is their lack of scoring punch from their centres. Bozak has been fine, but Nazem Kadri, who led the team in scoring for much of the season, has just two assists in his past eight games, and Mikhail Grabovski, who has struggled most of the season, has one goal and three points in 12 games. Boyes, Moulson and Tavares all scored in the first period after the Islanders fell behind 2-0. Tavares connected late in the second, and Nielsen removed any doubt about the outcome with a blast past James Reimer midway through the third as the Islanders improved to 13-5-2 away from the Nassau Coliseum.

Florida v NY Rangers 1-6 - The New York Rangers clinched their playoff spot last season on March 19, with 10 games remaining in their schedule. The winning goal in that postseason-clinching 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils was scored by Mats Zuccarello. Almost exactly 13 months later, with the Rangers battling to retain the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the Norwegian wing again played a pivotal role, along with a few new faces. Zuccarello and Derick Brassard, neither of whom was on the Rangers' roster three weeks ago, each scored twice as New York cruised to a 6-1 win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Rick Nash, another player who wasn't on the Rangers team that advanced to Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Final, scored a goal and added two assists while Brad Richards completed the six-goal onslaught. The six goals exceeded the Rangers' combined total from their previous three games. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 shots for the win, which kept the Rangers in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers' 48 points leaves them three behind the seventh-place New York Islanders and even with the ninth-place Winnipeg Jets, who have played one more game. The Panthers have dropped four in a row. They host the Rangers next Thursday, and coach Kevin Dineen is hoping for a better effort. Brassard, another recent addition who was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets at the NHL Trade Deadline, opened the scoring with Erik Gudbranson serving a penalty for concealing the puck with his hand. Following a missed Ryan Callahan shot, the 25-year-old center pounced on a loose puck at the side of the crease and beat Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen. The goal came 3:05 into the contest and was the first power-play goal in four games for the Rangers. They needed just six minutes to get another one, with Dmitry Kulikov off for hooking Zuccarello, Nash took Callahan's cross-ice pass and snapped a shot past Clemmensen for his team-leading 18th goal of the season. The Panthers didn't test Lundqvist through much of the opening period, but they appeared to gain new life when Jonathan Huberdeau halved the Rangers lead with an outstanding effort. After taking a drop pass at the blue line from Shawn Matthias, Florida's star rookie made a nice move to beat Zuccarello before snapping a shot from the right circle past Lundqvist for his 14th goal of the season. Clemmensen made a big pad save on John Moore late in the period and another Florida rookie, Quinton Howden, almost tied the game on a partial breakaway moments later. As they slowly started to gain momentum, the Panthers finally saw contributions from their penalty kill early in the second period, holding the Rangers shotless through two early two-minute minors to Greg Rallo and Kulikov. Florida's best scoring chance of the period came with just over six minutes remaining, when Lundqvist kicked out his right leg to deny Alex Petrovic, who was making his NHL debut Thursday night. But any Florida momentum was halted with 3:26 remaining in the middle frame when Zuccarello restored the Rangers' two-goal lead. After some strong work along the boards, Ryane Clowe's pass bounced off the side of the net directly to Zuccarello in front of the net, where he made no mistake and beat Clemmensen to the top corner with a backhander. Clowe, who was acquired near the deadline from the San Jose Sharks, was one of five players not on last season's playoff roster to earn a point. After failing to score in his first eight games with New York this season, Zuccarello scored his second of the night and third in two games with 4:49 remaining in the third when Richards' centering pass went off his skate and into the net. Brassard effectively put the game away with his second of the game 84 seconds later, and Richards added another goal on a wraparound with 1:24 remaining. It was a far cry from the Rangers' previous game Tuesday night in Philadelphia, in which they fell behind early and lost 4-2 despite outshooting the Flyers 40-22. The main difference Thursday night was the power play, which went 0-for-5 against Philadelphia. The win gave the Rangers control of their own destiny entering the final five games of the regular season. That stretch starts with a pivotal Friday night road matchup against the Buffalo Sabres, whom New York can eliminate from playoff contention with a regulation win. Tortorella is eager to see how his squad responds to the challenge.

Tampa Bay v Montreal 2-3 - One season after the Montreal Canadiens confronted all the adversity they could handle, the team coasted through most of this one without hitting so much as a speed bump, leaving everyone to wonder when exactly that rough patch would come. The Canadiens had lost three straight games by a combined score of 18-8 entering their contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, and after taking a 2-0 lead, Montreal was less than a minute from heading to overtime, where the possibility of a fourth straight defeat loomed large. But captain Brian Gionta made sure that didn't happen by scoring his second goal of the game on a power play with 46.4 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Canadiens a much-needed 3-2 win and strengthen their hold on home ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price had allowed 12 of the 18 goals against during the three-game slide, on only 53 shots, and his play took the brunt of the analysis of a panicky fan base that saw its team struggling just before the playoffs. Price benefited from the Lightning hitting two goal posts and a crossbar in the first period, but then settled down nicely to finish with 32 saves, including highlight-reel stops on Richard Panik and Martin St. Louis. Price's experience in the city has given him the perspective not to take the whims of Canadiens fans overly seriously, yet at the same time his team's play of late was of concern in the room. He said hitting a bad stretch prior to the playoffs may have contributed to the panic of the fans, but it was actually good timing for the team. Alex Galchenyuk also scored for the Canadiens (27-12-5), who moved into sole possession of first in the Northeast Division. Montreal is two points ahead of the idle Boston Bruins, who hold two games in hand. The Canadiens also increased their lead on the fifth-place Toronto Maple Leafs to six points with each team having four games left to play, including a head-to-head matchup in the final game of the season. Panik and Vincent Lecavalier scored for the Lightning (17-23-4), who lost their fifth straight game and completed a four-game road trip without a victory. Even though it's been obvious for weeks, the Lightning was officially eliminated from playoff contention for a fifth time in six seasons. The teams were scoreless after one, but the Lightning could have entered the first intermission with a lead after Teddy Purcell, Steven Stamkos and Lecavalier each struck iron behind Price, who also made a brilliant blocker save on Panik alone in the slot with about four minutes to play. Price was forced to shine again a minute into the second when Stamkos found St. Louis behind the Montreal defense. St. Louis cut across the front of the net and tried to lift a shot over a sprawled out Price, but the Canadiens goalie lifted his pad in time to keep it out. The Canadiens took their first lead in four games at 4:04 of the second period on Galchenyuk's ninth of the season and sixth in eight games. The rookie fought off a check to tap a loose puck in the crease behind Ben Bishop put Montreal up 1-0. Gionta made it 2-0 off a horrible giveaway in his own zone by Ryan Malone, who made a behind-the-back pass that went straight to Max Pacioretty at the Lightning blue line. Pacioretty found Tomas Plekanec across the ice, and he immediately directed a hard pass to Gionta for a deflection at 15:05. A needless interference penalty by P.K. Subban allowed Tampa Bay back in the game late in the second. Viktor Hedman found Panik with a pass just outside the Montreal crease, and Panik deftly pivoted around in tight quarters to get to the other side of the net and beat Price at 17:36. The Lightning tied it 2-2 at 5:07 of the third as the Canadiens were unable to break up a scramble in front of their own net; Pouliot eventually found Lecavalier alone off to the side for the Tampa Bay captain's 10th of the season.

Washington v Ottawa 1-3 - The Ottawa Senators made sure eight was enough for the Washington Capitals. The Senators put a stop to the Capitals' eight-game winning streak by beating Washington 3-1 on Thursday night, extending their own winning streak to four games in the process. Kyle Turris scored twice, including an empty-netter with 1:27 left. Cory Conacher also scored for Ottawa, while Mike Ribeiro had the lone goal for the Capitals. With the Toronto Maple Leafs' 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders, the Senators (23-14-6) find themselves one point behind their divisional rivals for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The Leafs and Senators square off in the final Battle of Ontario this season on Saturday night. Craig Anderson made 18 saves for the win. Braden Holtby, who was peppered all night by the Senators, turned away 35 shots. The Capitals saw their lead over the Winnipeg Jets in the race for first place in the Southeast Division shrink to two points. The best first-period chance for the Senators came on the power play after Mike Green was called for tripping Turris at 6:22. Jakob Silfverberg sent a cross-ice pass down low to a waiting Chris Phillips, who was set up at the right side of the net. Phillips gained control of the puck but sent it just wide. Garnering two early penalties in game seemed to interfere with the Capitals' rhythm, according to Alex Ovechkin, the League's leading goal-scorer. Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet on Thursday and finished the night a minus-3 in 21:30 of ice time. The Senators opened the scoring 1:15 into the second period when Turris raced down the right wing and snapped a shot that beat Holtby on his blocker side. The goal gave Turris his 100th NHL career point. Milan Michalek also picked up an assist on the goal, giving him three points in his past three games. Holtby kept it a one-goal game midway through the period when he stretched across the crease to make a left pad save on Silfverberg's wraparound try. Despite being outshot 23-8, Washington was able to capitalize and tied the game when Martin Erat's pass across the slot was tipped by Ribeiro and went past Anderson's glove at 11:24. The point was Ribeiro's sixth in the past four games. But the Senators went ahead to stay 2:12 later when Holtby attempted to clear the puck from behind the net but missed defenseman Karl Alzner, who was waiting at the top of the right circle. Instead, Conacher pounced and put the puck into a wide-open net. Washington's top-line center, Nicklas Backstrom, left the game with seven minutes remaining in the third period with an upper-body injury and did not return. If the standings finish as they are now, the Senators and Capitals will face each other in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Both teams admitted they were thinking about the potential future matchup.

New Jersey v Philadelphia 3-0 - During the 10-game winless skid the New Jersey Devils carried into their game Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers, they thought they had been playing well enough to earn some victories, but pucks just weren't bouncing their way. Ryan Carter, Matt D'Agostini and Adam Henrique each scored a goal, and Martin Brodeur stopped all 23 shots he faced as the Devils won 3-0, keeping alive their flickering hopes for a Stanley Cup Playoff spot while possibly snuffing out the Flyers'. The Devils outshot the Flyers 31-23, the eighth straight game they've outshot their opponent. New Jersey held Philadelphia to 14 shots in the final 40 minutes and killed off two power plays. The Devils had been 0-6-4 in 10 games entering Thursday, a stretch that saw them drop from seventh to 12th in the Eastern Conference. The win Thursday jumps them past the Flyers into 11th, six points behind the eighth-place New York Rangers, with five games remaining, including one Sunday at Madison Square Garden, plus another date at MSG on the final day of the regular season. Prior to that, the Devils play at the Florida Panthers on Saturday, a team they're 1-0-1 against this season. Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov made 28 saves, but it wasn't enough to keep Philadelphia's two-game win streak from ending. And with the Rangers defeating the Panthers on Thursday, it left the Flyers seven points out of a playoff spot with four games remaining. One of the big problems for the Devils during their skid was a lack of offense. They had 16 goals in 10 games, and had been shut out in two straight entering Thursday. The goal drought finally was snapped at 146:13 when Carter scored at 5:36 of the second period. Flyers defenseman Erik Gustafsson tried dumping a puck from center ice into the Devils zone, but under heavy pressure from Steve Bernier he fanned on the attempt. Stephen Gionta jumped on the loose puck and carried it into the Philadelphia end along the right-wing boards. He spotted Carter driving to the net through the middle of the ice and hit him with a pass. Carter took one stride and snapped a wrist shot from the left circle past Bryzgalov. It was Brodeur's second shutout of the season, both against Philadelphia, and his 11th against the Flyers, his most against any team. He didn't have to do much work over the last two periods to secure No. 121 of his career. The best chance the Flyers had didn't even result in Brodeur needing to make a save. Early in the second, Matt Read bumped Patrik Elias off the puck at the Flyers' blue line and started an odd-man rush with Wayne Simmonds. Read raced into the New Jersey end and pulled up in the slot. Rather than shoot the puck, though, he waited too long, then tried to force a pass through the slot to Simmonds. By then the Devils had recovered and Peter Harrold was able to tip the pass away. The Flyers momentarily thought they had tied the game at 9:04 of the second when a Kurtis Foster shot bounced off the Devils' David Clarkson to the right side of the New Jersey net, and Jakub Voracek knocked it in with his skate. Referees immediately waved off the goal, ruling Voracek used a distinct kicking motion to put the puck in the net, and replay review upheld the call. The Flyers had another chance early in the third, when Marek Zidlicky was sent off for cross-checking, but Philadelphia managed one shot on the man-advantage. D'Agostini then scored an insurance goal off a nice play by Jacob Josefson in the neutral zone. He got underneath Flyers defenseman Oliver Lauridsen to poke the puck away and blindly threw a backhand pass to D'Agostini alone on the right side. He skated unchecked into the right circle and snapped a shot between Bryzgalov's pads at 14:10. Henrique closed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:13 remaining.

Carolina v Winnipeg 3-4 - The Eastern Conference is not leaving the Winnipeg Jets with any choice but to continue winning if they wish to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs and end a six-season drought. The Jets captured a 4-3 overtime win Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes at MTS Centre, running their winning streak to a season-high five games. Dustin Byfuglien won it when he finished a 2-on-1 rush by banging Andrew Ladd's rebound past goaltender Justin Peters 1:23 into overtime. But the New York Rangers' win Thursday left the Jets (23-19-2) stranded in ninth place, from where they have struggled to free themselves for much of this month after a five-game losing streak nearly sunk their season. Carolina's Alexander Semin scored the tying goal with 1:12 left in regulation as the Jets failed to hold a two-goal lead in the third period for the second time in as many games. They also surrendered a two-goal lead to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night before winning 4-3 in a shootout. Unlike most of the Eastern Conference field, however, the Jets have multiple pathways to the postseason. Pushing aside the Washington Capitals atop the Southeast Division would guarantee the Jets the third seed. Winnipeg also could get into the playoffs by squeezing out one of the Ottawa Senators (52 points), New York Islanders (51) or Rangers. Winnipeg did make up some ground on Washington, whose eight-game winning streak ended against the Senators on Thursday. The Jets sit two points behind the Capitals for the division lead. The Islanders also won, leaving them three points ahead of the Jets, while the Senators are up by four points. The Jets' six-game homestand ends Saturday afternoon when the Islanders come to MTS Centre. After that, Winnipeg faces back-to-back road games against Washington and the Buffalo Sabres before the Jets end the regular season at home against the Montreal Canadiens next Thursday. Zach Bogosian opened the scoring for the Jets in the first period and sees the Jets' pressure-packed schedule as a good tune-up for the playoff berth that they expect to earn. Peters, who beat the Jets 3-1 at MTS Centre on March 30, stopped 27 shots in a return engagement. Ondrej Pavelec started for the 20th time in 21 games and made 24 saves. Noel's first line again powered the Jets. Ladd's three-assist evening moved his scoring streak to six games, tying a career high. Blake Wheeler added a goal and two assists, while Bryan Little chipped in two assists. Ladd and Wheeler each have a pair of goals and four assists in the Jets' past two games. Bogosian provided early offense for the Jets, who controlled the first period and outshot the Hurricanes 10-3. Paul Postma created a two-goal advantage on the power play halfway through the middle period before Carolina's Tuomo Ruutu connected two minutes later on his first goal of the season to make it 2-1. Wheeler rebuilt the Jets' two-goal lead with 12:20 left in regulation, taking a Little pass that split the defense before beating Peters under the crossbar. But Ruutu scratched away another Winnipeg lead fewer than four minutes later when he tipped Marc-Andre Bergeron's rising point shot behind Pavelec to make it 3-2 and set up Semin's late finish. Ruutu had hip surgery this past December and missed the first 29 games of the season. He had not scored since April 3, 2012, before his two-goal performance against the Jets. The Hurricanes have won just twice in an 18-game stretch going back to March 14, but Carolina coach Kirk Muller praised his team afterward. Carolina fell behind 12 minutes into the game after Little bounced the puck into the slot off a rush. Bogosian outraced two Carolina defenders to the skidding puck. Peters hesitated, allowing Bogosian to reach the puck and stab it past the goaltender's outreached stick. Pavelec had faced 10 shots by the game's midpoint, and held the Jets in the game during a second-period Hurricanes power play. He fended off two prime Carolina scoring opportunities before sprawling across his crease to smother Faulk's crease-edge chance. Winnipeg's power play has struggled all season, ranked 28th in the League. Even against a Carolina penalty kill that ranked 27th, the Jets' woes continued during their first three man-advantage opportunities. But Winnipeg finally connected on its fourth opportunity after Jordan Staal's offensive-zone minor during Carolina's first power play. Moments after Pavelec's saves, Wheeler reached Postma from the left boards with a pass to the right circle through three defenders. Postma settled the puck and lifted it under the crossbar at 8:27. Ruutu scored his first goal when he slipped into the slot and snapped a stick-side shot past Pavelec at 10:38.

Phoenix v St Louis 1-2 - The St. Louis Blues worked their shootout magic again to collect two crucial points Thursday night. Andy McDonald scored the lone shootout goal, and Brian Elliott snagged Oliver Ekman-Larsson's final attempt as the Blues edged the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 at Scottrade Center. The Blues (25-16-2), who also won 2-1 in a shootout Tuesday night, improved to 5-1 in tiebreakers this season after going 4-10 in 2011-12. They jumped into sixth place ahead of the Minnesota Wild with the win pending the Wild's game against the San Jose Sharks Thursday night. But the victory didn't feel quite like one for Blues coach Ken Hitchcock. He was visibly upset at the end of the game at officials Mike Leggo and Tim Peel because of a non-call against star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who the Blues felt like was cross-checked from behind late in the third period that ultimately led to Phoenix's game-tying goal from Radim Vrbata. Hitchcock was restrained by one of the linesman as he had choice words for the two officials as they left the ice. He received a game misconduct after the shootout had concluded. Pietrangelo was facing the corner boards and multiple bodies fighting for a puck when he was belted from behind by Hanzal. The puck squirted loose, Ekman-Larsson fed a wide-open Vrbata in the slot and he tucked a shot inside the near post past Brian Elliott with 1:07 remaining in regulation to tie the game. McDonald was the Blues' first shooter and beat Coyotes goalie Chad Johnson with a high wrist shot. David Perron netted a first-period goal for the Blues and Elliott stopped 33 shots through 65 minutes. He also stopped Vrbata and Ekman-Larsson in shootout attempts. Antoine Vermette fired wide on the Coyotes' first attempt. The Coyotes (18-17-8) got the tying goal from Vrbata, and Johnson, making only his fourth appearance in goal this season, stopped 29 shots. The Blues jumped in front when Perron scored his 10th of the season and first in 17 games. He redirected Backes' right point wrister past Johnson 9:58 into the opening period. Perron's last goal came in a 4-2 win March 12 against the San Jose Sharks to get the monkey off his back. It was the Blues' first goal by a forward in 205:28 [four games ago]. McDonald was the last forward to score, 9:30 into the third period April 11 at Minnesota. The Coyotes had a bigger push in the middle period, but Elliott was up to the task by making 10 stops. He also got some help from his posts, Rob Klinkhammer drew iron on a break-in with the backhand early in the period, and Zbynek Michalek's right-point shot hit the near post late in the period. Phoenix got the late power play when Backes was called for boarding Ekman-Larsson in the offensive zone. When the Coyotes scored, they felt like they had the momentum. Johnson kept the Blues from winning in overtime when he made a stop on Chris Stewart's breakaway attempt with 1:54 left in overtime.

Vancouver v Dallas 1-5 - The Dallas Stars didn't let one bad game get them down. Cody Eakin, Jamie Benn, Ray Whitney and Erik Cole had third-period goals as the Stars prevented the Vancouver Canucks from clinching a playoff spot with a 5-1 victory at American Airlines Center on Thursday night. The win came three nights after the Stars were beaten 5-2 by the League-leading Chicago Blackhawks on the road. Kari Lehtonen had 37 saves for Dallas, which moved past the Detroit Red Wings into ninth place in the Western Conference. The Stars and Red Wings have 47 points, two fewer than the eighth-place Columbus Blue Jackets. After Thursday, the Stars and Red Wings will have two games in hand on Columbus. Vancouver, which finished a five-game road trip at 2-2-1, missed a chance to lock up a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Instead, the Canucks will have to wait until the Red Wings come to Rogers Arena on Saturday night. In a game that was scoreless after one period and 1-1 after two, Eakin gave Dallas its first lead of the night 1:36 into the third with a wrister from the high slot that beat Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider through the five-hole for his seventh of the season. Benn added his 11th of the season at 4:09, going top shelf after miscommunication between Vancouver's Keith Ballard and Alexandre Burrows near the Canucks blue line led to a turnover. Whitney put home a rebound at 7:03 for his 11th of the season, and Cole's power-play wrister beat Schneider with 1:42 remaining. Except for Derek Roy's goal at 6:38 of the second period, Lehtonen was unbeatable in his first game since leaving in the first period of a 5-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on April 9 due to a groin injury. Roy scored against the Stars, who had traded him to the Canucks just prior to the NHL Trade Deadline, beating Lehtonen with a backhander for his sixth of the season. The Canucks outshot the Stars 12-10 in the first period and had nine of the first 11 shots on goal in the second. But Dallas tied it at 12:09 second when Vernon Fiddler scored his fourth of the season just six seconds after the Stars' second power play ended. Fiddler fired a wrist shot past Schneider and into the right side of the net after a pass by Eric Nystrom from the left circle deflected in front of the goal and fell to his skates.

Columbus v Los Angeles 1-2 - Defensive, physical, scrappy, Stanley Cup Playoff-type games like this are great for a Los Angeles Kings team rounding into form. Not so much for the road-weary Columbus Blue Jackets. In their first game with gritty defenseman Matt Greene back in the lineup, the Kings grinded through a 2-1 win Thursday night on goals by Kyle Clifford and Drew Doughty. L.A. won its fourth straight at home and improved to 17-4-1 at Staples Center. The Kings broke through a stubborn Sergei Bobrovsky, who kept Columbus in a chippy game that saw Brandon Dubinsky receive a match penalty at the buzzer. Greene welcomed it in his first game since the season opener Jan. 19; he underwent back surgery five days later. The Kings remained in fourth place in the Western Conference. Their 55 points are the same as the San Jose Sharks, but L.A. has seven more non-shootout wins. L.A. won the Stanley Cup from the eighth seed last season, opening all four series on the road, but the Kings admit they want to start at home this time. Columbus played its fifth game in seven days and looked like a tired team in the first two periods. The Blue Jackets saw their five-game winning streak end, but still sit eighth in the Western Conference with 49 points, two more than the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings, both of whom have two games in hand. Columbus lost Matt Calvert to a broken finger in the first period, a blow to a team that was already without Artem Anisimov, Adrian Aucoin and Nikita Nikitin. Coach Todd Richards said he'll probably be out a little while. Los Angeles is dominant with a third-period lead, and made a 2-1 lead stand up through the final 20 minutes after going ahead to stay against Bobrovsky (21 saves) at 13:32 of the second. Clifford snapped home a loose puck out of a scrum after Brad Richardson dug it out from behind the goal line. Clifford scored for the first time since his two-goal game on March 16. The response score came after Columbus got life on Dalton Prout's first NHL goal, on a wrist shot from up top that got through Jonathan Quick at 12:07. Prout coincidentally played with Clifford for the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. Clifford jawed at Dubinsky after the buzzer scrap and said he was defending Drew Doughty, who hit Dubinsky. Asked about Dubinsky, Clifford said, "Just a cheap shot. That's his personality. We've got guys out there and he goes after Dewey, who's not our toughest player. Not the smartest thing, but it's good to get the win." The Blue Jackets had nine shots on goal through 55 minutes and could have faced a bigger deficit were it not for Bobrovsky, who made remarkable saves on Trevor Lewis and Dustin Brown as well as a great glove grab on Anze Kopitar. Columbus direly needed to get something from its power play but went 0 for 2 and is 0 for 17 in its past eight games, not enough chances in the Blue Jackets' minds. L.A.'s power play continued to hum with a 4-on-3 tally by Doughty to open the scoring. Doughty took the puck from Mike Richards on the left side and chipped it off Fedor Tyutin's leg and past Bobrovsky at 8:35 of the first period for his sixth goal. Doughty, who had one goal in his first 37 games, now has five in his last seven games. Kopitar earned his 300th career assist on Doughty's goal. The Kings have connected at a 24.2 percent success rate (32 for 132) on the power play in their last 40 games. Justin Williams left the game briefly when he blocked a shot.

Minnesota v San Jose 1-6 - The playoffs apparently can't come soon enough for the surging San Jose Sharks. The Sharks routed the Minnesota Wild 6-1 on Thursday night at HP Pavilion as they took another step forward in their playoff push. Logan Couture and Martin Havlat each scored two goals, Raffi Torres had his first goal as a Shark, and Joe Pavelski notched his 14th goal of the season. Antti Niemi made 27 saves to earn his League-leading 23rd win. The six goals matched the Sharks' season high, they beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 in their second game of the season, and the five-goal margin of victory was their biggest of the season. San Jose has 55 points and remained in fifth place in the Western Conference race. The Los Angeles Kings, a 2-1 winner against the Columbus Blue Jackets, also have 55 points but are fourth because they have more non-shootout wins. Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored for the Wild, who fell to seventh in the West with 51 points, one behind the St. Louis Blues. The Wild have two days to regroup before opening a three-game homestand Sunday against the Calgary Flames. The Sharks took a 3-1 lead into the third period and ended all doubt about the outcome when Torres and Pavelski scored goals 22 seconds apart. Torres scored on a wraparound at 3:59, and Pavelski scored from the slot after taking a pass from Torres. After Pavelski's goal, Wild coach Mike Yeo pulled Backstrom; Couture greeted backup Darcy Kuemper by scoring from the slot at 9:15 to complete the scoring. Couture entered the game with 17 goals, tied with Patrick Marleau for the team lead, and left with a team-best 19. He also an acrobatic play that led to San Jose's third goal after Minnesota had cut the Sharks' lead to 2-1 in the second period. Backstrom pursued the puck behind his goal and tried to clear it to his left, along the boards. But Couture jumped up, knocked down the pass and quickly got the puck to Havlat in the low slot. Havlat scored before a scrambling Backstrom could get back into position. The line of Couture, Havlat and Marleau had a huge game. Couture had the first four-point game of his career. Havlat had three points and Marleau two. That line also matched up against Minnesota's top line of Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle and held it to no points. Havlat had his first multi-goal game since March 17, 2012, when he had two goals, including the game-winner, in a 3-2 overtime victory against the Detroit Red Wings. This time he scored twice against his former team; the Wild traded him to the Sharks for Dany Heatley on July 3, 2011. The Sharks took a 1-0 lead at 7:42 of the first period when Havlat banked a cross-ice pass from the right circle intended for Couture off Koivu's stick and past Backstrom. A minute before Havlat scored against his former team, Minnesota had a great chance to take the lead. Jason Pominville, in his first game against the Sharks since coming to Minnesota in a trade-deadline deal, came in on a breakaway and ripped a shot from the low slot, but it hit Niemi in the body and bounced harmlessly away. Couture gave San Jose a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:29 of the second with defenseman Clayton Stoner in the penalty box for holding Havlat. Minnesota answered quickly with Bouchard's breakaway goal at 9:44 of the period, cutting San Jose's lead to 2-1. Bouchard shot past Sharks defenseman Matt Irwin and Pominville hit him with a long outlet pass. Bouchard beat Niemi with to the glove side with a backhander.