Chicago Blackhawks @ Pittsburgh Penguins 1-4 - 03/30

The Chicago Blackhawks lost more than a potential two points on Sunday. The defending Stanley Cup champions lost their captain, Jonathan Toews, to an upper-body injury in the second period of what turned out to be a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Consol Energy Center. Toews, with his head down, was driven hard into the boards by Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik while attempting to collect the puck 13:20 into the second. He skated to the bench favoring either his left arm or shoulder and retreated down the runway to Chicago's dressing room shortly after. He did not return. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Toews' injury is not expected to be serious and he is day-to-day. Chicago was already without forwards Patrick Kane (lower body) and Bryan Bickell (upper body). Quenneville said the Blackhawks are targeting Thursday for Bickell's return. Chicago forward Marian Hossa, a former Penguin, called Orpik a "fair guy," but forward Patrick Sharp said he thinks Orpik "knew who he was hitting."

"It was a big hit. I didn't really break it down," Sharp said. "I just saw it during the play. You could tell he was trying to hit him hard … It's tough when you see your captain get hit like that."

Orpik didn't think the hit was out of the ordinary. "There was no penalty, so I don't know. I think that hit happens 10 times a game."

Chicago controlled the third period, but Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made nine third-period stops to preserve the 2-1 lead. Fleury, who allowed five goals during a 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game against the Blackhawks at Soldier Field on March 1, earned his 36th win of the season and his second straight following a stretch of five winless starts. Sidney Crosby scored his team-leading 35th goal 36th goals of the season to give the Penguins added insurance. Crosby went on a 2-on-1 with Lee Stempniak and snapped a shot past Corey Crawford to increase the lead to 3-1 with 4:51 remaining in regulation. Crosby's second goal was an empty-netter with 1:16 left for the Penguins, who now have 101 points and sit comfortably atop the Metropolitan Division. Crawford finished with 23 saves. Chicago, which has lost four of its past five games and each of its three games on its road trip, remains in third in the Central Division with 99 points, one behind the Colorado Avalanche.

"We were creating some chances," Crawford said. "We had some good momentum there. I think during the third period, we had some great shifts that almost ended up as goals, but we were just missing some and [Fleury] came up with some big saves too. We can't let this snowball."

With the Blackhawks down 2-0, defenseman Sheldon Brookbank scored with 8:50 remaining in the second period to pull them to within one goal. Brookbank slapped a shot past Fleury for his second goal of the season and his first since Oct. 28. Before Brookbank's goal, Chicago had struggled to get anything generated in Pittsburgh's zone. The Blackhawks were held to nine shots through the game's first 30 minutes. Chicago controlled the remainder of the period and recorded its last six shots. Its 17th-ranked penalty-killing unit shut down the League's second-best power play (23.2 percent) twice in the second. The Penguins scored on two of their first four shots of the game to build a 2-0 lead entering the first intermission. Jussi Jokinen sent a pass through the neutral zone to send James Neal on a 2-on-1 with Beau Bennett. Neal decided to keep the puck and wristed a shot in front of a sliding Duncan Keith and past Crawford's left pad for his 24th goal of the season 9:46 into the first.

"[We allowed] a couple odd-man breaks," Quenneville said. "I know the ones late in the game, you're pressing, so you're going to give up something like that, but I think we have a tendency for doing the right things and going to the puck on the odd-man break. I think we were a little off. Whether it was on out gap or our backside pressure, so it was a little softer coverage."

Stempniak scored his third goal as a Penguin to extend the lead 21 seconds later. Matt Niskanen sent a pass through the right side of Chicago's defense to Stempniak at the Blackhawks' blue line. Stempniak, with defenseman Johnny Oduya draped on him, shot the puck through Crawford's five-hole. The Blackhawks had a chance to score the game's first goal over a minute into the period after Andrew Shaw juked Olli Maatta and went and drove toward the Pittsburgh goal alone. Shaw sent a shot off the right post. The Penguins have won back-to-back games following a three-game losing streak. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma was visibly animated during a television timeout midway through the third period with Pittsburgh holding a one-goal lead.

"At that point in the game, we were playing too much defense and they were coming at us," Bylsma said. "They involve five people in their offense a lot and they were coming at us with their defensemen. For a good portion of that third period, we were just playing too much defense and part of it was our execution level and us not being able to advance the puck out of our zone against their five guys playing hard against us. I thought using the TV timeout to basically call a timeout and get refocused and get our guys back playing and playing in the other direction, I thought that was the time for it."

Results - Sun, Mar 31, 2014

Boston @ Philadelphia 4-3 SO - The Bruins knew they had a beastly schedule in March, with 17 games in 30 days, including five sets of back-to-back games. Just surviving that stretch with a strong spot in the standings was the hope. Hope turned into a reality better than anyone in the Bruins organization could have scripted, as their 4-3 shootout win Sunday against the Flyers ran their March record to 15-1-1. Sunday saw the Bruins' Reilly Smith score in the fifth round of the shootout to clinch the win. Patrice Bergeron also scored in the tiebreaker for the Bruins and goalie Tuukka Rask stopped four of five shooters. Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Andrej Meszaros scored in regulation for Boston and Rask finished with a season-high 49 saves. It was the 100th win of his career. The victory also was the Bruins' club-record ninth straight away from home, and gave them a three-point lead on the St. Louis Blues in the race for the Presidents' Trophy, as well as an 11-point bulge on the Pittsburgh Penguins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers' Vincent Lecavalier scored two goals, including the 400th of his NHL career, and Kimmo Timonen also scored. Goalie Steve Mason made 27 saves in regulation and overtime. The Flyers did their best to make it two points rather than one. Trailing 3-2 after two periods they outshot the Bruins 17-6 in the third period, but it took until the final minute of regulation for them to be rewarded. Boston's Loui Eriksson tried to skate it out of the zone, but Timonen whacked it off his stick at the blue line. The puck bounced past Bergeron and then Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk whiffed on a clearing attempt. It slid to Voracek, and when Rask came out to play the angle, Voracek sent the puck through the crease to Lecavalier, who tapped it into an open net to tie the game with 24.1 seconds remaining. The Flyers continued to force the play in overtime, outshooting the Bruins 5-1 in the five-minute session. While the Flyers are left to lament what could have been, the Bruins are looking forward to two days before they play next, Wednesday at the Detroit Red Wings. As well as Bergeron is playing, he'd probably like to keep going. His goal midway through the second gave him one in seven straight, tied for the third-longest streak in team history. The score was 2-2 when Bergeron's spin-and-fire shot from the left circle appeared to surprise Mason as it zipped under his pads. The goal was Bergeron's 27th, and with seven games left he's close to his second 30-goal season. Combine that with his plus-36 rating, and Bergeron is having a season worthy of a second Frank J. Selke Trophy for best defensive forward in the League; he previously won the award in 2012. Knowing the Bruins were playing one day after a 4-2 win at the Washington Capitals, the Flyers came out fast and took a 1-0 lead on Lecavalier's goal 5:25 into the game, the 400th of his career. Lecavalier is the 90th player in League history with 400 goals and the eighth active. It also was his second in as many games since being shifted to the fourth line. Mezsaros, a former Flyer, tied the game at 10:43, scoring his second goal in nine games since Philadelphia traded him to the Bruins on March 5. But the Flyers regained the lead with 41.7 seconds left in the first when Timonen scored his fifth goal of the season off a spectacular cross-ice pass from Voracek. Off the rush, he made a backhand pass under the stick of Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton and between the skates of Boychuk to Timonen, who was pinching in from the far side of the ice and one-timed a shot past Rask. After goals by Chara and Bergeron put the Bruins ahead, the Flyers had ample chances to tie it up early in the third, including a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:47. But they managed one shot on goal and had two other attempts blocked.
Calgary @ Ottawa 3-6 - The Senators are putting a late run together to keep their faint Stanley Cup Playoffs hopes alive. Milan Michalek scored twice in the first period and Jared Cowen gave the Senators their third one-goal lead at 1:12 of the third in a 6-3 win against the Flames at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday. Ottawa center Mika Zibanejad took advantage of Calgary goalie Karri Ramo's turnover behind the net to set up Cowen, who scored his sixth goal from the slot to put the Senators ahead 4-3. Clarke MacArthur gave the Senators a two-goal lead at 12:22, and Kyle Turris scored his second of the game, his team-leading 25th, into an empty net with 1:21 remaining. Turris, who also had an assist, drew the Senators even at 3-3 with first goal of the game at 16:47 of the second period. Ottawa has points in four straight games (3-0-1) following a 2-12-2 skid that sent them plummeting out of playoff contention. The Senators held a 15-6 advantage in shots in the third after being outshot 21-9 by Calgary in the second. Robin Lehner stopped 37 shots in his eighth start in nine games for the Senators, who are in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 76 points. Ottawa, which has eight games remaining, is six points out of a wild-card spot. Lehner started over Craig Anderson, who made 46 saves Friday in a 5-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks in his first game since he sustained an upper-body injury on Mar. 10. Paul Byron and Sean Monahan scored earlier in the second to put Calgary up 3-2. Matt Stajan scored his 12th goal to tie it at 1-1 in the first and Ramo made 31 saves for the Flames, who had won six of their previous nine games. Erik Karlsson got his 50th assist on Michalek's first goal, his 15th of the season, at 10:42 of the first. Karlsson became the first NHL defenseman with at least 20 goals and 50 assists in the same season since Hall of Famer Brian Leetch had 21 goals and 58 assists for the New York Rangers in 2001-02. After Stajan scored at 13:23, Michalek restored Ottawa's lead at 2-1 with his 16th goal, his second of the period, to finish off a dazzling setup by Jason Spezza at 19:23. Byron tied it at 2-2 with his seventh goal at 3:59 of the second. Monahan came out of the right corner and fired a wrist shot over Lehner's left shoulder for his 20th goal at 7:05 to give the Flames a 3-2 lead. The 19-year-old rookie scored his first goal in 12 games to reach the plateau. Ramo came way out of his net in the second to deny MacArthur a breakaway opportunity and the Calgary goalie sprawled to the ice to win a race to the puck. Senators defenseman Chris Phillips returned after missing the previous two games because of an undisclosed injury. Rookie Cody Ceci was out of the lineup for the first time in 41 games since he was recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League, originally on an emergency basis. Defenseman Ladislav Smid did not accompany the Flames to Ottawa because of a lower-body injury he sustained Friday during a 4-3 win against the New York Rangers.
Tampa Bay @ Detroit 2-3 - Gustav Nyquist keeps scoring goals for the Red Wings and their hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a 23rd consecutive season look better off for it. Nyquist scored his 27th goal Sunday in a 3-2 victory against the Lightning at Joe Louis Arena and the Red Wings won each half of a back-to-back set this weekend. It was Nyquist's second goal in as many games, 22nd in the past 27 games and 11th in the past nine. The Red Wings (84 points) are 5-3-1 in that nine-game stretch and surged into the Eastern Conference's first wild-card spot ahead of the idle Columbus Blue Jackets (82 points). Joakim Andersson and David Legwand also scored for the Red Wings, who received a strong performance in net by Jonas Gustavsson (26 saves). Gustavsson picked up the win in his first action since March 7 against the New Jersey Devils and made several outstanding saves. The Red Wings also got another lineup regular back from injury Sunday with the return of Justin Abdelkader. The rugged forward finished with four shots on goal and three hits, while another recent returner to the lineup, center Darren Helm, impacted the game with his speed and aggressiveness. Helm extended his point streak to three games with an assist on Andersson's goal and his presence is a reminder of just how much the Red Wings are missing some talented players. While they appear headed in the right direction with seven games left in the regular season, Detroit is still without its top forwards, captain Henrik Zetterberg and center Pavel Datsyuk. Each plan to rejoin the fray in the postseason, if not sooner in Datsyuk's case, and it's starting to look like things might come together just in the nick of time for the Red Wings. The loss snapped a string of 11 straight games with at least a point for the Lightning, who'd gone 7-0-4 during that stretch. Former Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula and defenseman Sami Salo scored goals for Tampa Bay, with Filppula extending his point streak to 12 straight games. Ben Bishop (27 saves) took the loss after starting each end of a back-to-back set, but gave credit to Nyquist on a memorable goal scored with 4:36 left in the first period to give Detroit a 2-1 lead. After taking a pass from Legwand at center ice, the shifty 5-foot-11, 185-pound forward started to break free and drew a penalty by eluding Lightning defenseman Matt Carle's grasp. He kept his balance and deked Bishop to the ice with a backhand shot off the rush. Seconds later, after collecting the rebound, Nyquist whirled around and sent the puck into the net off the far post. The goal extended Nyquist's point streak to nine games, which is Detroit's longest since an 11-game streak by Henrik Zetterberg during the 2010-11 season. It also pulled him within three goals of becoming the first Red Wings 30-goal scorer since 2008-09, when they had four players reach that plateau. Filppula's goal put Detroit behind first for the fourth straight game thanks to a costly turnover. After scooping a loose puck in the offensive zone, Filppula rifled a wrist shot from the slot that beat Gustavsson 8:40 into the game over the right pad. The only difference from the previous three games was how long it took to respond. Andersson scored less than three minutes later to tie it up 1-1 at 11:08 with his eighth goal and the Red Wings got a lift from it. They controlled the puck more and wound up with a 12-6 advantage in shots after the opening period. More importantly, they held a 2-1 lead. Tampa Bay closed the gap in shots in the second, aided by two unsuccessful power plays, but Detroit widened its lead to 3-1 on Legwand's power-play goal with 3:24 left in the period. He got his stick on a shot from the point by Johan Franzen and Bishop couldn't stop it. That turned out to be the goal that decided the game. Gustavsson played a key role at the other end by stopping all 13 shots the Lightning put on goal in the second, including back-to-back attempts by defenseman Mark Barberio that could've tied the game at 8:00. The Red Wings killed off two more Tampa Bay power plays in the third to keep their lead intact until Salo scored at 15:31 to make things interesting right to the end. The win was the 411th for coach Mike Babcock with the Red Wings, which moved him past legendary former coach Scotty Bowman into second in franchise history. He's two away from tying Jack Adams for the top spot.
Washington @ Nashville 3-4 SO - Patric Hornqvist's parents flew into Nashville from his native Sweden for three days to see his first child. They got a bonus on Sunday when they saw their son score two goals in the Predators' 4-3 shootout victory against the Crapitals at Bridgestone Arena. Hornqvist missed the Predators' 2-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on March 23 so he could be present when his wife Malin gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter. It was good timing for Nashville, which improved to 7-4-1 in its past 12 games, but bad timing for Washington. The loss hurt the Crapitals in terms of the Eastern Conference's wild-card race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Capitals, who have seven games left, are one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second-wild card spot; Columbus has a game in hand. Craig Smith scored on a wrist shot to the stick side for Nashville in the second round of the shootout to win it. Predators goalie Carter Hutton (23 saves) picked up his 18th win when he made a right pad save on Nicklas Backstrom in the third round. Backstrom earlier had tied the game 3-3 at 12:20 of the third period with a wrist shot from the right circle on the man advantage. Troy Brouwer scored two power-play goals for the Capitals. Washington's even-strength play has not been what it needs it to be of late. Center Marcus Johansson was minus-3 Sunday. Nashville's five-man unit of defensemen Shea Weber and Roman Josi along with Hornqvist's line, which includes center Mike Fisher and Matt Cullen at left wing, were on ice for three even-strength goals and gave up one. Nashville kept its slim postseason hopes alive. The Predators are seven points behind the Phoenix Coyotes for the Western Conference's second wild-card spot. Weber scored on a slap shot low to Capitals goalie Jaroslav Halak's blocker side to put the Predators up 3-2 at 8:23 of the third period. Cullen entered Washington's zone, dropped the puck for Fisher and then drove to the net. Fisher left the puck for Weber, whose goal was his 21st of the season, tops among NHL defensemen. Weber is two goals shy of his career high. The Predators took a succession of penalties in the second period that allowed Washington to even the score at 2-2. Nashville was called for too many men on the ice at 11:43, which the Predators killed. Josi was then called for interference at 13:53, and Washington converted. Brouwer scored his second goal of the game and 23rd on the season by backhanding a loose puck from the slot over Hutton at 14:22. Weber proved to be a catalyst on a key sequence at the end of the first period that allowed Nashville to take a 2-1 lead into first intermission. Weber sprawled to break up a 2-on-1 led by Capitals wing Alex Ovechkin. Then he got up off the ice and cleared the puck out of the zone. Hornqvist scored his second goal of the game 18 seconds later on a breakaway, roofing a shot past Halak from close range with 90 seconds left in the period. The goal was Hornqvist's 17th of the season. Washington took a 1-0 lead as a result of Backstrom's strip of Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm in the Predators' zone. Backstrom fed Mike Green and the latter found Brouwer, who blasted a one-timer into an open net at 4:17. The goal was Brouwer's 22nd of the season. Nashvillle answered 98 seconds later. Weber unleashed one of his trademark slap shots and Halak could not control the rebound. Hornqvist beat defenseman Patrick Wey to the puck and shoveled it in for his 16th goal. Wey later fought Nashville's Rich Clune at 8:16 of the first; Wey took an uppercut that left him needing a few moments on the ice before regain his bearings. He did not return and Washington played with five defensemen for the remainder of the game. Oates said the Capitals removed Wey from the game for precautionary reasons. Oates said Wey had not been tested for a concussion. Halak's play was crucial in keeping Washington in the game. He stopped Smith with a stick save on a breakaway early in the second period and then in a 4-on-4 situation, he gloved Hornqvist's attempt at a hat trick when Hornqvist broke in alone and was denied on a wrist shot. Halak, who started the season in the Central Division as a member of the St. Louis Blues, entered the game 10-3-3 against Nashville. The Predators narrowly got the best of him Sunday and continued its long-shot push with six games remaining.
NY Rangers @ Edmonton 5-0 - After a misstep against the Calgary Flames on Friday, the Rangers returned to their winning ways with a 5-0 victory against the Oilers at Rexall Place on Sunday night. Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello each scored two goals and Derek Stepan added three assists in the win. Derick Brassard also scored for the Rangers and rookie goaltender Cam Talbot made 26 saves for his third shutout of the season. The Rangers scored two shorthanded goals in the victory, giving them six wins in their past seven games, the lone blemish the 4-3 loss to the Flames. The win tied a franchise record for road victories with 24. It also gave the Rangers sole possession of second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points up on the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers have two games in hand. Goalie Ben Scrivens stopped 27 shots for the Oilers, who have lost four of their past five games. Sunday marked the ninth time Edmonton has been shut out this season and the sixth time at home. The Oilers have allowed a League-high 13 shorthanded goals and will finish with at least 40 losses for the fourth consecutive season. Zuccarello scored at 16:30 of the first period to give the Rangers the lead, tipping an Anton Stralman point shot over Scrivens. The goal was reviewed, but it was determined Zuccarello's stick was below the height of the crossbar when making contact with the puck. The Rangers then took control of the game with three goals in the second period. Brassard increased the Rangers' lead at 4:38 after his centering attempt bounced off the stick of Oilers defenseman Martin Marincin and past Scrivens. Nash put the Rangers up 3-0 at 9:07 benefiting from another fortunate bounce. The Rangers forward had his centering attempt from behind the net bounce in off Scrivens' pad. Nash scored his second of the game at 13:26, on a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush. Nash broke out with Stepan, after an ill-advised pinch by Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz. Nash took a pass from Stepan and fired a shot past Scrivens. Zuccarello scored his second goal of the night at 3:39 of the third period, also shorthanded. Zuccarello was left alone in front of the net and converted a Stepan feed, firing a shot over the shoulder of Scrivens. Later in the third, Nash came close to scoring his third goal of the night, but was denied on a glove save by Scrivens. The Oilers registered 10 shots in the third period against Talbot, but never really threatened to score.

Minnesota Wild @ Phoenix Coyotes 3-1 - 03/29

With eight games left in the regular season and needing a win in the worst way, the Minnesota Wild players gathered together for a private meeting Friday night and resolved that it was time to turn the page on their struggles and refocus on the task at hand. It took 40 minutes for the results to show Saturday, but the Wild got what they came for. Zach Parise and Jared Spurgeon scored 4:54 apart in the third period and the Wild held the Phoenix Coyotes without a shot for more than 24 minutes during the second and third periods to rally for a 3-1 win.

"We had a big talk last night, just the team," said Spurgeon, whose fifth goal of the season put the Wild ahead to stay with 7:03 left to play. "We talked about how important this game was and if we turn it around now then we can get hot and just forget about the past."

Parise added a second goal, his 27th of the season, into an empty net with 43.7 seconds left to wrap up the Wild's fourth win in the past 12 games. Ilya Bryzgalov made 23 saves to help the Wild (38-26-11) move three points ahead of the Coyotes for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Bryzgalov is 3-0-2 in five starts with Minnesota.

"You look at their goals; their big-name guys scored, Parise played well," Phoenix captain Shane Doan said. "We didn't find enough offense from our forwards. Our forwards have to be better."

Thomas Greiss made 27 saves for the Coyotes (36-27-12), whose lead over the Dallas Stars for the second wild-card spot is down to one point. The Stars beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 earlier Saturday.

"Dallas won so we would have been in a pretty tough spot had we lost this game," Parise said. "But we can learn a lot from just the way we didn't get frustrated. We got better as the game went on and eventually we were able to take it over."

Phoenix forward Mikkel Boedker scored his 19th goal of the season 3:15 into the first period and had a chance to double the lead early in the third but hit the post. After Radim Vrbata put a shot on Bryzgalov at 13:36 of the second period, Phoenix didn't get a shot on goal for the next 24 minutes and 28 seconds, until Bryzgalov stopped an Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot with 1:56 left in regulation.

"We can't let them come out in the third and score two and get an empty-net goal." Boedker said. "That's not how we do it around here. This was a good opportunity to jump up [over Minnesota] but that's the way it goes."

The game-winner came from Spurgeon, who walked into a pass that bounced off the side boards and the puck knuckled past Greiss' glove.

"I saw (Mikael Granlund) and (Jason Pominville) driving and I was coming late," Spurgeon said. "Granny tried to hit Pommer and it sort of bounced off of his stick and I was able to walk into it. I was thinking shot all the way but if it doesn't go there is a rebound hopefully."

Minnesota's penalty kill came into the game having allowed 11 goals in the past 31 power plays (64.5 percent), and the Coyotes made that worse after the Wild were called for too many men on the ice 2:28 into play. Following a nice Keith Yandle keep-in at the blue line, Ekman-Larsson found Shane Doan in the corner with a no-look pass. Doan sent the puck to the crease, where Boedker and Minnesota's Matt Cooke were battling, and the puck deflected off Boedker's leg and past Bryzgalov at 3:15. Boedker has three goals and six points in the past seven games. Phoenix scored first for the 12th time in the past 15 games, but Bryzgalov stopped everything else from there. The Wild killed three more Phoenix power plays and dominated play from the second period on. The Wild dominated play in the second, peppering the Phoenix net late in the period. Greiss made big saves on Parise and Matt Cooke and got some help when Coyotes defenseman Michael Stone swept a puck sitting in the goal crease out of harm's way with two minutes left. But all the Minnesota pressure paid off in the third. At 8:04, Mikko Koivu won a faceoff against Phoenix's Martin Hanzal in the Coyotes' end and pushed the puck back. Parise fired a wrist shot through traffic and over the blocker of Greiss to tie it.

"We've tried that before," Parise said of the set play. "It's just never worked."

Dallas Stars @ St Louis Blues 4-2 - 03/29

The Dallas Stars do not hold one of the two Western Conference wild cards into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but they are within reach. Colton Sceviour's first two-goal game in the NHL started a five-game trip off right Saturday: a 4-2 win against the conference-leading St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center. The Stars (36-27-11) ended a four-game road losing streak, won for the fourth time in five games, and now have 83 points. The Stars are one point behind the Phoenix Coyotes, who lost 3-1 to the Minnesota Wild. Dallas trails Minnesota by four points.

"It's not a must-win situation quite yet, but with the teams ahead of us winning games, we've got to keep pace," Sceviour said. "We were playing a really good team in the second game of a back-to-back with travel and it's huge to come in here and get a victory. It feels real good right now. I don't know if desperation is the word. That kind of sounds bad, but definitely we feel like these are games we need to win and we feel like we hold our fate in our own hands and those games mean absolutely nothing unless we win them. This is a start and we want to build off it."

Cody Eakin had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who got a goal from Antoine Roussel and 33 saves from Kari Lehtonen. Shawn Horcoff assisted on Sceviour's goals, and Jordie Benn had two assists.

"This was a huge test for us," Lehtonen said. "One of the best teams in the League and we played [Friday] night (a 7-3 win against the Nashville Predators) and traveled here late and showed up [Saturday] and it was just a huge win. We just need to keep playing well and get some wins."

The Blues (50-17-7) were looking to jump back over the Boston Bruins in the race for the Presidents' Trophy but lost in regulation on home ice for the first time in 11 games (8-1-2). Boston leads St. Louis by one point (108-107) after a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals earlier Saturday. Alexander Steen scored twice for the Blues in his 600th NHL game, and Kevin Shattenkirk had two assists to set a career highs in assists (35) and points (44). Ryan Miller stopped 23 shots and is 9-3-1 for St. Louis since being acquired Feb. 28.

"I thought we were just sloppy. We were sloppy," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I think where we were not very competitive or out of sync was in our own zone. We gave the first goal away twice. We ran around on their third goal. We went chasing hits on their third goal. Fourth goal, we jumped by it twice. That's sloppy. I think we got away with it against Minnesota [on Thursday in a 5-1 victory] and we scored, got the lead, but we were doing the same stuff early then. [Dallas] scored on their chances [Saturday]. We had a lot of chances, but we didn't score. They compete. They're in desperation stage, they're competing hard."

The Stars played with the lead for all but 3:53. They converted a Blues turnover into the first goal, Sceviour's first of the game less than four minutes after the opening faceoff. In an attempt to whip the puck around the boards, Blues forward Steve Ott whiffed. Horcoff passed to Sceviour in the slot and he beat Miller from in tight. The Stars were being outshot 8-0 in the second period, but Sceviour gave Dallas a 2-0 lead when Horcoff's shot was stopped by Miller but caromed off Sceviour's right leg 7:21 into the period for his seventh of the season. Vernon Fiddler's assist was the 200th NHL point. The Blues made it 2-1 when Steen redirected Alex Pietrangelo's shot-pass from the high slot over Lehtonen with 5:44 left in the second on the power play. Eakin restored the Stars' two-goal lead 25 seconds later with a redirection off a Jordie Benn shot from the blue line. Steen's first two-goal game since Dec. 19 (29 games) made it 3-2 49 seconds into the third period. The Blues' second power-play goal came on a one-timer from the top of the right circle that beat Lehtonen inside the near post.

"I think we came into the third period with the mindset that we were going to turn this around," Steen said.

The Stars had other ideas. They would restore a two-goal lead when a puck skidded past Shattenkirk at the right point and Roussel broke free. He beat Miller upstairs at 7:56.

"We need to score goals," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "The secret to winning on the road is you can't score two goals every night. You've got to be able to support your goaltender and make him feel comfortable and I thought [Friday] we did a good job of that and [Saturday], we got the lead and when they scored we answered right away and that was a big part of the game."

San Jose Sharks @ Colorado Avalanche 2-3 - 03/29

Goalie Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 47 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche clinched their first Stanley Cup Playoff berth since 2009-10 with a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Pepsi Center on Saturday. The Avalanche (47-21-6) moved into second place in the Central Division, one point ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks (100-99).

"Who would have thought, eh?" Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "It's pretty impressive for our group. Now we're a point ahead of them with a game in hand, which is even better for us, but there's a lot of hockey left for us. It will be interesting to see how things are going to go at the end."

Varlamov, who made 20 saves in the third period, won his NHL-leading 37th game and the Avalanche reached the 100-point mark for the first time since 2003-04 with eight games to play, six on the road.

"Our goalie was phenomenal," Roy said. "He made a lot of big saves for us. He was moving well in his crease. In my opinion, it looked pretty easy for him. He made a lot of saves a lot easier than they appeared. [San Jose] is a good team and they shoot from everywhere."

Varlamov is 7-1-1 this season when facing 40 or more shots, and he's 6-0-1 when making 40-plus saves. He credited his teammates, who blocked 25 shots Saturday, five by Andre Benoit and four by Nate Guenin.

"We did a good job," Varlamov said. "I can tell we have been waiting for this moment for the last couple of years. Right now we are all excited, the organization, the boys, because after this game we are in a playoff spot finally. I'm sure we will be excited about it. It’s going to be so much fun to play in the playoffs."

The Sharks outshot the Avalanche 20-8 in the third period, collecting five on two power plays that included a 4-on-3 advantage after left wing Ryan O'Reilly was assessed his first penalty of the season, in his 72nd game, for playing with a broken stick after a faceoff.

"I'm guessing [Varlamov] was the first star," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "He should be. We must have thrown some pucks at the net. We were in their end. We had the puck a lot. But give Varlamov credit."

John Mitchell, who replaced Duchene on a line with O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn, said, "I can't really describe in words what [Varlamov] means to this team, making close to 50 saves. For him to stand on his head like that ... he's been doing it all year long. He's certainly something special."

The Avalanche took a 3-1 on Mitchell's power-play goal at 6:32 of the second period. McGinn took a shot that caromed off the end boards to Mitchell, who was on the goal line to goalie Alex Stalock's left when he shot the puck inside the near post.

"It banked off the boards and it even hit the back of the net right off the curve," said Mitchell, who missed the previous four games because of a back injury. "It came right to me slow enough so I could get a forehand shot and I just one-timed it into the back of the net. I was just at the right place at the right time. It was good to get back in it and get my feet wet. I wasn't expecting to play quite that much (18:46), but with [Duchene] going down it was just an opportunity for me to step in and fill a role."

The Sharks pulled within 3-2 at 8:35 of the second on a goal by defenseman Dan Boyle, who ended a 30-game drought Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets. James Sheppard was in the left corner after winning a draw and passed to Boyle in the lower right circle for a shot that went into the net off Varlamov's glove. The Avalanche took a 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Paul Stastny and Cody McLeod, who has three of his five goals this season in the past five games. McLeod broke a 1-1 tie at 10:34 on a shorthanded breakaway after Nick Holden's clear from his end deflected off Boyle's glove at the San Jose blue line. McLeod gained possession and shot the puck between Stalock's legs. It was the Avalanche's third shorthanded goal of the season and the fifth allowed by the Sharks.

"Their second goal was just one of those bad bounces," Boyle said. "I took my eye off the puck for a fraction of a second to make sure I wasn't going to get drilled. I just caught a piece of it and missed it. That's an unfortunate bounce. I was obviously very upset, but these things happen."

Stastny opened the scoring at 1:33. Gabriel Landeskog won a battle for the puck behind the net and passed to Stastny, who scored with a shot from below the left circle. The Sharks tied the game at 3:07 with a power-play goal from Joe Pavelski. Joe Thornton got the puck to Pavelski in the slot for a backhand between Varlamov's stick and his right pad. It was the sixth power-play goal in three games for the Sharks and the sixth allowed by the Avalanche in six games.

"[Varlamov] played a good game," Pavelski said. "We had some traffic there, we had some looks. He made some of the saves he had to. They blocked some shots. You've got to give them credit."

The Avalanche lost center and leading scorer Matt Duchene to a knee injury on his first shift, 32 seconds into the game. He will have an MRI on Sunday.

"We'll certainly know more after that," Roy said. "That's all I can say for now. Obviously he's disappointed."

Results - Sat, Mar 29, 2014

Boston @ Washington 4-2 - The Bruins have been nearly unstoppable since returning from the 2014 Sochi Olympics, winning 14 of 17 and steamrolling their competition. Their recent dominance was rewarded Saturday with an Atlantic Division title after a 4-2 victory against the Crapitals at Verizon Center. Forward Jarome Iginla scored twice to reach 30 goals for the 12th time and tie Montreal Canadiens forward Guy Lafleur for 24th on the NHL goal-scoring list. Forwards Carl Soderberg and Patrice Bergeron scored for Boston, and backup goalie Chad Johnson made 31 saves for his sixth straight win and 11th in his past 12 starts (11-0-1). Forwards Jason Chimera and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored, and goalie Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots for Washington, which remains in a four-way tie with the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs at 80 points. The Bruins dictated the pace of play throughout the first period, tilting the ice in their favor and snuffing out most of the Capitals' attempts to counterattack before they could even start. Holtby, who faced 15 shots in the first 20 minutes, was forced to make several key saves to keep the game scoreless. Most impressively, he slid across the crease to swallow Bruins forward Chris Kelly's attempt in front created by a backhanded setup from Soderberg with about six minutes left in the period. The Capitals' first sustained offensive-zone time came during a late power play when Bergeron tripped Ovechkin, but Johnson stopped all four shots from the NHL's top unit. Iginla's first goal gave Boston a 1-0 lead early in the second period. After serving a minor penalty for slashing, Soderberg took advantage of the Capitals' sloppy neutral-zone play, fishing a puck out from along the boards and springing Iginla free. Iginla finished a breakaway with a snap shot past Holtby at 2:48. Soderberg extended the Bruins' lead to 2-0 at 7:35 with a power-play goal, deflecting Bergeron's shot from the slot just enough for it to trickle past Holtby. Forty-one seconds later, Iginla scored again, following his own shot and depositing the rebound. Nine players in League history have more 30-goal seasons than Iginla, who has scored 10 goals in his past nine games. The 36-year-old had four goals in his first 24 games of the season. With time winding down in the second period, the Capitals made one last rush up ice. Chimera was able to slide a shot past Johnson with 10 seconds remaining to make it 3-1. The Capitals began the third period with renewed energy, hemming the Bruins in their zone on a dominant shift by Washington's third line that drew a penalty. The power play that followed featured several quality chances as the Capitals frantically attempted to close within a goal, but the Bruins held them off. Boston scored an insurance goal on the power play at 13:17 when Bergeron pounced on a loose puck near the crease for his 26th of the season. Kuznetsov scored his second goal in as many games with 55 seconds remaining, but the game by that point was out of reach.
Tampa Bay @ Buffalo 4-3 OT - Steven Stamkos put one into the wrong net before scoring the game-winner into the right one. The Lightning defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 Saturday with an overtime power-play goal from Stamkos after he had given the Sabres a third-period lead with an own goal during a delayed penalty. Tampa Bay has at least one point in 11 straight games as it competes with the Montreal Canadiens for second place in the Atlantic Division. Montreal leads by two points (93-91) after a 4-1 win against the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The Lightning has a game in hand; the teams play each other at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. With four forwards on the ice in overtime, Valtteri Filppula fed Stamkos in the right circle and his one-timer went between the post and the glove of Sabres goalie Matt Hackett at 1:53 for his second goal of the game. Or third, depending how you want to count the own goal, which gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead with 11:46 to go. Stamkos' hard cross-ice pass went jumped the stick of teammate Michael Kostka, hit off the right-wing boards and slowly made its way down to the opposite end and into the goal that had been vacated by Ben Bishop for an extra skater. Cory Conacher, whose hooking penalty created the situation, was given credit for the goal at 8:14 as the last Buffalo player to touch the puck. Another came late in the third period when Lightning defenseman Eric Brewer protected a wide-open side of the net and deflected away a shot by Sabres forward Johan Larsson. Buffalo has lost 11 of 13, with one of the wins 3-1 at Tampa Bay on March 6. The teams played three one-goal games this season. The Lightning tied this one 3-3 less than two minutes after the own goal during a 5-on-3 power play. Teddy Purcell passed from the left wing to Ryan Callahan in front, where he guided the puck past Hackett at 10:07. Tampa Bay had the two-man advantage after Mike Weber was called for cross-checking 1:00 after Conacher was put in the box for his hooking penalty. After a pregame ceremony that inducted goaltender Dominik Hasek into the Sabres Hall of Fame, the teams played a four-goal first period. The Sabres scored twice in a 1:47 span to take a 2-0 lead. Matt D'Agostini took a cross-ice pass at the offensive blue line, skated left to right between the circles, and his shot went over Bishop's right shoulder at 12:20. Buffalo forward Zemgus Girgensons created a turnover by Kostka, and the puck came to Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff at the left point. His long shot was tipped down by Cody Hodgson through Bishop's legs at 14:07. The Lightning answered with two goals in a 1:54 span. Nikita Kucherov won a race to a loose puck on the goal line to the left of the Sabres net. He skated behind the cage and passed to Alex Killorn, whose one-timer went through Hackett's legs with 2:08 left. Tampa Bay forward J.T. Brown chased down his dump-in at the end boards, emerged with puck and passed out front to Stamkos, whose one-timer beat Hackett with 14 seconds remaining. Stamkos has 23 goals this season, nine since returning from a broken right tibia on March 6. Earlier in the week, the Sabres announced they will retire Hasek's No. 39 next season.
Detroit @ Toronto 4-2 - Darren Helm made the most of his opportunity to play on the Red Wings' first line. Helm scored a hat trick and Jimmy Howard made 25 saves to lead the Red Wings to a 4-2 victory against the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Saturday night. Helm's three-goal night was the first of his career and his first goals since Nov. 29 when he scored two against the New York Islanders. The Maple Leafs have lost eight straight games in regulation, the first time that has happened since 1985. Toronto is two points behind the Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference wild-card race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Maple Leafs have six games remaining in the regular season; the Red Wings and Blue Jackets have eight. To make matters worse, Phil Kessel, the Maple Leafs' leading scorer, took a pass from James van Riemsdyk off his right foot in the first period and was seen limping after the game. Kessel, who reportedly had precautionary X-rays on his toe, has 77 points in 76 games this season. Helm made it 1-1 with a shorthanded goal 3:05 into the second period. It was the 11th surrendered by the Maple Leafs this season and tied them with the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers for the most allowed in the NHL. Helm tipped a shot from outside the right circle by Kindl past Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier (24 saves) for his second goal of the game at 7:57 of the second to give the Red Wings a 3-1 lead. Helm finished the hat trick with a breakaway goal after he raced past Maple Leafs defenseman Cody Franson and slipped the puck past Bernier to give the Red Wings a 4-2 lead. Helm now has 10 goals this season. Lupul cut the Red Wings' lead to 3-2 with 1:03 left in the second period when he beat Howard through the five-hole for his 22nd goal of the season. With a delayed penalty about to be called against Helm for tripping, Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly connected with Lupul for the assist, but Helm’s hat-trick goal put an end to the Maple Leafs' comeback. Franson gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 10:57 of the first period when he fired a slap shot from the blue line that beat Howard high to the blocker side for this fifth goal of the season. The play started when Jay McClement won a faceoff following an icing call against the Red Wings. McClement got the puck to Jake Gardiner, who passed it to Franson for the shot. With the score tied 1-1 and the Maple Leafs still on the power play following Helm's shorthanded goal, Lupul had a chance to put Toronto ahead again, but was denied by Howard after a cross-crease save. Gustav Nyquist gave Detroit a 2-1 lead 1:32 after Helm's shorthanded goal. Johan Franzen found Nyquist alone in the slot in front of the Maple Leafs goal when he snapped a wrist shot through Bernier's five-hole for his 26th goal of the season. Nyquist's goal was his 21st in the past 26 games and his 10th in the past eight.
Montreal @ Florida 4-1 - The Canadiens' top line and their gold medal-winning goaltender were too much for the Panthers on Saturday night. Max Pacioretty scored twice, and Thomas Vanek and David Desharnais each had a goal and an assist to lead the surging Canadiens to a 4-1 victory at BB&T Center. It was Montreal's fifth consecutive victory and eighth in nine games. Carey Price made 36 saves for his fourth win in a row. Price did his best work in the final 20 minutes, when the Panthers outshot the Canadiens 15-3 but couldn't get a puck past him. Desharnais hit the empty net with 23.4 seconds remaining to ice the win. The Canadiens maintained their hold on second place in the Atlantic Division, which would give them the home-ice edge in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They lead the Tampa Bay Lightning by two points; the Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in overtime. Brad Boyes had the lone goal and Dan Ellis made 15 saves for the Panthers, who've dropped five of their past six games and are out of the playoff race. Montreal came out flying, with Pacioretty forcing Ellis to stop him on a breakaway 20 seconds into the game. The Canadiens then killed two penalties against the League's worst power play before taking the lead midway through the period. Vanek, acquired from the New York Islanders at the NHL Trade Deadline, got his 27th of the season and sixth in 12 games since the deal at 10:47 to open the scoring. Florida defenseman Brian Campbell whiffed on a pass in the neutral zone; Vanek picked up the puck, raced in and fired from the slot. Ellis made the save, but Vanek knocked in the rebound to put Montreal in front. The Canadiens made it 2-0 at 17:03, one second after a penalty to Florida defenseman Erik Gudbranson expired. Before Gudbranson could get back in the play, Pacioretty came backdoor and easily knocked in Alexei Emelin's pass from inside the left circle. Florida dominated the first 13-plus minutes of the second period, but Price kept the Panthers off the board with a superb glove stop on Tomas Fleischmann 1:58 and an excellent stop on Scottie Upshall from the high slot 10 minutes later. The Panthers then paid the price for a bad line change, leading to Pacioretty's second of the night at the 14-minute mark. Vanek was left free to carry the puck into the Florida zone. He found Desharnais, who was left alone for a 2-on-1 down low and slid the puck to an unchecked Pacioretty for an easy tap-in. It was Pacioretty's team-high 35th of the season. Boyes finally got the Panthers on the board at 16:09, finishing a 3-on-2 rush by picking a small opening on the top short-side corner from the right faceoff dot for his 19th of the season, most on the Panthers.
New Jersey @ NY Islanders 1-2 SO - The New Jersey Devils reached a shootout Saturday night for the 10th time this season. They lost for a 10th time. Frans Nielsen and Brock Nelson beat Cory Schneider and the Devils came up empty against Anders Nilsson in the tiebreaker to give the Islanders a 2-1 victory at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Nilsson denied Adam Henrique and Patrik Elias in the shootout. New Jersey, which has lost 14 consecutive shootouts dating to last season, has scored once in 30 attempts this season. Henrique scored for New Jersey, which earned one point and trails the Detroit Red Wings by five for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference's race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Schneider stopped 19 of 20 shots for the Devils, who are 2-4-2 in their past eight games. When Nielsen scored in the opening round, it marked the fifth time in six shootouts that Schneider has allowed a goal to the first shooter he's faced. New York, which had 10 rookies in the lineup, broke a scoreless tie when Nielsen was credited with his 23rd goal of the season 2:12 into the second period. After Josh Bailey made a nice play in the neutral zone to get the puck to Nielsen, the Islanders' center tried to send a pass in the slot to Anders Lee, but the puck deflected off Elias and past Schneider. Henrique tied it at 10:20 with his team-leading 25th goal. With the teams at even strength, Damien Brunner made a nice move around Islanders defenseman Kevin Czuczman and set up Henrique for a shot that Nilsson denied. But the Islanders goalie left a juicy rebound in front, which Henrique easily tapped in to make it 1-1. Devils defenseman Jon Merrill left the game with 7:07 remaining in the third period when he was struck in the face by a Travis Hamonic slap shot. Merrill quickly headed for the dressing room and did not return. Forward Stephen Gionta sustained an undisclosed injury early in the third; his status for the game Monday against the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center is unknown.
Columbus @ Carolina 3-2 OT - The Blue Jackets played 60 minutes of hockey without a power-play opportunity. When they finally got their chance in overtime, they made it count. With the Blue Jackets skating 4-on-3, Ryan Johansen scored on a wrister from the slot at 2:40 of overtime, and Columbus defeated the Hurricanes 3-2 at PNC Arena on Saturday night. With the win, Columbus remains in the top wild-card position for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference with 82 points. Columbus and the Detroit Red Wings are two points in front of the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs, both of which lost Saturday. The Blue Jackets own the tiebreaker against the Red Wings because they have more non-shootout wins. The play was set up with nice passing. After taking a fed from James Wisniewski in the neutral zone, Artem Anisimov absorbed a hit from Justin Faulk before making a pinpoint backhand pass to Johansen. The Blue Jackets were completing a back-to-back after losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Friday night in Columbus. The effects showed in the early minutes of the game, as the Hurricanes' forecheck tested goaltender Curtis McElhinney, who stopped 25 shots after facing Pittsburgh 24 hours earlier. The teams played 36 minutes of scoreless hockey before Carolina broke through with Jeff Skinner's 29th goal at 16:29 of the second period. Skinner launched a shot off a pass from Riley Nash, then grabbed his own rebound to beat McElhinney. The Blue Jackets tied the game 2:17 later on a Skinner turnover. From the boards in the Carolina defensive zone, he sent an errant pass into the slot, where Matt Calvert grabbed it and quickly fired a shot under the crossbar for the tying goal. After 40 minutes without a power play for either team, the Blue Jackets had to kill three penalties in the third period. Columbus killed the first one, but Andrei Loktionov gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal at 6:38. He took a pass from Nash in the right circle and scored on a low shot to the far post. The Blue Jackets tied it 50 seconds later on Anisimov's 20th of the season. Khudobin tried to sweep away Nathan Horton's shot but fanned, allowing Anisimov to lift a backhand into the net from outside the left post. Columbus finally went on the man advantage in overtime when Jiri Tlusty smothered the puck with his hand. The Blue Jackets knew what they had to do.

Anaheim @ Vancouver 5-1 - Sucks goaltender Frederik Andersen was doing his best to deflect questions about earning more starts as the Stanley Cup Playoffs approach. The 24-year-old rookie was turning away inquiries about playing more behind No. 1 goalie Jonas Hiller as easily as he did 31 shots in a 5-1 win against the Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday night. But Andersen eventually admitted he wants to make the choice a hard one for coach Bruce Boudreau. Andersen made his best saves early against the Canucks and was good when the Ducks, playing for a second straight night (they dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Oilers on Friday), were outshot 15-6 in the second period. But even after the game turned into another romp over the Canucks, his teammates were quick to credit their young goalie. Anaheim has won all four games against the Canucks this season. With the latest victory, the Ducks leapfrogged the San Jose Sharks, moved into top spot in the Pacific Division and dealt the Canucks already-slim hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs another blow. Andersen leads NHL rookies in wins (17), and his .926 save percentage is better than Hiller's (.913), but Boudreau isn't planning to change up his goaltending rotation yet. For the Ducks, the status quo includes beating the Canucks. Luca Sbisa and Matt Beleskey scored 71 seconds apart in the first period, and Corey Perry scored 6:45 into the third period and set up Mathieu Perreault's power-play goal with 5:57 left. Daniel Winnik added two assists for the Ducks. Anaheim rested 43-year-old forward Teemu Selanne, but it didn't matter against a Canucks team that they have dominated this season. The only downside for the Ducks was seeing captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf go to the dressing room after blocking the shot that led to the 2-on-1 rush and Perreault's goal. Getzlaf, who was given the second assist on the goal, did not return for the final six minutes, but Boudreau said it was a precautionary move with the game decided. Brad Richardson scored and Eddie Lack made 16 saves in his 16th straight start for the Canucks, who lost in regulation for the first time in five games (3-1-1) and remained five points behind the Phoenix Coyotes for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. But Vancouver has six games remaining, the Coyotes have seven and the Dallas Stars, who moved four points ahead of the Canucks, have eight to play. If the Canucks miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six seasons, their record against the Ducks will be a big part of it. Vancouver has been outscored 21-6 while losing all four against Anaheim, including twice in early January during a two-month spiral out of the race. Tortorella thought the Canucks were doing a better job of it through most of the second period, but an ill-advised cross-ice pass through the neutral zone, followed by a blown defensive coverage left Koivu all alone in the low slot to make it 3-1 with 8:58 left in the period. Despite playing the night before, Anaheim scored twice early. Sbisa opened the scoring 7:36 in with his first goal of the season and first in 42 games dating back to March 12, 2013. The defenseman's point shot through traffic appeared to hit a leg in front and dipped between the legs of Lack, who was screened by Kyle Palmieri. Beleskey doubled the lead two shifts later, driving to the net after his first shot was blocked and getting a nifty between-the-legs pass back from Rickard Rakell that left Beleskey with an empty net. Richardson, who was robbed by Andersen with the paddle of his stick on a shorthanded chance in alone earlier in the period, put the Canucks on the board two-and-a-half minutes later. But after giving up Koivu's goal against the flow play in the second, Perry erased any lingering doubts in the third period. After hitting each post behind Lack in the first period, Perry converted his own rebound as he spun through the crease 6:45 into the third period. It was the second goal in seven games for Perry, who leads the Ducks and is tied for second in the NHL with 38. Perry then set up Perreault for his sixth goal in the past eight games.


Winnipeg @ Los Angeles 2-4 - It had been 18 years since the Winnipeg Jets played in Los Angeles. Judging by Saturday night, they might want to wait a while before their next visit. The Kings continued their deliberate spring by beating Winnipeg 4-2 at Staples Center. Anze Kopitar scored his 23rd and 24th goals in the first period for the Kings, winners of six straight and 14 of 17. The Kings usually churn out one-goal games, but they gave goalie Jonathan Quick an unusual early 3-0 cushion and forced Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec from the net after 20 minutes. The Jets made their first appearance at Staples Center since the franchise moved from Atlanta for the 2011-12 season; they last played here representing Winnipeg in 1996 before the original Jets moved to become the Phoenix Coyotes. The current version of the Jets lost for the fifth time in eight games. Kopitar's goals were a combination of deft hands, puck luck and poor play by Winnipeg in its own zone. Kopitar had the puck go in off his legs at 7:53 of the first when he followed Marian Gaborik's shot. Jets defenseman Mark Stuart had his stick flung into Pavelec a moment before Pavelec could move to his right to stop Kopitar. Kopitar flicked in a backhand at 17:37 of the first for a 3-0 lead after Gaborik tipped Willie Mitchell's shot after the Kings controlled play in the Jets' end. It was a tough start for Pavelec, who returned after missing six games with a lower-body injury. He allowed three goals on 16 shots, and Al Montoya replaced him to start the second period. Trevor Lewis began the three-goal opening period with a quick shot from the left side that beat Pavelec at 2:42. Lewis, who went 28 games without a point to start the season and 38 games without scoring a goal, recorded a career-high sixth goal. Tyler Toffoli made it 4-1 on a wrist shot that beat Montoya on a 2-on-1 at 4:59 of the third. Winnipeg didn't come back with a second-period push. It went more than 10 minutes without a shot on goal to start the second and had a total of four shots for the period. Matt Halischuk broke the shutout 1:54 into the third when he banged inEvander Kane's pass from the corner to make it 3-1. Blake Wheeler sped past Slava Voynov and beat Quick for his 26th goal on a power play at 8:56 of the third. Quick made a remarkable save on Wheeler in the final minute when he raised his right leg while prone. Winnipeg scratched right wing Devin Setoguchi for the second straight game. Jets defenseman Zack Bogosian missed a third straight game because of a lower-body injury.

Nashville Predators @ Dallas Stars 3-7 - 03/28

The Dallas Stars will need plenty of secondary scoring to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2008. They got it Friday night in a 7-3 win against the Nashville Predators at American Airlines Center. Seven players found the back of the net for Dallas, which also got three assists from defenseman Alex Goligoski, one of five Stars with multiple-point performances. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 25 shots.

"I thought we were patient," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "There wasn't a lot going on really if I looked at the first seven minutes. We were playing the way we wanted to. I thought that part was good."

Dallas (35-27-11) moved within three points of the idle Phoenix Coyotes, who hold the second wild-card position in the Western Conference. Phoenix has a game in hand on Dallas.

"They looked fresh. They jumped on us, but they're such a good transitional team," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "I didn't think our forwards did a whole lot. There were only a couple of guys that I thought were really, really good up front and that's really where it all started for me, was the poor puck management."

The Stars got started when Ryan Garbutt scored his 15th of the season 8:03 into the first period, tapping in a feed from Antoine Roussel. Vernon Fiddler made it 2-0 at 14:05 when he beat Predators goalie Pekka Rinne over the blocker with a one-timer from the right circle.

"Obviously, us role guys want to chip in a little bit more," Fiddler said. "It's not easy to score in this league. These are the games where we need to all chip in, you see guys like [Garbutt] and [Roussel] chipping in, and [Valeri Nichushkin] got one in off a D-man. It's nice to get some depth scoring. At the end of the day, we've got to continue to do that. The big guns need some help with that, and it takes a little bit of pressure off of them."

Trying to jump on the Predators, who were on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Buffalo Sabres 6-1 Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, was part of Ruff's game plan. The Stars executed it quite well.

"We knew they played last night. These back-to-backs are tough. It's tough turnovers for a lot of teams. If you get down, you try to chase the game, it usually just gets worse."

Patric Hornqvist cut the Stars' lead in half at 2:53 of the second period, beating Lehtonen through the five-hole. But Dallas regained its two-goal edge at 5:37 when rookie Colton Sceviour was credited with his fifth of the season after Trevor Daley's shot went into the net off his right skate. A video review confirmed that there was no distinct kicking motion, and the goal stood.

"The puck just got to the point. I went to the net and tried to give (Goligoski) a stick to shoot at," Sceviour said. "It was a little inside and ended up stopping it and bouncing off my foot and in. Not the prettiest of goals, but I can't complain."

Dallas made it 4-1 at 8:58 when Alex Chiasson redirected a shot from Ray Whitney for a power-play goal. Whitney's shot from the high slot was deflected by Chiasson from the left circle and into the net for Chiasson's 13th of the season. Nashville answered again at 9:53 when defenseman Michael Del Zotto blasted a slapper through Lehtonen's legs from near the blue line for his third of the season and first since being acquired from the New York Rangers. Daley delivered his seventh of the season at 11:19 when he scored after grabbing the puck out of the air off his left glove and sending a shot that floated over Rinne's right pad before landing in the far side of the net, giving Dallas a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

"Obviously, we tipped two in our own net. They got one off the skate and then they scored off the rush," Weber said. "They got a little bit of everything and it just wasn't good enough for us tonight."

Nashville cut it to 5-3 when Eric Nystrom, a former Star, beat Lehtonen to the short side with a wrister from the left circle 1:48 into the final period. But Dallas put the game away when rookie Valeri Nichushkin and Cody Eakin scored nine seconds apart.

"We did and we were coming," Trotz said of getting a goal early in the final period. "I really felt we were going to get the next goal and then we don't hold up on the draw, guy jumped through, think it was Nichushkin, jumped through. He got the puck and they just threw it at the net and we deflected it into the net on Pekka. To me, that was the one that killed any momentum we had in the third."

The Predators return home to host the Washington Capitals on Sunday while Dallas completes a back-to-back on Saturday night at the St. Louis Blues, the latest crucial game in their push toward a possible playoff spot.

"We got the game tonight. We have to go out and get the game tomorrow," Ruff said. "We need to score and St. Louis doesn't give up a lot, but if you get two or three you can get yourself in a ballgame with them, although they've really been on a run here lately."

Dallas had seven players score goals in one game for the first time since a 10-2 home win against the New York Rangers on Feb. 6, 2009, a game in which seven Stars found the back of the net.

Chicago Blackhawks @ Ottawa Senators 3-5 - 03/28

Craig Anderson gave the Ottawa Senators the kind of goaltending they needed to keep their very faint Stanley Cup Playoff hopes alive. Anderson made 46 saves in his first start after a seven-game absence, good for a 5-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. Erik Condra and Cody Ceci scored in the first period, and Milan Michalek gave Ottawa a 3-0 lead with his 14th goal 23 seconds into the second. Chicago scored two goals later in the period before Ottawa center Kyle Turris scored a power-play goal 6:00 into the third to put the Senators up 4-2. Clarke MacArthur scored at 10:54 to increase the lead to 5-2 and tie Bobby Ryan for the Senators' lead in goals with his 23rd. MacArthur had a goal and two assists.

"The bottom line is, we got two points and we found a way to win, and that's all that really matters," said Anderson, who sustained an upper-body injury March 10. "We played pretty solid, and for the most part we did what it took to get the job done."

Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook scored a shorthanded goal with 3:00 left. Patrick Sharp scored a power-play goal midway through the second period to draw Chicago within 3-1 before Anderson made a sensational left-pad save on Andrew Shaw's scoring chance from the edge of the crease. Former Senators forward Marian Hossa scored with 41 seconds left in the second to draw the Blackhawks within 3-2.

"We had the puck a lot," Sharp said. "We created some scoring chances, we did some good things with it at different times in the game, but a few mistakes ended up in the back of our net, and they've got some skilled players over there that take advantage of those mistakes and they put it in the back of the net."

Goaltender Antti Raanta made 24 saves in his first start in six games for the Blackhawks, who on Thursday were shut out for the second time in three games, a 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Chicago's first game at TD Garden since it won the Stanley Cup there last spring. The Blackhawks, who lost for the third time in four games, would have clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff spot with a win or a point from an overtime or shootout loss. They also could have clinched if the Dallas Stars lost to the Nashville Predators, but the Stars won 7-3.

"I didn't like our game tonight," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We had a good start, and obviously giving up a shorthanded goal right off the bat, they got some momentum off it and they played well, and they got [goals] late in the period and early in the second, and we were down 3-0. And then we played a perfect second period and tried to claw our way back into it, but way too many quality chances against. I know we generated a ton offensively, but I didn't like what we gave up defensively more than anything tonight."

Chicago (42-18-15), which has seven games remaining, is in second place in the Central Division with 99 points, eight behind the first-place St. Louis Blues and one ahead of the Colorado Avalanche. St. Louis and Colorado each have two games in hand.

"These are big games for everyone that we play against, including ourselves," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "The time is now to play our best hockey, so if we can kind of think of it in the way where we're going to battle through this, and it's not fun and it's kind of tough to play hockey when things aren't clicking for you, but once we do get on the same page and we do get working I'm sure we'll be re-energized as a team and things will start going our way the way we're used to when we're working well as a team."

The Senators won for the second time in three games (2-0-1) following a four-game losing streak. Ottawa (30-29-14) moved past the Carolina Hurricanes into 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 74 points.

"You cannot focus on what could be or what should be, et cetera, et cetera, you have to just stay in the moment and take it one game at a time," Anderson said. "Anything can happen, but if we think, 'Oh yeah, we can win the next eight and get ourselves in,' you're just defeating yourself. You have to go one game at a time, and if we continue to win, anything can happen. You just don't know and you have to play it out."

Condra opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 9:25 of the first period after MacArthur was sent off for goaltender interference when he fell on top of Raanta, who later injured his right leg when he fell awkwardly at 12:50 of the first. Corey Crawford got ready to come in, was on the ice to stretch, but Raanta remained in the game. Crawford had appeared in 27 of Chicago's previous 32 games since missing 10 from Dec. 10-30 because of a groin injury. Ceci made it 2-0 with his third goal of the season with 30 seconds left in the first period.

"I thought we competed better tonight," MacArthur said. "We had a little lapse in the second, but you're playing Chicago, they're going to make a push and we were able to make plays in the third and not clam up. I thought we kept the puck moving ahead and did a better job in the third."

Senators forward Chris Neil and Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson each went down to the ice briefly after their legs collided at 16:32 of the second period. Shaw was given a major penalty for spearing Zack Smith, a game misconduct and a roughing minor at 14:33 of the third. Smith got minors for slashing and roughing. Blackhawks left wing Matt Carey made his NHL debut. Carey signed with the Blackhawks as a free agent after his freshman season at St. Lawrence University. Ryan had season-ending surgery Thursday in Montreal. The forward, who had 23 goals and 25 assists for 48 points in 70 games, missed Ottawa's previous two games because of a sports hernia injury he aggravated in a 3-1 road loss to the Stars on Saturday.

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 - 03/28

The Columbus Blue Jackets' organization wanted to move to the Eastern Conference for a number of reasons, including saving on travel costs and having more games in the Eastern time zone. Another was the opportunity to play their neighbor three hours to the east, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Columbus might be ruing that its wish was granted after the Penguins left Nationwide Arena on Friday with a pulsating 2-1 victory that completed a sweep of the five-game season series and assured them of an eighth straight trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Metropolitan Division-leading Penguins (47-22-5) broke a scoreless tie with goals by Chris Kunitz and Beau Bennett 47 seconds apart midway through the third.

"We've had our struggles the last couple of months," forward Craig Adams said after the Penguins ended a three-game losing streak. "We're struggling to find consistency."

The loss didn't help Columbus' efforts to make the playoffs for the second time in franchise history. The Blue Jackets (37-30-6) remained in the first Eastern Conference wild-card position. Columbus, the Detroit Red Wings, Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs each have 80 points. Columbus has more non-shootout wins than the Red Wings and Capitals; each of those teams has two games in hand on Toronto, which lost 4-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. If the season ended that way, Columbus and Pittsburgh would play in the first round, and the Blue Jackets would have to find a way to beat the Penguins, who've won the past six games in the series. Pittsburgh has won five in a row in Nationwide Arena and is 5-0-1 in the past six games in Columbus. The game had a postseason intensity and feel, with space not easily relinquished, before a sellout crowd with divided loyalties.

"The first two periods it was almost impossible to get a grade A scoring chance," Columbus center Ryan Johansen said. "They're all like playoff games right now."

Kunitz gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead with 9:25 left in regulation. He took an entry pass from Sidney Crosby near the top of the left circle and used Columbus defenseman James Wisniewski for a screen before snapping a shot that goaltender Curtis McElhinney got a piece of but could not stop. It was Kunitz's 34th goal of the season.

"He shot through a defenseman and I picked it up late and unfortunately it squeezed through," said McElhinney, who started for the fourth time this season against the Penguins because Sergei Bobrovsky is recovering from the flu. It was McElhinney's first start in 20 games, dating to Jan. 28. He made 29 saves.

Bobrovsky's status for Saturday road game against the Carolina Hurricanes is unclear. However, after the game Friday, the Blue Jackets returned goalie Mike McKenna, who was the backup to McElhinney, to the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League. Bennett came back from missing 50 games with a wrist and hand injury to score his second goal on another snapper, this one from the right side on an odd-man rush with Jussi Jokinen, for the 2-0 advantage with 8:38 to play.

"I was thinking pass from the red line to the top of the circles but the guy was playing Jussi over there, gave me a little space. I saw a little blocker room," Bennett said.

He returned on the same day Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma announced that center Marcel Goc will be out for about three weeks because of an ankle/foot injury suffered in a 3-2 loss Thursday to the Los Angeles Kings.

"It's great to come back in a game like this. We were in a little slump" Bennett said.

Adams felt Bennett provided a needed lift. "He was great tonight. When he got the puck near him it was on his stick. He was definitely making plays and getting pucks in the offensive zone."

Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves but lost his shutout with 3:06 to play when Wisniewski scored his seventh goal of the season on a shot from the right point. The goal came on the Blue Jackets' fourth power play and snapped a 0-for-17 stretch with the extra man against the Penguins in the past seven games.

"We're playing pretty good hockey," Wisniewski said. "We're just not getting the goals we need. We're not getting a lot of even strength goals right now."

The Jackets kept the game scoreless through 40 minutes despite having to kill three penalties in the second period, including a pair of overlapping power plays totaling 3:57 in which they did not allow a shot. An energetic first period produced plenty of chances among the 22 combined shots thanks to four power plays, three of which were awarded to Columbus.

"Our penalty-killing did a great job," Wisniewski said. "It kind of sucked the wind out of our sails from a pretty good first period because we had three power plays and had momentum going into the second."

The Penguins' penalty-killers in the first period kept the Blue Jackets to the perimeter and cleared the area in front of Fleury when there was a rebound.

"The real difference in the first period is we took three penalties," Adams said. "That a reflection in the shots and zone time but I thought we were ready to go."

Results - Fri, Mar 28, 2014

Toronto @ Philadelphia 2-4 - With more than 1,000 games, a Stanley Cup, a Rocket Richard Trophy and four All-Star Games in 15 NHL seasons, Flyers forward Vincent Lecavalier has crafted an impressive resume. But with zero goals in six games entering Friday against the Maple Leafs, and 15 in 59 games this season, Philadelphia coach Craig Berube tried a new approach with Lecavalier, granting him his wish of returning to his natural center position. It came with a drop to the fourth line, where he would be centering Zac Rinaldo and Adam Hall. Lecavalier responded to the demotion with one of his best games of the season, scoring the first goal for the Flyers, who rode the early momentum to a 4-2 win that ended a two-game losing streak. Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists, Scott Hartnell had a goal and an assist, and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers. Kimmo Timonen had two assists, and Steve Mason made 32 saves for Philadelphia, which moved within one point of the New York Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers pushed their lead on the fourth-place Columbus Blue Jackets to five points. James van Riemsdyk and Dave Bolland scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost their seventh straight game, all in regulation. The Flyers were on their first power play when Nikolai Kulemin was called for tripping, giving Philadelphia a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:36. They needed three seconds to score the first goal. Giroux won a faceoff on the left side back to Timonen, who moved the puck to Lecavalier in the right circle. He fired a one-timer past Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier at 5:35. The goal was the 399th of Lecavalier's career; he would be the 90th player in NHL history with 400 goals, and eighth active. Toronto forward Jay McClement was kicked out of the circle, which forced defenseman Dion Phaneuf to take the first faceoff of his nine-season NHL career. The Maple Leafs tied it 1-1 in the second when van Riemsdyk equaled a League record by scoring four seconds into a period. When the puck was dropped, Toronto's Tyler Bozak pushed it between the skates of Sean Couturier and stepped around him. He found van Riemsdyk streaking down the left side and shoved the puck to him. Van Riemsdyk got to the left circle and fired a shot that beat Mason for his 29th goal of the season. Claude Provost of the Montreal Canadiens scored four seconds into the second period against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 9, 1957, and Denis Savard of the Chicago Blackhawks scored four seconds into the third period against the Hartford Whalers on Jan. 12, 1986. Hartnell gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal at 11:03 of the second, this time five seconds into a man-advantage. With Bolland in the box for interference, Giroux beat McClement on a faceoff, winning it back to Timonen, who took a shot from the center of the blue line. Hartnell, stationed in the high slot, tipped the puck down and it bounced past Bernier, who had slid to his right and couldn't reach back for the puck. The goal was Hartnell's 20th, the seventh time in 13 seasons he's reached that mark. Giroux pushed the lead to 3-1 when he turned a van Riemsdyk turnover into his 25th goal of the season at 4:55 of the third. Bolland responded with his first goal since Oct. 26 to get the Maple Leafs back to within 3-2. He was tripped behind the Philadelphia net by Luke Schenn, and Toronto was able to cycle the puck on the delayed penalty. Jake Gardiner ended up with the puck at the blue line and passed to Mason Raymond. Mason stopped Raymond's shot from the right side, but Bolland jumped into the slot to bang in the rebound at 6:18. Toronto continued to push, but Simmonds added the insurance goal when he scored his 25th of the season at 12:39 of the third period. Andrew MacDonald lofted a dump-in that bounced on Phaneuf. He couldn't control it, and Brayden Schenn was able to knock it away from him. Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri was back to help, but Simmonds lifted his stick, controlled the puck and fired a quick shot past Bernier. The Maple Leafs lost a chance to make a move in the race for one of the Eastern Conference wild-card spots for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and remain tied with three teams with 80 points. The Maple Leafs have played more games than the others; they have seven remaining.
NY Rangers @ Calgary 3-4 - It was a tough Friday in the Eastern Conference playoff race for the Rangers. Karri Ramo made 38 saves, and Mike Cammalleri's goal late in a wild second period was the difference in the Flames' 4-3 win against the Rangers at Scotiabank Saddledome. The loss, which ended the Rangers' five-game winning streak, allowed the Philadelphia Flyers to pull within one point of New York for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 earlier in the evening. The Flyers hold two games in hand on the Rangers, who remained six points ahead of the four teams tied for the two wild cards in the East. Cammalleri's goal came with 7.8 seconds remaining in the second period. After Chris Butler kicked a pass up to Cammalleri in the neutral zone, the Flames' leading scorer fired a shot from the top of the right circle that beat Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for his fifth game-deciding goal since the NHL Trade Deadline. The goal capped a period that had two lead changes and five goals scored, including three unanswered by the Rangers that gave them a one-goal lead. After Brian Boyle's initial tap-in attempt on Derek Dorsett's feed hit the post, he calmly gathered his rebound and poked it across the goal line 2:12 into the period. Thirty-nine seconds later, Raphael Diaz's point shot struck Flames defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon and redirected by Ramo to tie the game 2-2. The goal was Diaz's first for the Rangers. New York took its first lead of the game at 5:39. Carl Hagelin picked off Kris Russell's neutral-zone pass and fed Richards, who beat Ramo over the glove for his 18th of the season. That lead held for eight minutes until Kevin Westgarth poked a Matt Stajan pass behind Lundqvist on his third attempt to draw Calgary even at 13:49. After Cammalleri's 24th goal of the season, Ramo made 11 saves in the third period. Rick Nash fed Martin St. Louis on the doorstep seven minutes into the period, but Ramo sprawled across to glove down the attempt. St. Louis remains without a goal in 13 games played since being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning at the NHL Trade Deadline. The Flames, winners of 11 of their past 15 on home ice, wasted no time getting the jump. On a power play 4:51 into the game, Curtis Glencross skated in on Lundqvist before ringing a shot off the post. Corralling the rebound, TJ Brodie shoveled a pass to Joe Colborne, who lifted his 10th of the season over Lundqvist for a 1-0 lead. St. Louis thought he answered two minutes later, when Nash's pass ricocheted off his skate and behind Ramo. After review, the goal was waved off. Mark Giordano put Calgary up 2-0 with 3:11 remaining. Cammalleri found the trailing defenseman, who skated in before snapping a shot off the post for his 13th of the season. Nash's wraparound attempt landed square on the stick of Derek Stepan on the doorstep, but Ramo swatted the point-blank attempt down with his glove with 26.2 seconds remaining in the first, one of his 18 saves in the period. The stop came shortly after defenseman Ladislav Smid left the game for the Flames with an upper-body injury. He didn't return.
Anaheim @ Edmonton 3-4 OT - Goaltender Ben Scrivens picked an appropriate night to have another outstanding game for Edmonton, as the Oilers did the Sharks a favor in beating the Sucks. After former Oilers goalie Curtis Joseph was honored prior to the game, Scrivens made 48 saves and set the stage for defenseman Andrew Ference to score 3:51 into overtime to give Edmonton a 4-3 victory against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. With the teams playing 3-on-3 in OT, Ference picked off a pass at center ice, raced into the Anaheim zone, used Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf as a screen and beat goaltender Jonas Hiller with a blast from the high slot for the win. Scrivens' best save of the night resembled a famous stop made by Joseph in the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Dallas Stars. In the second period, with Anaheim pressing, Scrivens dove across his net to rob Ducks right wing Jakob Silfverberg with the paddle of his goalie stick. Scrivens survived a barrage of 51 shots, including seven in overtime, to help the Oilers end a three-game losing skid. The single point left the Ducks one behind the San Jose Sharks in the race for first place in the Pacific Division. Anaheim has two games in hand. Sam Gagner, Jordan Eberle and Oscar Klefbom, with his first NHL goal, also scored for the Oilers. Nick Bonino, Patrick Maroon and Mathieu Perreault scored for Anaheim, with Perreault's goal at 15:30 of the third period forcing overtime. Hiller stopped 19 shots. Bonino opened the scoring 35 seconds into the game on the first shot of the night. He took a pass from Getzlaf in front and snapped a shot over the shoulder of Scrivens. Gagner tied the game at 4:43 with the 100th goal of his career. Sent in by David Perron, Gagner went in on Hiller and lifted a backhand over the goaltender, giving the Oilers a goal on their first shot of the game. The Ducks had a number of quality chances to take the lead early in the second period, but were unable to beat Scrivens, who got a little help from the post and his teammates. Oilers left wing Taylor Hall was first to a puck that squeezed through Scrivens, just in time to knock it off the goal line. Just over three minutes later, Ducks left wing Matt Beleskey fired a shot that rang off the post. Despite their territorial advantage in the period, the Ducks found themselves down 2-1 after Eberle took a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in front and snapped a shot past Hiller at 10:22. But Anaheim tied the game at 15:23 when Maroon had a rebound bounce towards him and was able to bat it past Scrivens. Klefbom put the Oilers up 3-2 at 8:26 of the third period, jumping into the play and firing a shot past Hiller from the slot. Klefbom, playing his ninth NHL game, was called up by the Oilers from their AHL affiliate in Oklahoma City on March 5. Perreault tied the game with 4:30 left in regulation when he took a pass from Maroon in front, got a fortunate deflection off Hall's stick and lifted the puck over Scrivens. In overtime, Anaheim had a rare 5-on-3 power play but could not take advantage. Ference took a hooking penalty to give the Ducks a 4-on-3 advantage, and with 21 seconds left in that penalty, Jeff Petry was sent off for delay of game after he batted the puck over the glass. The Oilers killed off both penalties. They were set to go on a power play of their own when Ference scored.