Toffoli scored 15 seconds into a 5-on-3 that was created when Devils forward Dainius Zubrus was called for interference. Stephen Gionta was already in the penalty box for tripping. As good as they were in the first, the Kings were about as sloppy in the second period. The Devils got a goal from Scott Gomez at 2:12 of the second to cut the deficit to 2-1. New Jersey and L.A. each managed five shots on goal, but the Devils had a 16-11 edge in total shot attempts in the second period. The Kings negated two would-be rush opportunities that could have resulted in Grade A scoring chances by going offside. They couldn't even stay onside when they had a 4-on-2 rush at 8:18. They didn't have a shot on goal in the final 9:34 of the period.
Chicago @ Carolina 3-1 - Andrew Shaw and Patrick Sharp scored 79 seconds apart in the first period, and Corey Crawford made 43 saves for a 3-1 win at PNC Arena. It was career coaching win No. 750 for Joel Quenneville, who is third all-time (750-432-106 with 77 ties) behind Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour. Chicago moved to within two points of the Nashville Predators for second place in the Central Division and three points of the St. Louis Blues for first with the victory. When Shaw scored his second goal of the night into an empty net with 40 seconds remaining, Jonathan Toews earned his 500th NHL point with an assist. The Blackhawks struggled to find their offense in the opening minutes, but then connected for the two quick goals. Marcus Kruger found Shaw wide open in the slot for his 11th of the season at 7:48 on Chicago's first shot of the night. Sharp had the second assist. The Blackhawks also found the net on their second shot. Niklas Hjalmarsson dug the puck off the boards in the neutral zone and fed Marian Hossa, whose pinpoint centering pass to Sharp for a redirect past Khudobin gave Chicago a 2-0 lead at 9:07. The Blackhawks had a couple more good chances before the end of the period, but Brandon Saad lost the puck off his backhand above the crease, and Antoine Vermette shot wide from the slot. Carolina cut the lead to 2-1 when Victor Rask cleaned up a rebound at 3:54 of the second. John-Michael Liles' long pass through the middle of the ice connected with Eric Staal in stride. Crawford got square to Staal's shot, but Rask made a strong net drive for his 11th goal. That was all Carolina could muster despite 19 second-period shots. Though the quantity of shots was high, Chicago managed to keep most of the attempts to the outside, and Crawford was able to see them and freeze shots for faceoffs. The Blackhawks matched the Hurricanes' push with a strong effort in their own zone the rest of the way. Chicago blocked 25 shots, four each from Brent Seabrook, Johnny Oduya and Michal Rozsival. Seabrook made a key block on Liles with Crawford out of position in the second period, and Saad got in front of Staal's chance from the slot with Crawford down in the third.
Minnesota @ Toronto 2-1 - Charlie Coyle and Thomas Vanek scored for the Wild, who won their ninth straight road game and franchise record 21st of the season. The victory kept the Wild one point in front of the Winnipeg Jets for the first wild card into the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, and five points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings in the race for a postseason berth. Jake Gardiner ended Dubnyk's shutout bid at 13:36 of the third period. Jonathan Bernier made 30 saves for Toronto, which has lost six in a row. After winning a faceoff to the right of the Toronto net, Coyle drove hard to the goal and swatted a loose puck past Bernier at 18:58 of the first period for his 11th goal of the season. Vanek gave the Wild some breathing room at 9:08 of the third period when he scored his 19th goal of the season. Ryan Suter rushed the puck into the Toronto zone and spied Vanek open in the high slot. After accepting a precise drop pass from Suter, Vanek sent a low shot past Bernier. The Maple Leafs pulled back to within a goal four minutes later when Gardiner scored his fourth goal of the season. Joffrey Lupul, who was held without a point in his previous 17 games, released a slap shot that Dubnyk denied. But the puck squeaked through Dubnyk's legs and was in the goal crease where Gardiner poked it in.
San Jose @ Ottawa 2-5 - The Ottawa Senators are in a playoff spot for the first time since late November after a 5-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday and another win by goaltender Andrew Hammond, who is 14-0-1 as a starter in the NHL. The Senators (37-24-11) moved one point ahead of the idle Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Senators have played one fewer game than the Bruins. Hammond, who made 29 saves, has points in his first 15 NHL games as a starter. Patrick Lalime set the record with 16 games with at least a point to start his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He went 14-0-2 in the 1996-97 season. The Senators, 17-2-2 in their past 21 games, trailed the Bruins by 14 points on Feb. 10. There was a tense moment when Sharks forward Logan Couture slid into Hammond in the third period, but Senators coach Dave Cameron said Hammond would be available when the Senators play the New York Rangers. Alex Chiasson's goal in third period goal at 12:11 gave the Senators a 3-2 lead. They trailed 2-1 after the second period before four third period goals. Chiasson deflected a shot by Mark Stone past Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi. The Sharks failed to clear the puck and a shot by Ottawa defenseman Cody Ceci was blocked with the puck going to Stone. Chiasson, battling Sharks defenseman Justin Braun in front of the net, got his stick on the shot. Chiasson had several good chances playing on a line with Stone and Kyle Turris in place of Milan Michalek, who was injured against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mika Zibanejad scored twice and Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mike Hoffman also scored for the Senators. Pageau worked a nice give-and-go with defenseman Erik Karlsson off a 3-on-1 to make it 4-2 at 13:13. Hoffman scored an empty-net goal to make it 5-2 Senators. Hammond has defeated the Sharks twice this season. Pavelski and Chris Tierney scored for the Sharks (35-30-8) who have lost two straight and are 6-10-0 in their past 16 games and remained six points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Sharks took a 2-1 lead in the second period. Zibanejad tied the game 2-2 at 2:19 of the third period on an impressive play. After Ryan pushed the puck towards the net off a faceoff in the Sharks zone, Zibanejad lifted Tierney's stick in front of the net, stripped the puck, turned and shot the puck under the crossbar. The Senators led 1-0 after the first period on Zibanejad's 18th goal at 14:09. Ryan carried the puck into the Sharks zone on the right wing and passed it to Hoffman, who took a backhand shot towards the goal. Zibanejad was skating down the center lane against Couture and Hoffman's shot deflected off the inside of Zibanejad's left knee and into the net. A frustrated Couture said the Sharks are a better team than they have shown for much of this season. The Sharks have nine games left and likely can't afford another loss.
Buffalo @ Dallas 3-4 - Jamie Benn scored two goals and had an assist, Patrick Eaves had a goal and an assist and Cody Eakin scored the game-winner with 3:14 remaining to help the Dallas Stars to a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at American Airlines Center. Benn scored late in the first period and again in the second. Kari Lehtonen made 25 saves for Dallas (35-28-10), which has won three straight but trails the Winnipeg Jets by eight points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Brian Gionta scored two goals and Matt Moulson a goal and an assist for Buffalo (20-46-7), which lost its third in a row. Eakin scored his 17th of the season with a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle past Sabres goaltender Anders Lindback (35 saves). Gionta gave Buffalo the early lead when he scored his eighth goal of the season 13:39 into the first period. Gionta knocked in a rebound after Lehtonen denied the initial slap shot by Marcus Foligno from the left circle with a pad save. Gionta collected the carom and scored for the first time in 10 games.
Dallas tied it late in the first period when Benn redirected a slap shot by Eaves from the blue line at 19:31 to make it 1-1. It was Benn's 25th goal of the season. The Sabres restored the lead via the power play at 11:07 of the second period on Gionta's second of the game on a deflection. Johan Larsson's slap shot from the right circle struck Moulson and then Gionta before going past Lehtonen. Buffalo had the man-advantage after the Stars were called for too many men on the ice at 10:11 of the second. But the Stars tied it on Benn's second goal of the game 1:56 into the third. Benn collected the puck just outside the left circle and beat Lindback with a wrist shot that deflected in off his right pad to make it 2-2. Dallas was on the power play after Tyson Strachan was called for delay of game 54 seconds into the third period for shooting the puck over the boards. Buffalo regained the lead again at 10:52 of the third when Moulson tapped in a rebound for his 12th goal of the season. Tyler Ennis took the initial shot from the slot that hit the crossbar. But Lehtonen lost sight of the puck and Moulson tapped it in near the far post. Dallas answered again at 12:35 of the third when Eaves scored his 10th of the season off a deflection to make it 3-3. Eaves got in front of Tyler Seguin's wrist shot from the slot off the rush. The Sabres blocked 43 shots in the loss.
Colorado @ Calgary 2-3 - Lance Bouma scored the game-winner midway through the third period, and the Flames held on for a 3-2 victory. Hudler broke a 1-1 tie with 16 seconds remaining in the first period and extended his career high in goals to 27. Sean Monahan won a faceoff back to Dennis Wideman, whose shot deflected off Hudler's skate and behind Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov. The Flames held on to their 2-1 lead through the second period thanks in part to two Avalanche shot attempts that hit the goal post. TJ Brodie couldn't swat down a clearing attempt, springing Jarome Iginla on a 2-on-1, but John Mitchell hit the outside of the far post near the midway point of the period. A shift later, Tyson Barrie's attempt struck the post. Varlamov kept Colorado within one at 5:55 of the third period, making a blocker save off Brandon Bollig in the slot, but at 8:40, Bouma knocked down Brodie's high shot from the point between Varlamov's legs to put Calgary up 3-1. The Avalanche pulled back to within one at 10:46. Controlling the play in the Flames end, Ryan O'Reilly misfired on a one-timer but corralled the puck in time to feed Landeskog, who placed a sharp-angled shot over Ramo's shoulder. Colorado was unable to tie the game after Varlamov went to the bench in favor of the extra attacker with 1:48 remaining. The Flames opened the scoring for the third straight game.
After Ramo made a diving save with his paddle on Landeskog's wraparound attempt, Bouma hauled the puck up ice on a 2-on-1 and fed Jones, who beat Varlamov over the glove at 6:18. An odd-man rush led to the equalizer for Colorado. After Landeskog failed to convert on his pass, O'Reilly fished the puck off the end boards before it pinballed into the slot to Tanguay, who caught Ramo out of position at 17:46. It's the seventh time Tanguay's reached 20 goals in his career; he did so twice with the Flames. Varlamov made 23 saves.
Winnipeg @ Edmonton 4-1 - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers (20-40-13) to extend his point streak to six games. It was the first time in five games Edmonton was unable to earn at least a point. Ondrej Pavelec made 33 saves for Winnipeg; Ben Scrivens made 20 saves for the Oilers. Stafford opened the scoring at 7:32 of the first period when he intercepted an Oscar Klefbom cross-ice pass attempt at his own blue line, raced down the ice and beat Scrivens with a long shot. Stempniak gave Winnipeg a 2-0 lead at 5:31 of the second period when he got to a loose puck in front and put it past Scrivens.
Myers extended the lead to 3-0 at 16:00 on a two-man advantage. The Jets defenseman took a pass at the point, walked in and snapped a shot through a screen past Scrivens. Nugent-Hopkins scored for Edmonton at 1:10 of the third period to end Pavelec's shutout streak at 138:02. Nugent-Hopkins took a pass from left wing Taylor Hall in the slot and snapped a shot past Pavelec for his fourth goal in the past three games. Frolik scored on the power pay at 12:17 to give Winnipeg a 4-1 lead. The Jets forward was first to a long rebound in the slot and lifted a shot over Scrivens. The Oilers were unable to mount a comeback against Pavelec, who has given up five goals during the Jets' five-game win streak. Oilers defenseman Andrew Ference and center Boyd Gordon left the game in the first period with injuries and did not return. Ference sustained an upper-body injury after a collision with Jets forward Chris Thorburn. Gordon left because of a back injury. Jets forward Blake Wheeler left in the first period after taking a puck in the face, but he returned in the third.
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