Vancouver @ St Louis 4-1 - The Vancouver Canucks are doing all they can to keep pace in the race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Playing the St. Louis Blues seems to bring out the best in the Canucks. Radim Vrbata had a goal and an assist and Eddie Lack defeated the Blues for the fifth time in as many tries in a 4-1 victory at Scottrade Center on Tuesday. Vancouver (44-27-5) remained two points ahead of the Calgary Flames, who defeated the Dallas Stars 5-3 on Monday, for second place in the Pacific Division. The Canucks lead the Los Angeles Kings, who lost 4-1 at the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, by five points. Lack, who was 4-0-0 with a 1.92 goals-against average, a .930 save percentage and one shutout against the Blues, made 23 saves. Shawn Matthias and Alexandre Burrows each had a goal for the Canucks, who are 23-12-3 on the road. Christopher Tanev had two assists. Vancouver has defeated the Blues six straight times and is 11-0-2 against them since Nov. 4, 2011. The slumping Blues (46-23-7, 99 points) remain three points behind the Nashville Predators for first in the Central Division. Their hold on second place is down to one point on the Blackhawks and four ahead of the Minnesota Wild. St. Louis, which missed out on a chance to clinch a playoff spot, lost for the sixth time in nine home games. The Blues, who are left scrambling to try and find what ails them so late in the season, got a goal from Zbynek Michalek. Brian Elliott made 18 saves. Making matters worse for the Blues, they lost leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko, who was tripped 8:08 into the third period by Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa. Tarasenko skated to the dressing room and did not return. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who had nothing new to report on Tarasenko other than to say he'll be evaluated on Tuesday, said there are many issues troubling the Blues. The Canucks grabbed a 1-0 lead when Matthias converted Vancouver's third breakaway of the game after the Blues were making a line change and got caught. Matthias took a long pass from Tanev and beat Elliott on the forehand 3:54 into the second. Michalek's first goal with the Blues tied the game 1-1 after he took an Olli Jokinen pass from the point and beat Lack with a long-range slap shot at 12:44 of the second. But Bonino restored Vancouver's one-goal lead 31 seconds later after Kevin Bieksa's point shot caromed off the back boards around the other side of the goal and Bonino put in the rebound from a sharp angle. Vrbata's 31st of the season gave Vancouver a 3-1 lead when he raced off with the puck on a 3-on-1 and sent a shot past Elliott from the right circle at 7:06 of the third. Burrows scored into an empty net with 1:31 remaining. Another scoreless first period for the Blues was their 10th in a row. They've gone 205:40 without a goal in the first dating to March 10 against the Winnipeg Jets. The save of the period did not come from either Elliott or Lack. Michalek laid out on the ice and was able to prevent Henrik Sedin from capitalizing on an Elliott turnover near the net 6:15 into the game. Vancouver's four-game road trip continues against the Nashville Predators. The Blues won't play again until Thursday when they host the Flames along with myself and my good friend Dan.
Los Angeles @ Chicago 1-4 - It took a visit from the defending Stanley Cup champions to bring it out of them, but the Chicago Blackhawks looked like one of the NHL's elite teams again in a 4-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at United Center. The Blackhawks (46-24-6) flew home after winning 4-3 at the Winnipeg Jets, but even in the second half of back-to-back games they still outplayed the Kings (37-25-14), who've become one of their biggest rivals in the Western Conference. Goalie Scott Darling gave Corey Crawford a night off and made 31 saves, improving his record to 8-3-0 in 12 appearances. Duncan Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson each scored in the first 2:41 of the second period to break a 1-1 tie and wrestle momentum away from the Kings after Los Angeles tied the game on a goal by defenseman Jake Muzzin at 19:28 of the first. Los Angeles also lost defenseman Andrej Sekera near the end of the second period with a lower-body injury. Sekera, acquired Feb. 25 in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes, said somebody fell on him and he didn't feel right afterward. He didn't play in the third and will see a doctor Tuesday for further analysis. In the second period, there were a lot of players falling to the ice after big hits. The Kings finished with more hits, but the Blackhawks matched their intensity and moved three points ahead of the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division. The Blackhawks are one point behind the second-place St. Louis Blues, who lost 4-1 to the visiting Vancouver Canucks. Chicago, Minnesota and St. Louis each has six games remaining. The Kings made their first appearance in Chicago since winning Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference Final in overtime. This time they left with a second straight loss. They also lost ground in the playoff race. In the Pacific Division, the Kings fell three points behind the third-place Calgary Flames, 5-3 winners on the road against the Dallas Stars. Los Angeles remained two points behind Winnipeg for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Kings have six games remaining, one more than the Flames and the same number as the Jets. Los Angeles returns home after going 3-2-0 on a five-game road trip and will face two teams outside the playoff picture in the West, the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche. It was there, but the Blackhawks were the ones who capitalized on it. Unlike their past few games, they came out strong against the Kings and controlled play through much of the first period. The early momentum turned into a quick 1-0 lead on Bryan Bickell's 13th goal; he scored 5:31 into the game by deflecting a shot from Brandon Saad past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (36 saves). Chicago outshot Los Angeles 16-10 in the first, had 12 more unblocked shot attempts and kept faceoffs at 50-50. Still, the Kings tied it at 19:28 on a seemingly harmless shot by Muzzin from the side boards. Darling lost the puck in traffic and it slid past him. The goal completed a good sequence for the Kings, who had turned up the physical play in the previous five minutes. The Blackhawks, however, stole the momentum right back to start the second. A roughing minor on Sekera 39 seconds into the period lit the fuse, and the Blackhawks' defense turned it into two quick goals. Keith scored at 1:37 on the ensuing power play to make it 2-1; his ninth goal of the season came on a slap shot from just inside the blue line. Hjalmarsson made it 3-1 at 2:41 with his first goal since Feb. 15 and third of the season, scoring 17 seconds after Patrick Sharp rung a hard wrist shot off the crossbar. Hossa made it 4-1 with 6:54 left in the third to make sure Los Angeles' task of getting into the postseason is even more daunting.
Calgary @ Dallas 5-3 - The Flames greatly helped their own chances of advancing to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and dealt a serious blow to the postseason hopes of the Dallas Stars with a 5-3 victory at American Airlines Center. Calgary (42-28-7), third in the Pacific Division, scored three unanswered goals in a span of 6:49 in the second period to overcome a 2-1 deficit. The Flames got a goal and an assist each from Johnny Gaudreau, Jiri Hudler and Dennis Wideman. Jonas Hiller made 33 saves; his teammates helped by blocking 32 shots, and the Stars missed the net on 32 others. Hudler, Raphael Diaz and Gaudreau had the goals for Calgary in the second period, chasing Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen. Mikael Backlund scored an empty-net goal with 6.3 seconds remaining. The Flames are 7-2-1 in the second game of back-to-backs.
Calgary leads the Los Angeles Kings by three points in the race for the final guaranteed playoff berth in the Pacific Division. The Flames trail the second-place Vancouver Canucks by two points. The Canucks and Kings each have a game in hand on the Flames. Jamie Benn had two assists and Jason Spezza a goal and an assist for Dallas (37-30-10), which remained six points behind points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card from the Western Conference. Jason Demers and Tyler Seguin also scored for the Stars, who have five games remaining. Dallas started strong and took the lead when Spezza scored his 17th goal of the season on a shot from the right point 40 seconds into the game. Patrick Eaves fed Spezza with a backhand pass near the Dallas blue line, Spezza then raced up the ice and finished with a wrist shot that beat Hiller high to his glove side. Calgary answered at 9:34 when Wideman tied the game with a power-play goal. After receiving a pass from Gaudreau, Wideman was left open in the slot and he beat Lehtonen with a wrist shot over his glove for his 14th goal of the season. Dallas regained the lead with 34 seconds remaining in the period on Seguin's power-play goal. Seguin beat Hiller with a low wrist shot from the left circle that was just inside the far post. It was his 35th goal of the season. Calgary tied it again at 9:25 of the second period when Hudler, appearing in his 600th NHL game, scored his 29th goal of the season with a shot that deflected into the net off Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski. The goal came during a delayed penalty with Hiller on the bench for an extra attacker. Lehtonen stopped Kris Russell's wrist shot from the left point, but Hudler collected the rebound and took a wrist shot that hit Goligoski's right arm and went through Lehtonen's five-hole. The Flames went ahead to stay at 12:28 when Diaz, a defenseman, scored on a wraparound. Diaz gained possession in the right side of the Dallas zone and skated toward the far post, where Lehtonen came out and failed in his attempt to steal the puck. With Lehtonen out of position, Diaz skated behind the net and finished from the near post for his second goal of the season and first since Feb. 2. Calgary made it 4-2 at 16:14 when Gaudreau scored his 22nd goal of the season. Sean Monahan set up Gaudreau beautifully with a pass from behind the net, and Gaudreau's wrist shot from the slot sailed over Lehtonen's glove. That goal ended Lehtonen's evening; he was replaced by Jhonas Enroth after allowing four goals on 21 shots. Late in the second, Monahan took a high stick from Dallas rookie forward Brett Ritchie, a play that didn't sit well with Hartley. Dallas made it 4-3 when Demers scored his fifth of the season 3:44 into the third period. Demers beat Hiller low on his blocker side with a one-timer from the right point that appeared to be deflected. Hiller made a huge save on Eaves with 7:15 remaining, denying his backhand at close range. The Stars outshot the Flames 15-4 in the final period but couldn't get the tying goal, and Backlund hit the empty net to put the game away.
Edmonton @ Colorado 4-1 - Brandon Davidson, with his first NHL goal, and defenseman Justin Schultz scored to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead heading to the third period before Nikita Nikitin and Taylor Hall scored empty-net goals. Goalie Richard Bachman, who grew up in suburban Highlands Ranch, Colo., and played two years at Colorado College, made 29 saves for his second consecutive win. The Oilers went ahead 2-1 at 15:28 of the second period on Schultz's goal. Teddy Purcell shot the puck into the Avalanche end with Schultz and Colorado defenseman Nate Guenin in pursuit. Schultz overtook Guenin, corralled the puck and cut to the net. He flipped the puck over goalie Semyon Varlamov's right pad for his sixth goal of the season. Varlamov went to the bench for a sixth skater with 2:20 to play in regulation. Nikitin scored his empty-net goal with 2:07 remaining and Hall followed 32 seconds later. Davidson, a rookie playing in his sixth NHL game, gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead with his first goal at 4:49 of the opening period. Anton Lander had the puck along the goal line to the left of Varlamov when he passed to Davidson driving down left wing for a shot into a half-open net. The Avalanche tied the game at 13:18 on Ryan O'Reilly's 15th goal of the season. Alex Tanguay took a shot from near the top of the right circle; O'Reilly drove to the net and put in the rebound. He has five goals and 12 assists in an eight-game scoring streak, the longest of his NHL career. But the Avalanche didn't apply much pressure against Bachman after that, and Roy juggled line combinations in the third period to no avail.
Buffalo @ Phoenix 4-1 - Andrej Meszaros turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the second period for the Sabres, who avenged a 4-3 overtime loss to the Coyotes at home last Thursday with their fifth regulation road win of the season. Connor Murphy scored 1:17 into the game for the Coyotes, but Sabres goalie Anders Lindback shut Phoenix out from there and finished with 28 saves. With Buffalo clinging to a 2-1 lead, Lindback got the toe of his skate on Oliver Ekman-Larsson's power-play shot with four minutes left. Brian Gionta scored a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 1:49 left to give Buffalo some breathing room, and Rasmus Ristolainen scored a second empty-net goal with 43 seconds remaining. With David Moss camped in the Sabres crease, Sam Gagner fed Murphy for a shot from the point. Moss lifted his skate and the puck went between his legs and deflected off a screened Lindback and into the net at 1:17. Murphy's fourth goal of the season was his first in 26 games. Buffalo dominated the rest of the first period, putting 12 shots on goal. But Smith saved them all, robbing center Cody Hodgson twice, once on a rebound of a Zach Bogosian shot and again with the pad while Hodgson was all alone in front of the crease with 1:35 left. Buffalo used a high-sticking penalty to Jordan Szwarz early in the second period to even the game. With Mikhail Grigorenko battling Craig Cunningham in front of the Coyotes net, Meszaros put a shot through traffic and over Smith's shoulder at 4:27. Smith made strong saves on Nicolas Deslauriers and Nikita Zadorov to keep the game even before Meszaros struck again at 13:36. Deslauriers dug the puck out of the corner and slid it to Meszaros. With Zac Delpe screening in front, Meszaros put a low shot into the far corner for his second straight two-goal game to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead. Buffalo had the lead, but had to kill two third-period penalties and get several good saves from Lindback to become the last NHL team to reach 50 points this season.
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