Phoenix @ Buffalo 4-3 OT - Sam Gagner scored 56 seconds into overtime. His 13th goal came on the power play with Mike Weber in the penalty box for tripping. His slap shot from the left faceoff circle beat Sabres goalie Matt Hackett low into the left side of the net. Gagner also assisted on David Moss' fourth goal of the season. Moss tipped Gagner's shot from the blue line past Hackett for his third goal in the past two games, giving Phoenix a 3-2 lead with 5:40 left in the second period. Sabres captain Brian Gionta tied it 3-3 with an unassisted power-play goal with 3:37 left in the third period. Gionta intercepted a clearing attempt by Coyotes captain Shane Doan and took a slap shot that beat Smith for his 10th goal. Phoenix came back strong after Buffalo took a 2-1 lead on Rasmus Ristolainen's power-play goal 8:37 into the second period. Ekman-Larsson's goal broke the record for most scored in a season by a Swedish defenseman. Fredrik Olausson, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Erik Karlsson each had a 20-goal season; Karlsson has 19 this season. Jordan Szwarz's first goal of the season gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead 7:55 into the first period. Szwarz was alone in front of the net after Sabres defenseman Nikita Zadorov went to help defense partner Andrej Meszaros against Kyle Chipchura in a board battle. Chipchura won the puck and passed to Szwarz, who beat Hackett with a wrist shot to the top corner of the net. Tyler Ennis tied it 2:54 later with his 19th goal, which leads the Sabres, when he beat Smith on a 2-on-1 with Matt Moulson against Michael Stone. Ennis left the game after the second period because of an upper-body injury and did not return. The Sabres fans were cheering each Coyotes goal in the hope Buffalo would stay bottom of the standings and have a better draft pick.
Los Angeles @ NY Islanders 3-2 - Anze Kopitar scored with 4:23 remaining in the third period to give the Kings a 3-2 win. The Islanders converted a 3-on-1 to take a 1-0 lead at 5:31 of the second period. Nikolay Kulemin skated into the zone and left a drop pass for Frans Nielsen, who roofed a wrist shot from the right point over Jonathan Quick's glove for his 13th goal. The Kings had a 5-on-3 for 1:34 and had two shots on goal. A few seconds after it expired, Dustin Brown skated behind the Islanders net toward the right circle; he threw the puck at the net and it was tipped by Shore past goalie Jaroslav Halak to tie the game 1-1 at 10:37. Tyler Toffoli broke a third-period tie with a shorthanded goal at 1:55 of the third period. The Kings had a 2-on-1, and Jeff Carter's shot from the right side was stopped by Halak, but the rebound came to Toffoli, who scored his 22nd. Toffoli's fifth shorthanded goal leads the NHL. Johnny Boychuk tied the game 2-2 on a power play at 3:31 with a slap shot from inside blue line on the right side. The goal was his eighth.
New Jersey @ Washington 2-3 OT - Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 1:13 into overtime to give the Capitals a 3-2 win. Kuznetsov, a rookie, scored his 10th goal of the season. Karl Alzner's fifth and Eric Fehr's 19th gave Washington a 2-0 lead. Steve Bernier scored with 30 seconds remaining in the third period to tie it 2-2. Travis Zajac scored a shorthanded goal in the second period for the Devils. Bernier's tying goal came with Schneider pulled for an extra skater. Washington's Tom Wilson and New Jersey's Mark Fraser each was assessed a roughing penalty that led to a 4-on-4 early in the game. Capitals forward Marcus Johansson crept past the defense and handed the puck to Niskanen, who fed a pass to a wide-open Alzner. He shot past Schneider to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 2:51. Fehr's unassisted wrist shot gave Washington a 2-1 lead at 1:35 of the second period. The goal ended his eight-game drought dating to March 3. Zajac scored at 14:41 to cut Washington's lead to 2-1. Patrik Elias began the rush in center ice, catching the Capitals on a bad line change, and fed a pass to Zajac. His goal was his 11th of the season and the sixth shorthanded goal scored by the Devils.
Pittsburgh @ Carolina 2-5 - Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal settled in his locker after the game and took a deep breath, the effects of a long season weighing on him. The Hurricanes' 5-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PNC Arena on Thursday was some consolation, ending a four-game losing streak. On a night when he had several scoring chances, Staal had a goal and two assists, as well as a few heartfelt words about a sixth consecutive season that will end without a playoff appearance. For one night, there were encouraging signs all around for Carolina (27-36-10). Playing together, Eric and Jordan Staal had the better of Pittsburgh's top line. Justin Faulk tied the franchise record for points by a Hurricanes defenseman. Fourth-line forward Brad Malone set up two goals with nice passes, one of them to 21-year-old defenseman Ryan Murphy. All of that left Staal hopeful that the team is finding its way under first-year coach Bill Peters. The Penguins (40-23-11) lost for the sixth time in seven games. They are in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 91 points, two fewer than the New York Islanders and one more than the Washington Capitals. Brandon Sutter gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead with his 17th goal at 3:54 of the first period. From behind the net, Sidney Crosby centered to Sutter, who jammed the puck under Ward. Crosby started the play by forcing a turnover on Jordan Staal along the boards. Jordan Staal atoned for his mistake moments later, intercepting Rob Scuderi's pass behind the Pittsburgh net and feeding Eric Staal for his 20th goal at 5:05 of the first. It was the ninth time in 10 seasons that Eric Staal has scored 20 goals. Carolina took a 2-1 lead when Murphy took Malone's pass from the left-side boards at the far post for his third goal at 8:27 of the first. Each goaltender made a stellar save in the final minutes of the period. Crosby set up David Perron for a shot from one knee in the right circle, but Ward reached across the crease to deny him with the glove.
Not to be outdone, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury went left-to-right for a pad save on Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner after taking a perfect pass from Elias Lindholm. Fleury made 23 saves. Jay McClement's seventh goal gave Carolina a 3-1 lead in the second period. Malone set up McClement at the top of the right circle, where he scored off the left post at 11:38, giving Malone his first two-assist game in the NHL. Malone's season can be divided neatly by the calendar. He had no points through 27 games in 2014; he has seven goals and 15 points in 29 games in 2015. Faulk got the secondary assist for his 46th point, which tied him with Joni Pitkanen for most points in a season by a Hurricanes defenseman (2009-10). The two-goal lead put the Penguins in a tough spot, after trying to sort out the Carolina offense on the rush. Alexander Semin gave Carolina a 4-1 lead at 14:56 after the Hurricanes rushed the puck through all three zones. In the offensive zone, Eric Staal fed Riley Nash, who made a backhand touch pass to Semin for his fifth goal. Hurricanes forward Andrej Nestrasil scored on the power play at 13:14 of the third to make it 5-1. Lindholm found Eric Staal in the slot for a quick pass to the right post where Nestrasil was waiting. Penguins defenseman Ian Cole scored at 15:55 on a hard wrist shot that went past Ward on the glove side to cut the Carolina lead to three. Peters was satisfied with the win against the Penguins, who played without injured veterans Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Christian Ehrhoff.
Florida @ Toronto 4-1 - Brandon Pirri scored twice to help the Panthers to a 4-1 win. Toronto had the better scoring chances in the first period, but Florida took a 3-0 lead in the second. The Panthers took a 2-0 lead when Huberdeau and defenseman Steven Kampfer scored 30 seconds apart. Huberdeau scored his second goal in as many games, 13th of the season, at 4:23 on a high shot to the glove side of Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier. Kampfer's sharp-angle slap shot beat Bernier on the short side at 4:53. Pirri made it 3-0 at 14:34 with a low wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Toronto zone that beat Bernier through the five-hole. The Maple Leafs replaced Bernier with backup James Reimer following the goal. Pirri scored an empty-net goal with 1:36 remaining. Sam Carrick ended Luongo's shutout at 9:13 of the third period with his first NHL goal when he took a pass from defenseman Morgan Rielly, who made an end-to-end rush.
NY Rangers @ Ottawa 5-1 - Zuccarello scored his 14th of the season to put the Rangers up 4-1 at 1:42 of the second period, and then New York's penalty-killers took over. The Senators had a great opportunity to get back in the game when the Rangers took three straight penalties beginning at 10:02 of the second period. The first two were assessed to Rick Nash, and Glass was called for slashing with 34 seconds left in Nash's second penalty. The Rangers killed off all three shorthanded situations, and Glass came out of the penalty box, took a pass from Kevin Hayes and scored his first goal of the season to make it 5-1 at 16:02 of the second. Kreider was flying to start the game, when the Rangers took a 3-1 lead and made Hammond look quite ordinary in the process. Kreider scored on a dash down the left wing at 12:38 to give the Rangers the lead, but the Senators tied it 19 seconds later on Lazar's fifth goal. Keith Yandle couldn't handle a bouncing puck, and Lazar broke in and scored to the glove side.
After Boyle gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with a shot from the slot, Kreider scored a backbreaker with a weak goal on Hammond. A shot by Stepan from the left wing hit Hammond, popped into the air and fell behind the Ottawa goalie in the crease. Kreider knocked in the loose puck with a minute to go in the first period. Dan Girardi left the game in the third period after being hit by a shot by Cody Ceci.
San Jose @ Detroit 6-4 - Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks helped to prove his coach wrong. Todd McLellan told the Sharks they couldn't expect to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in a high-scoring game. But Marleau scored two third-period goals to lead San Jose to a 6-4 victory against Detroit at Joe Louis Arena. Antti Niemi made 30 saves, Chris Tierney and Logan Couture each had a goal and an assist, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Matt Nieto also scored for San Jose (36-30-8), which remained 10 points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Division. The Jets defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. Tomas Jurco, Tomas Tatar, Stephen Weiss and Justin Abdelkader scored for Detroit (39-22-12), which is third in the Atlantic Division, five points ahead of the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins.
The Red Wings have allowed 11 goals in their past two games; they lost 5-4 in overtime to the Coyotes on. Jimmy Howard allowed three goals on 10 shots before being pulled after the first period on his 31st birthday. Howard has allowed eight goals on 32 shots in his past two games. Mrazek relieved Howard and made 17 saves in the final 40 minutes. Detroit was without forward Pavel Datsyuk (lower body) for the fifth consecutive game. Forward Erik Cole missed the game because of an upper-body injury. Weiss put in a rebound at 3:39 of the final period to make it 4-3. It was his eighth goal. But Marleau restored the Sharks' two-goal lead 1:17 later, beating Mrazek with a shot from the right circle. Abdelkader was credited with his 22nd goal of the season off a scramble in front of the net to make it 5-4 at 7:27. But Marleau put the game away by hitting the empty net with 1:17 remaining. It was his 17th goal of the season.
San Jose led 3-2 after the first period. Vlasic opened the scoring 19 seconds after the opening faceoff on the first shot of the game. After a turnover by Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, Vlasic's shot from the left point hit a Red Wings player and deflected past Howard for his ninth goal. Nieto made it 2-0 at 9:14 when he scored from just outside the crease. His eighth goal of the season came on a shot went off the inside of the post, off Howard and into the net.
Jurco put Detroit on the board 50 seconds later when he scored from a goalmouth scramble. It was Jurco's third goal of the season and first in 40 games. Tatar tied it 1:40 later when he tipped in defenseman Danny DeKeyser's shot from the point after DeKeyser intercepted Tierney's ill-advised pass into the middle from the right corner. But Tierney put the Sharks back in front at 16:02. His attempted pass went off the skate of Detroit's Joakim Andersson, who was skating through the crease, and slid into the net. Couture made it a 4-2 game 31 seconds into the third period when he beat Mrazek with a wrist shot from the right circle that went in off the far goal post. It was Couture's 24th goal and was the result of a turnover by Gustav Nyquist.
Nashville @ Tampa Bay 3-2 - Ben Bishop was pulled at 6:54 of the second period after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Ribeiro gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 3:28 of the first period when he redirected a slap shot from Roman Josi that slipped between Bishop’s pads. Gaustad scored 40 seconds later on a put back of a slap shot by Predators forward Taylor Beck. Bishop saved Beck’s shot from the point, but Gaustad swung at the puck while it was in the air and sent it past Bishop. Namestnikov trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 19:31 of the first when he scored on a wraparound shot that bounced off of the pad of Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (28 saves) and went into the net. Santorelli’s goal at 6:47 of the second period gave the Predators a 3-1 lead and send Bishop off the ice. Santorelli skated around the net and took a shot that Bishop saved, but he failed to control the loose puck and Santorelli scored on the put back. Boyle pulled the Lightning, who are in second place in the Atlantic Division, within 3-2 on his 15th goal at 13:19 of the second. Tampa Bay forwards J.T. Brown and Jonathan Drouin each got an assist. The Lightning had a power-play opportunity with 4:19 left in the third period, but failed to generate any significant chances against Rinne.
Montreal @ Winnipeg 2-5 - Dustin Byfuglien scored a first-period goal in his first game after missing nine because of an upper-body injury. Jets center Mark Scheifele's second-period goal gave Winnipeg a 2-0 lead. Andrei Markov scored for Montreal 41 seconds after Scheifele's goal, but Jim Slater re-established the two-goal lead for Winnipeg. Jets right wing Blake Wheeler made it 4-1 with 59.7 seconds left in the second period. Brendan Gallagher scored a third-period goal for Montreal before Winnipeg's Adam Lowry finished the scoring. Jets forward Drew Stafford extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, six assists). It's the longest streak of Stafford's career, as well as the longest active streak in the NHL. Montreal had outshot Winnipeg 13-4 through the first half of the first period when Byfuglien's 16th goal opened the scoring. Byfuglien took a drop pass from Slater before putting a slap shot through Tokarski's pads at 12:33.
The Canadiens outshot the Jets 20-5 in the first period, but several point-blank saves from Pavelec held the Canadiens scoreless. Pavelec faced five shots in a 1:10 span on Montreal's first power play. From there, the Jets used three second-period goals to put away the Canadiens. Maurice said he was satisfied with his players' effort in the first period, if not the results, given Winnipeg has played four games in the past six days, including two on the road. Scheifele scored at 4-on-4 after Winnipeg's Adam Pardy and Montreal's Devante Smith-Pelly each was given a roughing penalty at 5:46 of the second. Tyler Myers grabbed a loose puck after the Canadiens' Jeff Petry and David Desharnais collided. Myers put a pass into the slot that Scheifele tipped past Tokarski for his 14th goal at 6:05. With Pardy and Smith-Pelly still off, Markov scored his ninth goal at 6:46 on a long shot from inside the Winnipeg blue line that fooled Pavelec. Slater scored his third goal at 9:13 when Lee Stempniak's shot on net glanced off Slater's skate for a 3-1 lead. Wheeler then completed a 2-on-1 rush off a pass from Scheifele for his 24th goal at 19:00. Gallagher's 23rd goal made it 4-2 with 11:37 left in the game, but Lowry scored 55 seconds later to restore the Jets' three-goal cushion. Rookie goaltender Michael Hutchinson had started eight consecutive games before Pavelec started in a 2-1 win at Tampa Bay on March 14. Since then, Pavelec has a .964 save percentage and has grabbed the starting goaltender job in Winnipeg. Byfuglien's return to the lineup also eased some of the burden on a blue line that had been taxed in his absence. Byfuglien skated 18:29 in his first game since March 4. The Jets could also have injured forwards Bryan Little (upper body) and Mathieu Perreault (lower body) and injured defenseman Ben Chiarot (upper body) back in their lineup before the end of their four-game homestand. Winnipeg has not lost two consecutive games at MTS Centre since Dec. 29 and 31.
Colorado @ Vancouver 4-1 - Colorado outshot the Canucks 18-5 in the first period and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second. Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist, Ryan O'Reilly had two assists to extend his point streak to six games, and John Mitchell scored an empty-net goal. The Canucks were left looking for answers. On a night when they wore throwback uniforms to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Vancouver Millionaires winning the 1915 Stanley Cup, their own playoff chances took a hit. Yannick Weber scored a power-play goal 15 seconds into the third period for the Canucks, but it wasn't enough to prevent their first loss in four games. Despite playing the night before and falling further out of a playoff spot with a 4-3 loss at the Oilers, it was Colorado that controlled play in the first period. The Avalanche outshot Vancouver 12-1 in the first half of the opening period, but failed to convert a 5-on-3 power play for 80 seconds eight minutes into the period. Colorado opened the scoring 3:23 into the second period after a long, dominant shift in the Canucks' end. Landeskog ended it by circling behind the net, coming out the other side and skating up and into the slot unchecked for a wrist shot that deflected into the net off Iginla.
It was Iginla's team-leading 26th goal of the season and his 1,219th career point, moving him into a tie with Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau for 40th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list. Lack stopped Landeskog on a breakaway midway through the period, but Colorado worked the puck to the point for a shot that bounced off the end boards to Lack's left and came to Tanguay at the right side of the net for a quick shot over the goalie's blocker. Colorado's 29th-ranked power play converted its fourth chance against Vancouver's second-ranked penalty kill with three minutes left in the period to make it 3-0. Tanguay's cross-crease pass stranded Lack and left Landeskog with an open net for his 22nd goal. O'Reilly got his second assist on the goal, giving him four goals and seven assists during his six-game point streak. Weber gave the Canucks life on the first shift of the third period by blowing a slap shot off the rush past Berra from the top of the left circle. It was the third straight game Weber has scored and the fourth straight game Vancouver's power play scored after going five games without a goal, but the Canucks failed to take advantage of consecutive advantages midway through the period.
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