NHL Roundup for Saturday’s games
NHL ROUNDUP
Saturday’s other games
Oilers 7, Avalanche 5
EDMONTON, Alberta — Sam Gagner scored twice and the Edmonton Oilers edged closer to Colorado in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a victory over the Avalanche. Dustin Penner, Fernando Pisani, Kyle Brodziak, Marty Reasoner and Marc Pouliot also scored for the Oilers. Tyler Arnason, Ruslan Salei, Wojtek Wolski, Milan Hejduk and John-Michael Liles had goals for the Avalanche. It was the 11th win in the last 14 outings for the Oilers, three points behind eighth-place Colorado in the Western Conference playoff race. The Avalanche went winless on their three-game road trip and have lost four straight.
Predators 2, Blackhawks 1, SO
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rich Peverley and Alexander Radulov scored in the shootout, and Nashville stopped its six-game home skid. Jason Arnott scored for Nashville, and Dan Ellis stopped two of three attempts to help the Predators improve to 3-5 in shootouts. Andrew Ladd scored for Chicago.
Kings 4, Stars 2
DALLAS — Lubomir Visnovsky scored the go-ahead goal with 2:06 left after Michal Handzus tied it 55 seconds earlier, and Los Angeles rallied to beat fading Dallas. Handzus added another goal with 1:19 left to give the Kings a two-goal cushion and hand the Stars their season high-tying fourth straight loss. Stu Barnes’ second-period goal gave the Stars a 2-1 lead, and Dallas seemed on the verge of snapping their skid. But Handzus Handzus stole the puck from defenseman Trevor Daley and scored at 16:59 to tie it at 2. Brenden Morrow added a power-play goal for the Stars, 1-7 in their last eight games. Dallas had won 13 of 15 before the current slump knocked the Stars out of the Pacific Division lead.
Panthers 4, Lightning 2.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Tomas Vokoun stopped 35 shots, and the Florida Panthers kept working toward a playoff spot with a victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Vokoun (30-26-8), the second Panthers goalie to post 30 wins in a season, made 32 saves over the final two periods and held the Lightning scoreless on five power-play opportunities in the second period. The Panthers entered the game trailing the eighth-place Boston Bruins by four points in the Eastern Conference. Florida, which finished its seven-game homestand 6-0-1, beat Tampa Bay for the 12th time in 15 games. The Panthers finished with 27 shots, nine coming in the first period. Playing with a sense of desperation, the Panthers struck less than four minutes in. Jay Bouwmeester picked off an errant clearing attempt by goalie Mike Smith, who was caught out of the crease, and converted a one-timer into the far right corner of the open net. The unassisted power-play goal was the first man-advantage tally given up by the Lightning in five games. Opponents were 0-11 over that stretch. It was Bouwmeester’s career-high 13th goal of the season. His previous best total was 12, set last season.
Maple Leafs 5, Senators 4
OTTAWA (AP) — Kyle Wellwood, Alex Steen, Darcy Tucker, Jiri Tlusty and Matt Stajan all scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who gave their playoff hopes a boost with a victory over the Ottawa Senators. Daniel Alfredsson, Cory Stillman, Martin Lapointe, Dany Heatley scored for the Senators, and Martin Gerber stopped 29 shots. The Leafs have won four straight against the Senators, and the teams will meet once more in the regular season. Toronto is 12th in the Eastern Conference and trails Philadelphia and Boston, tied at the postseason cutoff, by four points. Ottawa had a power play in the final minutes and pressured to get the tying goal, but Heatley, who fired a shot with seconds left, hit the post just after the whistle.
Canadiens 3, Bruins 2, SO
MONTREAL — Saku Koivu scored in the shootout and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins completing a sweep of the season series. Montreal goalie Carey Price stopped Zdeno Chara, Phil Kessel and Denis Wideman in the shootout after making 33 saves during the game. Koivu put a backhander past Tim Thomas on Montreal’s third attempt and was mobbed at center ice by his teammates amid the roar of the sellout crowd of 21,273. The Canadiens, who have six games remaining, lead the Northeast Division and the Eastern Conference with 94 points. Montreal won each of its eight games against Boston this season and extended its win streak against the Bruins to 11. The streak is the Canadiens’ longest against the Bruins in the 84-year rivalry between the two teams. Montreal won 10 straight against Boston during the 1944-45 season. Andrei Markov and Andrei Kostitsyn scored in the first for Montreal, which won consecutive games for the first time since March 6-8 despite blowing a pair of one-goal leads. Marc Savard and Petteri Nokelainen scored for the Bruins, who are tied with Philadelphia for the final two playoff spots in the East with 84 points and seven games remaining. Ninth-place Washington has 82 points and six games remaining, while 10th-place Buffalo is two points back and plays two of its seven games against Boston.
Associated Press