SATURDAY’S OTHER NHL GAMES

Blue Jackets 4, Flyers 3

PHILADELPHIA

Although he’s diminutive in size, Cam Atkinson plays big in front of the net. Atkinson scored two more goals as part of an eight-point game for Columbus’ top line to lead the Blue Jackets to their third straight victory. Listed at 5-foot-8, 179 pounds, Atkins upped his season total to 22 goals. He has scored at least 20 in six straight seasons. Atkinson netted both from close range, something he said is the key to his prowess. “I score a lot of my goals around the net, and you have to put yourself there,” he said. “I guess good reads, put yourself where you think the puck is going to go and good things happen.” Atkinson notched the first of his two scores with 10:30 left in the second period. Carter Hart made a stellar kick save on Atkinson’s first attempt, but the Blue Jackets star stayed with it and roofed the follow-up shot from the left of the crease. “I heard the crowd going bananas; they went from 100 to zero pretty quickly,” Atkinson said. “He made a great save initially, just stuck with it.”

He went to the other side of the goal for his 22nd of the season, finishing a good passing play with Artemi Panarin making a move before finding Scott Harrington, who sent the feed cross-ice to Atkinson. Panarin had a goal and two assists and Pierre-Luc Dubois added three assists as part of a big night for the Blue Jackets’ top line. They almost lost the opportunity for that success because of some early-game struggles.

Coyotes 6, Avalanche 4

GLENDALE, ARIZ.

Brad Richardson scored twice in the final 3:39 and Arizona Coyotes defeated Colorado. Richardson’s ninth goal of the season broke a 4-all tie and his empty-net goal was his 10th and gave him the team lead in scoring. The empty-netter came with 12 seconds left. Derek Stepan, Christian Fisher and Richard Panik scored for Arizona, and Conor Garland added his first career NHL goal. Alexander Kerfoot scored twice, and Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon added goals for the Avalanche, who have lost three of four. J.T. Compher added two assists for Colorado, which entered in fourth place in the Western Conference.

Capitals 4, Senators 0

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

Pheonix Copley made 35 saves for his first career shutout and Washington beat Ottawa. Brett Connolly, Matt Niskanen, Jakub Vrana and Michal Kempny scored for the Capitals (22-10-3). Washington is 7-1-0 in its past eight games and has scored at least four goals in 10 of its past 13. Mike McKenna stopped 29 shots in place of the injured Craig Anderson. Copley is the first rookie goalie to blank the Senators since James Reimer in 2011. Washington took a 3-0 lead midway through the second when Vrana stole the puck from Mark Stone and beat McKenna with a flashy move. Kempny made it 4-0 at the 13-minute mark when his point shot deflected off Cody Ceci.

Maple Leafs 5, Rangers 3

TORONTO

Mitch Marner scored twice during a wild third period and Toronto beat New York. The teams combined for six goals in the final period, including Marner’s empty-net goal with 20 seconds left after Chris Kreider cut the margin to 4-3. Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Marleau and Andreas Johnsson also scored for Toronto (23-10-2). Frederik Andersen made 25 saves, and John Tavares and Johnsson each had two assists as the Leafs won their third straight game. Neal Pionk and Kevin Hayes had a goal and an assist each for New York (15-13-5). Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves.

Kings 3, Sharks 2, OT

SAN JOSE,CALIF.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored in overtime in his return from an ankle injury to lift Los Angeles over San Jose. Kovalchuk also scored in the first period, and Alex Iafallo had a goal and an assist. Kovalchuk had missed 10 games after having an ankle bursectomy. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves. Joe Pavelski scored a tying goal with 30 seconds left in the third period. Martin Jones stopped 28 shots for San Jose.

Blues 3, Flames 1

CALGARY, ALBERTA

David Perron had a goal and an assist, Jake Allen made 28 saves for St. Louis. Perron has nine goals and 11 assists in 16 games against Calgary since the start of the 2014-15 season. Tyler Bozak and Oskar Sundqvist also scored to help St. Louis finish 2-1-0 on their trip through Western Canada. Matthew Tkachuk scored his 16th goal for Calgary. The Flames have lost three straight. Calgary lost for the first time in regulation at home since Nov. 15, ending a 7-0-2 string.

Canadiens 4, Golden Knights 3, OT

LAS VEGAS

Phillip Danault completed a hat trick late in the third period, Paul Byron scored in overtime for Montreal. Danault entered the game with two goals this season. His third score of the game came with 1:25 left in the third period, setting up Byron’s backhand goal 1:59 into OT. Carey Price made 23 saves, and the Canadiens swept the season series against Vegas. Brandon Pirri scored twice and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Vegas. William Karlsson, who leads Vegas with 29 points, had two assists. Marc-Andre Fleury, one win shy of his 50th as a Golden Knight, made 43 saves.

Panthers 2, Red Wings 1

DETROIT

Roberto Luongo made 33 saves for Florida. Mike Hoffman and Evgeni Dadonov scored for Florida. Panthers leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau and captain Aleksander Barkov each had two assists. Barkov has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last four games. Thomas Vanek scored for Detroit and Jimmy Howard had 21 saves. Vanek made it 2-1 at the 10-minute mark of the second period with his fifth goal. Hoffman’s power-play goal gave Florida a 1-0 lead 3:09 into the game. It was his 16th goal and came nine seconds after Detroit defenseman Dennis Cholowski went off for holding. Dadonov made it 2-0 with 2:39 left in the first period. It was his 17th goal.

Sabres 3, Ducks 0

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Linus Ullmark made 36 saves and Buffalo got goals from Rasmus Dahlin and Jeff Skinner in beating Anaheim. Sabres broadcaster Rick Jeanneret was taken out of the press box on a stretcher early in the third period. It was unclear what happened to the 76-year-old Jeanneret, who opened the broadcast dressed in a red Santa Claus suit and a white beard. He has been the team’s play-by-play man since 1971 — the longest tenure with a single team in NHL history. Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart each had two assists and Connor Sheary added an empty-net goal as Buffalo snapped a two-game skid in the second game of a back-to-back. The Ducks finished a five-game road trip with their third consecutive loss following a 9-0-1 stretch. John Gibson stopped 21 shots.

Bruins 5, Predators 2

BOSTON

Patrice Bergeron returned to the lineup after missing 16 games and scored two goals, reaching 300 for his career in leading Boston. Bergeron set up Brad Marchand’s tie-breaking score as Boston won for the sixth time in eight games. David Pastrnak had his team-leading 23rd goal and added two assists. Marchand had two assists and defenseman Charlie McAvoy set up Bergeron’s first goal. Jaroslav Halak stopped 28 shots in his third start for Boston and assisted on Sean Kuraly’s empty-netter. Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris scored for Nashville, which lost its fourth straight (0-3-1) for the first time this season. Pekka Rinne made 27 saves.

Associated Press