AROUND THE NHL | Thursday’s games

Hurricanes 2, Canadiens 0

RALEIGH, N.C.

Cam Ward stopped 27 shots in his second shutout of the season, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens. Brett Pesce and Brock McGinn scored to help the Hurricanes win their third straight, sweep the season series from Montreal and keep themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Carolina entered two points out of a playoff spot. Carey Price made 28 saves for the Canadiens, who have lost three in a row and fell to 2-5-2 in their last nine games. McGinn made it a two-goal game with 5:09 remaining, taking a smooth pass from Justin Williams and slipping the puck past Price. That gave Ward some breathing room, and he finished with the 27th shutout of his 13-year career — but his first in 36 games against the Canadiens.

Maple Leafs 4, Rangers 0

NEW YORK

Curtis McElhinney stopped 25 shots to give the Toronto Maple Leafs their second straight shutout. James van Riemsdyk, Patrick Marleau, Zach Hyman and Justin Holl scored to help the Maple Leafs get their fourth straight win and a sweep of the teams’ three-game season series. McElhinney was barely tested in his seventh career shutout and second of the season. The Maple Leafs extended their shutout streak to 142 minutes, 17 seconds since Dallas’ Tyler Seguin scored late in the second period of Toronto’s 4-1 win last Thursday.

Panthers 4, Sabres 2

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Harri Sateri stopped the final 19 shots he faced and 30 overall, and Keith Yandle had a goal and two assists in leading the Florida Panthers to a win over the Buffalo Sabres. Mike Matheson, Denis Malgin and Colton Sceviour also scored for the Panthers, who won consecutive games for the first time since winning five in a row from Dec. 19-30. Sateri, a 28-year-old NHL rookie, also won his second career game with starter Roberto Luongo and backup James Reimer both sidelined with lower body injuries. Sceviour’s goal scored with 2:24 left sealed the victory as he was allowed to drive up the left wing and backhand in a shot that beat Chad Johnson on the short side.

Devils 4, Flyers 3

NEWARK, N.J.

Nico Hischier scored on a deflection with 1:27 to play and the New Jersey Devils rallied to beat the Philadelphia Flyers. Damon Severson scored with 9:00 left to tie it, and Hischier’s first goal in 11 games gave New Jersey its second straight win and spoiled goaltender Alex Lyon’s first NHL start. Kyle Palmieri and Drew Stafford also scored for the Devils, who have won only four times in 14 games (4-7-3) since Dec. 29. Keith Kinkaid made 22 saves. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the Flyers.

Bruins 3, Blues 1

BOSTON

Tuukka Rask made 32 saves and extended his personal point streak to 19 games lifting the Boston Bruins to a win over the St. Louis Blues. Rask is now 17-0-2 in his last 19 starts and the Bruins improved to 15-1-4 in their last 20 games overall. David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and David Backes scored for Boston. In a game featuring two of the top three teams in goals against average, the goalies were the story as Jake Allen made 22 of his 43 saves in the second period — including a spectacular glove stop of Krejci. Rask matched Allen by robbing Jaden Schwartz 1:45 into the third period with a glove save of his own. With the goalie pulled, Schwartz gave the Bruins a scare when he extended his scoring streak to five games and cut the lead to 2-1 with 1:32 remaining. Backes scored an empty-netter with 1 second left to end it.

Associated Press