aROUND THE NHL Monday’s games

Islanders 2, Blue Jackets 0

UNIONDALE, N.Y.

Thomas Greiss made 31 saves in his fifth shutout of the season, helping the New York Islanders beat the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ryan Pulock and Anders Lee scored as New York (40-22-7) improved its playoff positioning in the tough Metropolitan Division. The Islanders improved to 16-8-1 against divisional opponents. Columbus (38-28-3) lost for the fourth time in six games, dropping into a tie with Montreal for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves. Pulock put the Islanders in front when he drove a slap shot by Bobrovsky 6:11 into the first. Pulock surpassed his point total from his rookie year, registering his 33rd point of his sophomore season. Cal Clutterbuck assisted on the play in his first game back since being sidelined for three games with a minor upper-body injury. Adam Pelech recorded the secondary assist with a hustle play along the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone.

Hurricanes 3, Avalanche 0

DENVER

Andrei Svechnikov had two goals and an assist, Petr Mrazek stopped 38 shots and the Carolina Hurricanes earned a rare win at Pepsi Center by beating the Colorado Avalanche. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton also scored as the Hurricanes won in Denver for just the second time in 13 games since Colorado moved into its longtime home for the 1999-2000 season. Mrazek’s fourth shutout of the season propelled the Hurricanes into a tie with Pittsburgh for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina currently holds the tiebreaker. Colorado remains two points behind Minnesota for the final wild-card spot. Philipp Grubauer turned back 30 shots.

Flyers 3, Senators 2

PHILADELPHIA

Oskar Lindblom, Michael Raffl and Scott Laughton scored in the second period to lead the hard-charging Philadelphia Flyers to a win over the Ottawa Senators. The Flyers were 16-23-6 on Jan. 12 and seemingly had lost hope for a playoff appearance, playing out the string under new general manager Chuck Fletcher and interim coach Scott Gordon. Led by rookie goalie Carter Hart, the Flyers reeled off an eight-game winning streak over late January-February to climb out of the NHL cellar and have now won four of five games to inch toward the eighth seed. Chris Tierney beat Brian Elliott, subbing for the injured Hart, for his eighth goal of the season in the first period in front of a listless crowd. But the Flyers perked up in the second and ripped off three goals against Craig Anderson in a scoring frenzy that had Gritty dancing. The Flyers tied it on a bit of a pinball play — Shayne Gostisbehere fired a slapper off Sean Couturier’s knee and the puck pinged off Lindblom’s skate for the quirky goal. Raffl tipped in his sixth goal of the season for a 2-1 lead in his 400th career NHL game, and Laughton followed with his 11th late in the period. The Flyers are 6-1-1 over their last eight and are as close to a wild-card spot as they’ve been since November, before they fired general manager Ron Hextall and coach Dave Hakstol. Filip Chlapik scored his first goal of the season with 3 minutes left.

Lightning 6, Maple Leafs 2

TORONTO

Tyler Johnson and Cedric Paquette each scored two goals, and the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. Anthony Cirelli and Ondrej Palat also scored for Tampa Bay (53-13-4), and Ryan McDonagh, Yanni Gourde and Jan Rutta had two assists apiece. Nikita Kucherov helped set up the game’s first goal for his NHL-best 111th point of the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves to improve to 12-1-2 over his last 15 starts. Auston Matthews and Connor Brown scored for Toronto (42-22-5). Frederik Andersen allowed four goals on 19 shots before he was pulled early in the second period. Garret Sparks finished with 21 saves in relief. The Lightning became just the seventh team in NHL history to reach 110 points through 70 games, joining the Montreal Canadiens (1975-76, 1976-77 and 1977-78), Boston Bruins (1970-71 and 1971-72) and Detroit Red Wings (1995-96).

Sharks 3, Wild 0

ST. PAUL, MINN.

Martin Jones made 24 saves to continue his hot streak and lead the San Jose Sharks to a victory over the Minnesota Wild. Barclay Goodrow, Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, who won their fifth straight. Devan Dubnyk made 26 saves for the Wild. For Jones, it was his third shutout and 34th win of the season. Twenty-five of those wins have come since the start of December, the best total in the league over that span. Jones is the first goaltender in San Jose history to post four consecutive 30-win seasons, and he’s the only goaltender in the league since 2015-16 to have four 30-win seasons. Over his last 22 starts, Jones has allowed two or fewer goals 14 times.

Blackhawks 7, Coyotes 1

CHICAGO

Brendan Perlini scored three goals against his former team for his first career hat trick, and the Chicago Blackhawks ripped the Arizona Coyotes for their third straight win. Patrick Kane fired in his 41st goal as Chicago moved within five points of the second wild card in the Western Conference. Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad and Chris Kunitz also scored, and Corey Crawford made 24 saves. Arizona had won eight of nine to surge back into the playoff picture. Richard Panik scored against his former team early in the first period, but the Blackhawks took charge midway through the opening frame. Arizona’s Darcy Kuemper made his 10th straight start, but was replaced by Calvin Pickard in the second period after giving up four goals on 16 shots. Pickard blocked 15 of 18 shots. Perlini has six goals in his last five games and 11 for the season.

Associated Press