NHL roundup: Blue Jackets extend streak to 16 games, within 1 of record
Cam Atkinson and William Karlsson scored power-play goals and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio, to extend their winning streak to 16 games – one away from the longest ever in the NHL.
Nick Foligno also scored for the Blue Jackets, who can tie the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins with a victory Thursday night at Washington. The near-sellout crowd chanted “We want 16!” as the clock ticked down.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots for Columbus, which started the new year on the right note after winning all 14 games in December. The Blue Jackets haven’t lost since Nov. 26 thanks in part to the league’s best power-play unit.
Oscar Klefbom scored for Edmonton, which was limited throughout by Columbus’ hard-pressing defense. Cam Talbot had 32 saves for the Oilers.
Montreal 2, Nashville 1 (OT): Shea Weber scored in the third period of his return to the Predators and Max Pacioretty had a goal late in overtime for the Canadiens in Nashville, Tennessee.
Weber helped send it to overtime with his tying goal at 4:26 of the third. This was the first game between these teams since a stunning blockbuster trade last June, when they swapped All-Star defensemen, with the Predators getting P.K. Subban.
Carey Price made 22 saves for his first win in four games.
Kevin Fiala scored and Pekka Rinne made 41 saves to help the Predators snap a three-game losing streak against Montreal.
Subban was placed on injured reserve Sunday and missed his eighth game with an upper-body injury. Subban was announced earlier Tuesday as the fans’ choice as Central Division captain for the NHL All-Star Game.
Washington 6, Toronto 5 (OT): Alex Ovechkin scored 22 seconds into overtime and the Capitals rallied in Washington to end the Mapl Leafs’ winning streak at five.
Ovechkin’s 18th goal of the season came after the Capitals erased multiple deficits to win their third in a row. The Russian superstar moved to within five points of 1,000 for his career.
Justin Williams had a goal and two assists, and T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and John Carlson also scored for Washington. Philipp Grubauer made 15 saves in relief of Braden Holtby, who was pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots.
Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown, Frederik Gauthier, Leo Komarov and Mitch Marner scored for the Maple Leafs. Frederik Andersen made 23 saves.
Los Angeles 2, San Jose 1 (OT): Tanner Pearson scored 58 seconds into overtime to help the Kings rally for a victory over the Sharks in San Jose, California, and a sweep of the home-and-home series.
Jeff Carter tied it early in the third with his 21st goal and then set up the winner after San Jose lost possession in the offensive zone.
Carter came in on a 2-on-1 and passed to Pearson for the one-timer that gave the Kings their league-leading seventh overtime win of the season.
Peter Budaj made 26 saves and Los Angeles followed up a 3-2 win at home over first-place San Jose on Saturday night with another on the road to even the season series at two games apiece.
Logan Couture scored the lone goal for the Sharks, who lost for just the second time all season when leading after two periods. Martin Jones made 33 saves.
Buffalo 4, N.Y. Rangers 1: Evander Kane and Justin Bailey scored 1:42 apart around the first intermission, leading the Sabres over the Rangers in New York.
Zemgus Girgensons and Jack Eichel also scored, and Anders Nilsson stopped 24 shots to help the Sabres win for just the second time in eight games (2-4-3). Sam Reinhart had two assists, extending his career-best points streak to seven games and giving him two goals and seven assists in that stretch.
Buffalo has beaten the Rangers in three straight meetings – including twice this season – after losing the previous nine.
Nick Holden scored and Henrik Lundqvist made 15 saves for the Rangers, who were trying for their first four-game winning streak since a five-game run Oct. 30 to Nov. 6. The Rangers have had four three-game winning streaks since.
New Jersey 3, Carolina 1: Adam Henrique, Michael Cammalleri and Kyle Palmieri each had a goal and an assist, leading the Devils over the Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Carolina ended an 11-game home points streak (10-0-1), and the Devils clinched the four-game season series. New Jersey has defeated the Hurricanes twice in regulation and once in overtime in three meetings.
Sebastian Aho scored for Carolina.
Devils goalie Cory Schneider made 29 saves a night after shutting out the visiting Boston Bruins.
Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward stopped 15 of 17 shots on goal. The Devils had a season-low 18 shots, including Palmieri’s empty-netter.
Winnipeg 6, Tampa Bay 4: Nikolaj Ehlers had two goals, including a penalty shot during Winnipeg’s three-goal second period, to lift the Jets over the Lightning in Tampa, Florida.
The Jets, coming of a pair of losses where they were outscored 11-5, also got goals from Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrik Laine. Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves
Matthew Peca got his first NHL goal for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov had two goals, Ondrej Palat also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots.