Tuesday's NHL Capsules

Wednesday, 04.02.2014 / 1:55 AM The Canadian Press

ST. LOUIS - Ryan Miller stopped 31 shots and T.J. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in a shootout in the St. Louis Blues' 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

Western Conference leader St. Louis has 109 points, one fewer than East leader Boston for the top spot in the NHL.

Miller, who earned his 29th career shutout, made a skate save against Vincent Lecavalier and a glove save on Claude Giroux in the shootout.

One of Miller's best saves came with 1:30 to go in overtime when he stretched out and denied Jakub Voracek's bid to slide the puck under his pads.

SHARKS 5, OILERS 4

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Patrick Marleau scored his 32nd goal of the season with 7:29 left in the third period to lift San Jose over Edmonton.

The Sharks had blown a 3-1 lead and were 0 for 5 on power plays before Marleau rocketed a shot past Ben Scrivens after the goalie had deflected a one-timer by San Jose's Brent Burns.

Dan Boyle, Andrew Desjardins and Tommy Wingels also scored for the Sharks, who moved within one point of first-place Anaheim in the Pacific Division.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and two assists for Edmonton, which lost for the fourth time in five meetings between the teams this season. Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Oilers.

SABRES 3, AVALANCHE 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tyler Ennis scored twice in the third period and again in the shootout.

Ville Leino had the winner in the ninth round of the shootout and Nathan Lieuwen made 33 saves for his first NHL win.

The Devils are 0-11 this season in shootouts. They are three points out of the Eastern Conference's final wild card spot.

Dainius Zubrus gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead in the second period and Tuomo Ruutu tipped Andy Greene's shot past Lieuwen at the 6:58 mark of the third to tie it 2-2.

Cory Schneider made 25 saves for New Jersey.

AVALANCHE 3, BLUE JACKETS 2, OT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Gabriel Landeskog scored twice, including a power-play goal at 4:27 of overtime to help the Avalanche extend their winning streak to four.

Rookie scoring leader Nathan MacKinnon, centring the top line with Matt Duchene expected to miss a month with a knee injury, assisted on both of Landeskog's scores.

Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots — including a prime chance by Blake Comeau late in regulation to pick up his league-leading 38th win.

With 102 points, Colorado moved three ahead of Chicago for second place in the Central Division.

Cam Atkinson and Comeau scored in the second period for Columbus, which is hanging on to the second wild-card spot and eighth playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

LIGHTNING 3, CANADIENS 1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Johnson scored the go-ahead goal on a short-handed breakaway late in the third period and the Lightning clinched a playoff berth.

The win, and losses by New Jersey and Washington, gave Tampa Bay its first post-season berth since 2011 and only its second in seven years. The Canadiens also qualified for the post-season by virtue of the losses by New Jersey and Washington.

Canadiens right wing Brendan Gallagher was on one knee in the low slot when he redirected a rebound past goalie Ben Bishop to open the scoring 10:18 into the first period.

Ryan Callahan made it 1-1 on a power play 9:19 into the second, skating through the left circle toward Price and lifting a shot high into the net past Carey Price.

Alex Killorn added an empty-netter with 45 seconds left in the third period.

JETS 2, COYOTES 1, SO

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Andrew Ladd scored in regulation and in the second round of the shootout, and Ondrej Pavelec stopped Antoine Vermette's attempt to send Winnipeg past Phoenix.

The Coyotes dropped into a tie for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with the Dallas Stars, who blanked the Capitals 5-0. Dallas has a game in hand with seven left to play.

Ladd opened the scoring, firing the puck past Coyotes goalie Thomas Greiss from inside the left faceoff circle 10:01 into the first period.

Zbynek Michalek tied it 19 seconds in the middle frame.

Jets wing Blake Wheeler was whistled for a high-sticking penalty with 3:45 into overtime, but the Coyotes couldn't take advantage.

Pavelec finished with 28 saves and Greiss stopped 21 shots.

HURRICANES 4, PENGUINS 1

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rookie Elias Lindholm scored twice for the first multi-goal game of his career and Carolina denied listless Pittsburgh a chance to wrap up the Metropolitan Division title.

Eric Staal and Justin Faulk also scored for Carolina while Jeff Skinner added two assists. Anton Khudobin stopped 30 shots as the Hurricanes avoided being swept in the season series by Pittsburgh for the first time in 18 years.

Chris Kunitz scored his 35th goal to give Pittsburgh an early lead, but the Penguins crumbled over the final two periods. Sidney Crosby picked up an assist to push his NHL-leading point total to 100, but Carolina held the otherwise potent Pittsburgh offence in check.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves, but received little help playing behind a sloppy defence.

STARS 5, CAPITALS 0

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tyler Seguin scored his 33rd goal, Dustin Jeffrey got his first two of the season, and Dallas routed Washington in a game between ninth-place teams trying to leapfrog into a playoff spot.

Ray Whitney and Ryan Garbutt also scored, Alex Chiasson had three assists, and Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves for his fourth shutout of the season for the Stars.

Dallas began the day one point behind the Phoenix Coyotes for the final post-season berth in the Western Conference. The Coyotes hosted Winnipeg later Tuesday.

The Stars have won five of six in their push to make the playoffs for first time since 2008 — the same year the Capitals began streak of post-season appearances that is in danger of coming to an end.

RANGERS 3, CANUCKS 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Martin St. Louis scored his first goal with New York and Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves in the victory over Vancouver.

Daniel Carcillo and Benoit Pouliot also scored for New York, which has won seven of eight games and sits comfortably in an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Ryan Kesler scored for Vancouver, and Eddie Lack finished with 28 saves as the Canucks' slim post-season hopes took another hit.

Vancouver entered play five points back of the final wild-card berth in the West and has just five games remaining on its schedule.

Tuesday's game marked the regular-season return of Rangers coach Alain Vigneault to Rogers Arena. Vigneault coached in Vancouver for seven seasons, winning six division titles and leading the Canucks within a victory of the 2011 Stanley Cup.

ISLANDERS 4, PANTHERS 2

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Bailey had a goal and assist, and New York kept up its strong finish with a victory over Florida.

New York, on the verge of elimination in the Eastern Conference playoff race, quickly bounced back from Quinton Howden's short-handed goal less than two minutes in and sent the Panthers to their fourth straight loss.

Travis Hamonic, Matt Martin and Mike Halmo also scored, Colin McDonald had two assists, and Evgeni Nabokov made 20 saves for the Islanders, 4-0-1 in their past five games.

Brandon Pirri closed the scoring for Florida, making it 4-2 with his 11th goal — on a power play — with 5.9 seconds left in the game. Scott Clemmensen stopped 36 shots for Florida.

MAPLE LEAFS 3, FLAMES 2

TORONTO (AP) — Toronto snapped an eight-game losing streak to remain in the playoff chase.

Jay McClement, Dave Bolland and David Clarkson scored for the Maple Leafs, who got 20 saves from Jonathan Bernier in his first victory since March 10.

The two points were the first Toronto picked up since beating Los Angeles on March 13. It put the Leafs at 82 points, still behind Detroit (84) and Columbus (83) in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.

Matt Stajan and Kris Russell scored for Calgary, which lost for the third time in four games and is not in playoff contention in the West. Like Bernier, Karri Ramo made 20 saves.

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