Around the League notebook for Tuesday, Dec. 23

TUESDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

BOSTON 5, Nashville 3

Carolina 2, NEW JERSEY 1 (SO)

Montreal 3, NY ISLANDERS 1

NY RANGERS 4, Washington 2

Philadelphia 5, MINNESOTA 2

Toronto 4, DALLAS 0

DETROIT 6, Buffalo 3

TAMPA BAY 4, Pittsburgh 3

Arizona 5, EDMONTON 1

COLORADO 5, St. Louis 0

Winnipeg 5, CHICAGO 1

RANGERS EXTEND WIN STREAK TO SEVEN

Rick Nash

Left Wing - NYR

GOALS: 22 | ASST: 14 | PTS: 36
SOG: 115 | +/-: 16

*The Rangers have earned at least one point in 11 consecutive games against Metropolitan Division opponents (10-0-1) and are 10-2-1 against teams in the Metropolitan Division this season. The last time they had at least one point in 11 straight games against teams in their division was an 11-game stretch from Jan. 31-March 27, 2008 (8-0-3 during that span).

*Nash (2-1—3), who had the game-winning goal, matched a season-high with three points (also Oct. 9 vs. the St. Louis Blues and Nov. 11 vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins). He has four multigoal games this season and 13 since joining the Rangers prior to the 2012-13 season. Nash ranks second in the NHL in goals (22), even-strength goals (17) and leads the Rangers with 36 points this season (22-14—36).

*St. Louis (2-0—2) scored twice on the power-play and leads the Rangers in power-play goals (five) and power-play points (nine, tied) this season. St. Louis has 23 career multipoint games against the Capitals and has 82 points (31-51—82) in 75 career games against Washington.

*Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves, including 19 in the third period, to earn his sixth straight victory. He has allowed two goals or fewer in all six games while posting a 1.63 goals-against average, a .938 save percentage and one shutout.

JOHNSON'S HAT TRICK POWERS LIGHTNING

The Tampa Bay Lightning took a four-goal lead backed by a Tyler Johnson hat trick and survived three straight goals from the Pittsburgh Penguins to hold on for a 4-3 victory. The win was the Lightning's first against the Penguins since Nov. 17, 2011 and snapped a 10-game losing streak against Pittsburgh. With the win the Lightning improved to 21-11-4 (46 points), tied with Montreal (22-11-2, 46 points) for most points in the Atlantic Division.

*Johnson's hat trick was the second of his career (also Jan. 24, 2014 vs. the Colorado Avalanche). He extended his point streak to five games (5-3—8) and leads the Lightning with 37 points in 35 games this season (13-24—37).

*Nikita Kucherov (1-2—3) and Ondrej Palat (0-3—3) also had three-point games. Kucherov has 14 goals this season, second on the Lightning behind Steven Stamkos (19).

*Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the win and improved to 2-1-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average and .940 save percentage since being recalled by the Lightning on Dec. 16.

CANADIENS, RED WINGS KEEP PACE IN ATLANTIC

Carey Price

Goalie - MTL

RECORD: 19-9-1
GAA: 2.23 | SVP: .926

*Andrei Markov scored his fifth goal of the season while skating in his 800th career NHL game, all of which have been with the Canadiens.

* Down 3-1 in the second period, the Detroit Red Wings rallied with five straight goals on their way to a 6-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres. Detroit improved to 18-8-9 this season, and their 45 points are one behind Montreal and Tampa Bay for the Atlantic Division lead.

*Gustav Nyquist (0-3—3) matched a season-high with three points (also Oct. 31 vs. the Los Angeles Kings) and Tomas Tatar (2-0—2) had his third multigoal game of the season. Tatar's 14 goals are tied with Nyquist for the Red Wings lead this season.

*Detroit also got multipoint games from Jakub Kindl (0-2—2), Danny DeKeyser (1-1—2) and Henrik Zetterberg (1-1—2). Zetterberg leads the Red Wings with 30 points this season (7-23—30).

* The Red Wings scored four power-play goals, including three straight in the third period. It was the most power-play goals they had scored in a game since scoring four in a 4-3 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 27, 2010.

JETS DEFEAT BLACKHAWKS IN CENTRAL SHOWDOWN

Mathieu Perreault (2-0—2) continued his hot hand for the Winnipeg Jets, who took a 3-0 lead in the first period en route to a 5-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks, halting Chicago's home winning streak at eight games. The Jets have earned 24 of 43 points on the road this season; they're 10-4-4 away from MTS Centre, including 4-0-3 in their past seven road games.

*Perreault's multigoal effort stretched his point streak to eight games (5-4—9), the longest by a Jets player this season and the longest active streak in the NHL.

*Andrew Ladd (0-2—2) and Blake Wheeler (1-1—2) also had multipoint games for the Jets, and Chris Thorburn (0-1—1) reached 100 points in his NHL career.

*Rookie goaltender Michael Hutchinson matched a career high with 38 saves (also April 11 vs. the Calgary Flames) to improve to 8-2-2 this season. He leads the NHL with a 1.67 goals-against average and .944 save percentage.

BERNIER, VARLAMOV LEAD MAPLE LEAFS, AVALANCHE TO SHUTOUT WINS

Semyon Varlamov

Goalie - COL

RECORD: 5-6-5
GAA: 3.01 | SVP: .913

*Bernier's shutout was the ninth of his career, and the 43 saves were the most he has recorded in a shutout. He improved to 14-8-3 this season, with a 2.65 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and two shutouts.

*James van Riemsdyk (1-2—3), Nazem Kadri (1-1—2) and Phil Kessel (0-2—2) all had multipoint games for the Maple Leafs, who have won 20 games before Christmas for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

*Varlamov, who was playing his first game since Dec. 5, made 12 saves in the third period to earn his second shutout of the season and 15th of his NHL career. It also was his first win since Nov. 15 against the New Jersey Devils.

*The Avalanche, who have won three straight and improved to 4-0-2 in their past six games, received multipoint games from five players: Jarome Iginla (1-1—2), Brad Stuart (0-2—2), Alex Tanguay (1-1—2), Ryan O'Reilly (1-1—2) and Gabriel Landeskog (0-2—2). Iginla now has 73 points (29-44—73) in 67 career games against St. Louis.

*Prior to the game, Stuart was honored for playing in his 1,000th career NHL game, a milestone he reached on Dec. 18th in Pittsburgh.

OTHER TUESDAY HIGHLIGHTS

Here are some other highlights from Tuesday night’s action.

*Sam Gagner had a season-high four points (2-2—4) to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 5-1 win against his former team, the Edmonton Oilers. It was the most points Gagner had in a game since his career-high eight-point night (4-4—8) on Feb. 2, 2012 against the Chicago Blackhawks as a member of the Oilers. Martin Hanzal (0-3—3) and Brandon Gormley (1-1—2, career high) also had multipoint games. With the win the Coyotes improved to 5-0-0 against the Oilers this season and extended their point streak against Edmonton to 18 games, their longest point streak against the same opponent in franchise history.

*The NHL's leading scorer, Jakub Voracek, had two assists for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild. Voracek is on a four-game point streak (3-6—9) and continues to lead the League's scoring race with 46 points (14-32—46) in 34 games this season. Teammate Claude Giroux scored his 11th goal of the season and is tied for third in NHL scoring with 41 points (11-30—41).

* Brad Marchand scored twice, including the game-winner, and Patrice Bergeron had added three assists (0-3—3) to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-3 win against the Nashville Predators. Boston also got multipoint games from Loui Eriksson (2-0—2) and Chris Kelly (0-2—2) to improve to 9-2-2 in their past 13 home games.

*Defenseman Ron Hainsey scored the game-tying goal at 11:59 of the third period and Chris Terry scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 2-1 win against the New Jersey Devils.

BLACKHAWKS TRIM GIRGENSONS' LEAD IN ALL-STAR FAN VOTE

Buffalo Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons is the top vote-getter for the fourth straight week in the 2015 NHL All-Star Fan Vote presented by SiriusXM with 1,291,186 total votes. Close behind are five Chicago Blackhawks teammates -- forwards Patrick Kane (815,990) and Jonathan Toews (803,034), defensemen Duncan Keith (790,922) and Brent Seabrook (641,736), and goaltender Corey Crawford (714,471). Through five weeks of balloting, more than 25 million votes have been collected. The leaderboard of the top vote-getters is available at NHL.com/vote.

LOOSE PUCKS

Capitals defenseman John Carlson (0-2—2) passed Richard Green (31-127—158) for sole possession of 10th place on the Capitals franchise list for points by a defenseman with 37-123—160. … Chris Kunitz scored his 10th goal of the season to record his 300th point as a Penguin. … Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin (0-2—2) is tied with Flyers forward Claude Giroux (11-30—41) for third in League scoring with 41 points (16-25—41). … Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald (0-1—1) recorded his 100th career NHL point. …Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scored his 16th goal of the season to take sole possession of third place for most goals by a Russian-born NHL player with 438. He trails Sergei Fedorov (483) and Alexander Mogilny (473). …Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello (0-2—2) now has 111 career NHL points, tying Espen Knutsen for the most by a Norwegian-born NHL player. … Sabres forward Joel Armia, Hurricanes forward Brendan Woods and Penguins forward Dominik Uher all made their NHL debuts Tuesday. …The Dallas Stars showed a tribute video during a stoppage in play and fans gave Stephane Robidas a standing ovation in his return to Dallas with the Maple Leafs.