Around the League notebook for Thursday, Feb. 19

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

NY ISLANDERS 5, Nashville 2

Vancouver 5, NY RANGERS 4 (SO)

Buffalo 3, PHILADELPHIA 2 (SO)

Columbus 2, PITTSBURGH 1

WASHINGTON 5, Winnipeg 1

Florida 3, MONTREAL 2 (SO)

San Jose 5, DALLAS 2

NIEMI BACKSTOPS SHARKS IN STADIUM SERIES TUNE-UP . . .

Playing their final game before they host the Los Angeles Kings in the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series on Saturday at Levi's Stadium (10 p.m. ET, CBC, NBCSN, TVA Sports 2), the San Jose Sharks opened a 3-0 lead before the midway point and Antti Niemi stopped 37 shots, including 27 during the final two periods, to help the Sharks end a two-game skid.

* With the victory, the Sharks (30-22-8, 68 points) re-entered the Stanley Cup Playoff picture in the Western Conference, leapfrogging the idle Kings (27-18-12, 66 points) into the second wild-card position. Their closest competition, Los Angeles and the Minnesota Wild, each hold three games in hand. However, San Jose owns the regulation/overtime win tiebreaker (Sharks: 28, Wild: 27, Kings: 26).

* Niemi improved to 6-1-0 with a 2.14 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in his past seven road games, including four straight wins. His 37 saves were five shy of his season-high, set Oct. 30 at Minnesota.

* Andrew Desjardins scored two of the Sharks' opening three goals for his fourth career multipoint game and first two-goal performance since Oct. 8, 2011 against the Arizona Coyotes. His five goals this season are one better than his previous high set in 76 games in 2011-12.

* Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl each had two assists. Pavelski has six goals and six assists in his past 10 games and leads the Sharks with 55 points.

* The Sharks earned their fourth straight win against the Stars and improved to 5-0-1 in their past six games.

. . . CANUCKS RALLY THREE TIMES TO CLIMB IN PACIFIC

Henrik Sedin scored with two minutes left in regulation to help the Vancouver Canucks tie the game for the third time and Alexandre Burrows scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout to lift the Canucks to their first win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden since Nov. 19, 2008.

* With the victory, the Canucks (33-21-3, 69 points) leapfrogged the idle Calgary Flames (32-22-4, 68 points) into second place in the Pacific Division, where the second- and fourth-place teams are separated by three points. Vancouver owns the ROW tiebreaker against each club below them.

* Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the Canucks tied a game at least three times and won for the first time since a 5-4 shootout win April 3, 2012 against the Anaheim Ducks.

* Sedin had two goals for his second multigoal game of the season and 13th multipoint game. He leads the Canucks with 50 points in 57 games, surpassing his goal total (12) and equaling his point total from 2013-14.

* Burrows scored his third career game-deciding goal. Radim Vrbata clinched the win with his 36th career shootout goal, three shy of active leaders Jonathan Toews and Brad Boyes.

* Ryan Miller stopped 30 shots plus both attempts in the tiebreaker, for his first win against the Rangers since March 23, 2012, when he played for the Buffalo Sabres. He leads all active goaltenders with 52 career shootout wins.

* Bo Horvat scored to stretch his point streak to five games, while Jannik Hansen had two assists to push his point streak to four games. Daniel Sedin and Ronald Kenins also had two assists each.

* The Canucks ended a five-game losing streak against the Rangers, dating to Jan. 13, 2011; Vancouver was 9-1-0 in their previous 10 games against New York before that slide.

HALAK MATCHES FRANCHISE RECORD AS ISLES WIN TOP-TIER BATTLE . . .

Jaroslav Halak stopped 30 shots, including 16 in the first period, to match a franchise record with his 32nd win of the season and backstop the Islanders to their sixth win in their past seven outings.

* The Islanders improved to 39-19-1 (79 points) to match the Canadiens (37-16-5, 79 points) for the most points in the Eastern Conference, and within five points of the Nashville Predators (39-13-6, 84 points) for top spot in the NHL.

* The Islanders' 39 wins through their first 59 games of the season are the second-most in franchise history, behind the 1981-82 team that went on to win the Stanley Cup (40-13-6).

* Halak (44 games) equaled the single-season Islanders wins record established by Billy Smith in 1981-82 (46 games) and equaled by Chris Osgood in 2001-02 (66 games) and by Rick DiPietro in 2006-07 (62 games). Only Nashville's Pekka Rinne (34 wins) has more victories this season.

* Nick Leddy had one goal and two assists to match a personal-best for points established March 16, 2013 at the Dallas Stars, when he also had one goal and two assists as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. He also ended a 12-game goal drought with his eighth goal of 2014-15, eclipsing his previous career high set in 82 games last season.

* John Tavares had a goal and an assist to extend his goal and point streak to four games, including three multipoint outings; he has five goals and four assists during his streak. His 29th goal of the season is two shy of his career high of 31, set in 2011-12, and also counted as his sixth game-winner, two behind the League leaders.

* Johnny Boychuk, in his 49th game, had his seventh multipoint game of the season; he had six multipoint games in his first 400 combined regular-season and playoff games. The goal was his sixth of the season, setting a career high.

. . . BACKSTROM, OVECHKIN HELP CAPITALS RISE IN METROPOLITAN

Nicklas Backstrom had two power-play goals and an assist and Alex Ovechkin scored his League-leading 38th goal and had an assist to power the Washington Capitals to their third straight win and a 7-3-0 record in their past 10 games.

* At 32-17-10 (74 points), the Capitals moved into a tie with the Rangers (34-16-6, 74 points) for second place in the Metropolitan Division, where four points separate the top four teams.

* Backstrom increased his season total to 63 points, tying Patrick Kane for the League scoring lead. Ovechkin moved into a tie for third in the League with 61 points.

* Backstrom has seven goals and 27 points and Ovechkin has 22 goals and 33 points in their past 24 games, dating to Dec. 29; they also increased their respective career totals vs. the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers to 13 goals and 39 points in 37 games (Backstrom) and 42 goals and 84 points in 56 games (Ovechkin).

* Ovechkin extended his goal streak to four games and point streak to six games with his third straight multipoint game, his 20th of the season. His goal also counted as his eighth game-winning goal, tying Matt Beleskey for first place in the NHL.

* Backstrom (557 points) also surpassed Bengt-Ake Gustafsson (555) and Dale Hunter (556) to take sole possession of fifth place on the Capitals' all-time points list.

* Braden Holtby has won his past seven games against the Jets/Thrashers franchise after losing his first two games. He's sixth in the League this season with 28 wins and also ranks among the top five in goals-against average (fourth, 2.15) and save percentage (tied for fourth, .925).

* Troy Brouwer had one goal and one assist, and Marcus Johansson had two assists for the Capitals, who improved to 13-2-2 at home against the Jets/Thrashers dating to March 14, 2008, including three straight wins. Overall Washington is 11-2-2 at Verizon Center since Dec. 11.

PANTHERS RALLY TO CLOSE GAP IN WILD-CARD RACE

Roberto Luongo stopped 37 shots, and five more in the shootout, and Dave Bolland scored the game-deciding goal in the sixth round of the tiebreaker to help the Panthers overcome a 2-0 deficit for their second straight win. Elias says the Panthers overcame a multigoal deficit on the road to win for the first time since March 2, 2014, at the New York Islanders.

* The victory boosted the Panthers (26-19-12, 64 points) to within one point of the idle Boston Bruins (28-20-9, 65 points) for the last Eastern Conference wild-card berth. Boston, however, owns the ROW tiebreaker (Bruins: 26, Panthers: 20). The Bruins and Panthers will play three more times this season, March 21 at Florida, March 31 at Boston, and April 9 at Florida.

* Luongo improved to 3-1-2 this season when making at least 35 saves. The Montreal native earned his 22nd win of the season, and fifth in 16 games in his home province.

* Tomas Fleischmann scored less than 90 seconds after the Montreal Canadiens took a 2-0 lead. It was his seventh goal of the season in 48 games, one shy of his 80-game total from 2013-14.

* Steven Kampfer tied the game less than five minutes into the third period with his first goal since March 24, 2012, at Buffalo while playing for Minnesota. Kampfer, a fourth-round pick (No. 93) by Anaheim in the 2007 NHL Draft, had eight goals and 19 points with the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League before being recalled Feb. 5.

* In his 199th game as a NHL head, former Canadiens assistant coach Gerard Gallant earned the victory in his first visit to Montreal as coach of the Panthers.

AROUND THE RINKS

Highlights from the rest of Thursday's action:

* Brandon Dubinsky scored the tiebreaking goal at 17:43 of the third period to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets to a win against the Pittsburgh Penguins for their fifth win in their past seven games. Dubinsky scored his ninth career shorthanded goal to stretch his goal streak to a career-high four games; he has four goals and two assists during that stretch. Teammate Scott Hartnell also scored for Columbus to extend his point streak to eight games, matching a career long set from Dec. 21, 2013 to Jan. 7, 2014, when he played for the Philadelphia Flyers. Curtis McElhinney stopped 29 shots to earn his third consecutive victory and improve to 5-1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .943 save percentage in his past six starts.

* Michael Neuvirth stopped 36 shots and made three more saves in the shootout to help the Buffalo Sabres end a four-game losing streak and earn their first regular-season win in Philadelphia since March 5, 2011, ending a five-game skid. Brian Flynn scored his second career game-deciding goal. Brian Gionta also scored in the tiebreaker after scoring a goal in the second period for his 500th career point.

LOOSE PUCKS

Islanders forward Frans Nielsen stretched his point streak to four games; he has two goals and five assists in that span. … Predators forward James Neal scored his 21st goal of the season; he has 10 goal and 18 points in 19 career games against the Islanders. … Teammate Filip Forsberg became the second rookie to reach the 20-goal plateau. … Despite losing the Rangers stretched their point streak to six games (4-0-2). … The Rangers' Carl Hagelin (1-1—2), Martin St. Louis (1-1—2), Derek Stepan (1-1—2) and Dan Girardi (0-2—2) each had multipoint games. … Teammate Derick Brassard extended his point streak to five games; he has six assists in that span. … Flyers forward Jakub Voracek scored his 19th goal for his 61st point of the season to keep pace in the League scoring race; he is tied for third with Alex Ovechkin. … Dallas Stars forward Jason Spezza pushed his point streak to seven games; he has three goals and 11 points in that span. … Teammate Jamie Benn had two assists to stretch his point streak to five games; he has six goals and nine points in his streak. … Brendan Gallagher had his second multigoal game of the season and eclipsed 100 career points. … Teammate P.K. Subban stretched his point streak to a season-high five games; he has six assists in that span. … Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov played in his 100th NHL game. … Eric Desjardins was inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame during a pregame ceremony. Click here to hear Chris Therien speak about his former teammate.