Around the League notebook for Saturday, Feb. 28

SATURDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

FLORIDA 5, Buffalo 3

Detroit 4, NASHVILLE 3

Carolina 5, NY ISLANDERS 3

New Jersey 2, COLUMBUS 0

BOSTON 4, Arizona 1

MONTREAL 4, Toronto 0

PHILADELPHIA 4, NY Rangers 2

Minnesota 3, COLORADO 1

St. Louis 2, EDMONTON 1

Ottawa 4, SAN JOSE 2

HAMMOND, SENATORS STAY HOT IN CALIFORNIA SWEEP . . .

Andrew Hammond

Goalie - OTT

RECORD: 5-0-0
GAA: 1.31 | SVP: .957

* At 27-23-10 (64 points), the Senators kept pace with the Boston Bruins (31-22-9, 71 points) for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa owns two games in hand, but Boston owns the ROW tiebreaker (BOS: 29, OTT: 24). They complete their season series with two games at Canadian Tire Centre on Mar. 10 and Mar. 19.

* This marks Ottawa's longest stretch of regulation wins since an eight-game streak from Jan. 14-28, 2010 – that run included 11 consecutive victories, but featured one overtime decision.

* Elias says this also is the first time that Ottawa has defeated the San Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings (in any order) on the same road trip.

* Hammond has started each game during the winning streak, becoming the first goaltender in Senators history to win his first five career starts. He is the second goaltender in the past three seasons to begin his career with wins in five straight team games (also Martin Jones with LAK, Dec. 3-14, 2013).

* Hammond owns a 1.00 goals-against average, .968 save percentage and two shutouts in those five starts and has not allowed more than two goals in any of his NHL appearances.

* Hoffman (2-1—3) equaled and established career highs for goals and points in a game, respectively. He leads all rookies with 23 goals; only Alexei Yashin (30 in 1993-94) and Daniel Alfredsson (26 in 1995-96) have scored more goals for the Senators as a rookie

* Stone has three goals and 10 points in his past nine games and 15 goals and 39 points this season, tied with Hoffman for third in rookie points.

. . . BRUINS MAINTAIN WILD CARD LEAD . . .

The Bruins carried a 4-0 lead into the third period and finished with a 4-1 win to earn their second straight win and sixth consecutive victory against the Arizona Coyotes dating to the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Game on Oct. 10, 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic.

* At 31-22-9 (71 points), the Bruins maintained their hold on the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and moved within five points of the idle Washington Capitals (33-20-10, 76 points), who hold the first wild-card position. Boston has one game in hand, but Washington owns the ROW tiebreaker. The Bruins and Capitals will close their season series with two games at Verizon Center March 15 and April 8.

* Tuukka Rask stopped 31-of-32 shots to improve to 5-1-0 with a 1.83 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in six career games with the Coyotes, including five straight wins.

* Patrice Bergeron (1-1—2), Zdeno Chara (1-1—2), Milan Lucic (1-1—2), Brad Marchand (1-1—2) and Reilly Smith (0-2—2) all had multiple points for the Bruins.

* Bergeron has two such performances in his past four games (1-2—3 at CHI) and leads the Bruins with 18 goals and 44 points this season.

* Marchand scored his fourth game-winning goal (20th of his career) and 18th goal this season; he and Bergeron share the team lead in each categorie.

. . . PANTHERS AND FLYERS ALSO KEEP PACE

The Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers also earned victories Saturday to keep pace with the Bruins in the race for the final Stanley Cup Playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

* The Panthers erased a 2-0 deficit with three straight goals in the second period and Scottie Upshall scored the game-winner at 14:02 of the final frame to help the club snap a four-game slide.

Brandon Pirri

Center - FLA

GOALS: 11 | ASST: 2 | PTS: 13
SOG: 82 | +/-: 2

* Elias says they were the fastest two power-play goals by one Panthers player since Feb. 5, 2008, when Richard Zednik scored two in a 60-second span at the Toronto Maple Leafs (8-0 W).

* Playing in his 900th NHL game, Brian Campbell (0-2—2) had his fourth multi-assist game of the season. Buffalo's sixth-round pick (No. 156) in the 1997 NHL Draft, Campbell also played his 800th NHL game against his former team (Jan. 9, 2014).

* Brad Boyes and Jussi Jokinen each equaled career-highs with three assists. Boyes accomplished the feat for the eighth time (last: Apr. 9, 2011 at CBJ w/ BUF), while Jokinen also had three assists on Dec. 27, 2013 at CAR (w/ PIT).

* In a prime-time national broadcast in the United States and Canada, Michael Del Zotto broke a 2-2 tie at 1:19 of the third period to help the Flyers end a four-game slide against the New York Rangers and halt New York's 10-game point streak.

* Del Zotto scored his fourth game-winning goal of the season (51 GP), surpassing his total from his first 317 career games. Only Oliver Ekman-Larsson (7) has more decisive goals among defensemen this season.

* It also was Del Zotto's third career shorthanded goal and just the second such goal by a Flyers defenseman in the past four seasons (also Braydon Coburn Dec. 31, 2013 at CGY).

* Making his first start since Feb. 8, Steve Mason made 34 saves to earn his first victory since Jan. 31 when he had a 30-save shutout against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

* Matt Read and Michael Raffl (1-1—2) each scored for the first time since Feb. 15 at the Buffalo Sabres. Sean Couturier (0-2—2) had his sixth multi-point effort of the season and first since Dec. 29, 2014 at the Arizona Coyotes.

PRICE, CANADIENS STYMIE MAPLE LEAFS TO CLIMB STANDINGS . . .

Carey Price denied all 30 shots he faced for his 31st career shutout (sixth this season) to lead the Canadiens to their fourth straight win and fifth straight victory against the Maple Leafs (3-0-0 this season).

* With the victory, the Canadiens (41-16-5, 87 points) pulled within two points of the Nashville Predators (41-15-7, 89 points) – who lost in regulation – for first place in the NHL, where the top 10 teams are separated by 10 points.

* The Canadiens last won five straight games against the Maple Leafs from Oct. 30, 1993 to Nov. 23, 1996 (also 5-0-0).

* Price earned his League-leading 36th win of the season (50 GP), two shy of his career high set in 2010-11. Elias says he equaled a franchise record for wins through 50 games, first set by Ken Dryden in 1976-77.

* He also paces all goalies with a 1.88 goals-against average and .936 save percentage. Only Marc-Andre Fleury (8) has more shutouts.

* Elias also says Price's personal 10-game point streak (9-0-1) is the longest by a Canadiens goalie since he recorded a point in a career-best 12 straight games from Nov. 20 to Dec. 30, 2008 (8-0-4).

* Manny Malhotra scored his first game-winning goal since Nov. 5, 2013 (vs. PHI w/ CAR) and first goal since April 13, 2014, ending a 52-game drought. David Desharnais scored two goals to eclipse 200 career points and Tomas Plekanec scored the other goal.

. . . RED WINGS RALLY (AGAIN) TO KEEP PACE

Ahead 2-0, the Detroit Red Wings yielded three straight goals in the middle frame before Alexey Marchenko scored his first NHL goal and Tomas Tatar scored the game-winner in the third period to help the Red Wings end their road trip with a 4-1-1 record.

* At 35-15-11 (81 points), the Red Wings pulled within two points of the idle Tampa Bay Lightning (38-19-6, 82 points) for second place in the Atlantic Division. Detroit holds two games in hand, but Tampa Bay owns the ROW tiebreaker (TBL: 36, DET: 32).

* The Red Wings overcame a third period deficit to win in regulation for the second straight game. On Thursday in San Jose, they trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes before Pavel Datsyuk tied the game at 13:32 and Luke Glendening scored the game-winner at 18:45.

* Elias says the Red Wings last overcame third-period deficits to win consecutive games on Dec. 9 and 11, 1993 (3-2 vs. STL and 5-3 vs. SJS). The last time that happened in consecutive road games was Jan. 28 and Feb. 5, 1984 (4-3 at NYI and 6-5 at BOS).

* Overall, Detroit has overcome a third-period deficit to record at least one point in five of its past eight gahmes, including four times on their six-game road trip. The others:

Feb. 14 vs. WPG: Trailed 4-3 before Datsyuk tied game a 13:27 – 5-4 SO L

Feb. 21 at DAL: Trailed 4-2 and 6-4 before Datsyuk tied game at 18:12 and Niklas Kronwall scored at 0:36 of overtime – 7-6 OT W

Feb. 23 at ANA: Trailed 3-2 before Riley Sheahan tied game at 16:09 – 4-3 SO L

* Jonas Gustavsson made a season-high 37 saves – three shy of his career high (2x) – to improve to 3-2-1 with a 2.12 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in six appearances.

* Drew Miller halted a 12-game goal drought and added an assist for his first multi-point game since Dec. 1, 2013 at OTT (2-0—2). Niklas Kronwall (0-2—2) scored two points for the third time in five outings. Brendan Smith supplied the other Red Wings goal.

WILD CONTINUE SUCCESS AGAINST AVALANCHE, INCREASE WILD CARD LEAD

Devan Dubnyk

Goalie - MIN

RECORD: 24-8-3
GAA: 2.15 | SVP: .926

* At 33-22-7 (73 points), the Wild increased their lead over the idle Flames (33-25-4, 70 points) for the final playoff position in the Western Conference and pulled within one point of the idle Jets (31-20-12, 74 points), who hold the first wild-card position.

* The Wild improved to 15-3-2 since Jan. 15 when Devan Dubnyk made his team debut. He has started each of those 20 games, matching the franchise record for consecutive starts first set by Niklas Backstom in 2008-09.

* Elias says Dubnyk is the second goaltender to win 15 of his first 20 starts with a team this season, joining Ryan Miller who reached 15 wins in his first 18 games with the Vancouver Canucks. Dubnyk has allowed two goals or less in 15 of those games.

* Fontaine (1-1—2) registered his seventh career multi-point effort and third in his past eight games (4-5—9). It was his third career game-winning goal and second in the past eight days (also Feb. 20 at EDM).

* Erik Haula tallied 1-1—2 for the second straight game. He has seven goals and 12 points this season, surpassing his goal total from his rookie campaign in 2013-14.

MORE SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS

Quick hits from the rest of Saturday's 10-game slate:

* Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, including the tiebreaking goal at 14:20 of the third period, to lift the St. Louis Blues to their fourth consecutive road win and their sixth straight win against the Edmonton Oilers. The Blues (40-18-4, 84 points) became the second Western Conference team to reach 40 wins this season and pulled within five points of the Predators (41-15-7, 89 points) for top spot in the Central Division. Stastny scored his team-leading (tied) fifth game-winner of the season, one shy of his career high set in his rookie season (2006-07). Brian Elliott made 21 saves for his 20th win of the season.

* The Carolina Hurricanes erupted for four goals in the second period to earn their third straight win and win for the fifth time in their past six visits to Nassau Coliseum. Jay McClement had his fourth career multi-goal performance and first since Oct. 30, 2010 (3-0—3 vs. ATL w/ STL). Cam Ward made 21 saves to win his fourth straight game, his second-longest personal streak of the season (5-0-0, Nov. 1-10). Brad Malone (1-1—2) scored his first career game-winning goal and Andrej Nestrasil (0-2—2) posted his second straight multi-point effort (third career).

* Playing in his League-leading 55th game this season, Cory Schneider made 33 saves for his 16th career shutout to help the New Jersey Devils snap a two-game skid. Schneider ranks among the NHL leaders in save percentage (t-3rd – .927), goals-against average (5th – 2.19) and shutouts (t-7th – 4). The Devils won their third straight game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but earned their first win in Columbus since March 20, 2011 (3-0 W). Andy Greene and Travis Zajac each scored; Greene scored his second goal of the season, each in the past five games.

LOOSE PUCKS

The Panthers outshot the Sabres 47-14 to finish their season series with a 4-0-1 record. Elias says the +33 shot differential is third-highest in franchise history (+37, Jan. 13, 2007 vs. WSH; +35, Dec. 4, 2014 vs. CBJ) . . . Canadiens teammates Brendan Gallagher (4-4—8) and Andrei Markov (1-5—6) extended their point streaks to five and four games, respectively . . . Boston native Keith Yandle earned his 37th assist while playing in his hometown to move into a share of the League lead among defensemen . . . P.K. Subban had his 48th point, tying Mark Giordano for first place among defensemen . . . Pavel Datysuk contributed one assist, giving him seven goals and 16 points in his past 13 games, and 21 goals and 72 points in 65 career games against Nashville . . . Mike Cammalleri had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (5-3—8), his longest since a seven-game stretch from Mar. 10-22, 2014 (8-5—14) . . . Islanders forward John Tavares scored his 30th goal of the season (64 GP), one shy of his career high set in 2011-12 (82 GP) . . . Tavares (30-35—65) and Jakub Voracek (19-46—65) – who had one assist – moved into a tie for first place in the NHL scoring race . . . Edmonton native Jay Bouwmeester played in his 900th NHL game when the Blues visited the Oilers . . . Avalanche forward Matt Duchene (400) and Coyotes forward Mark Arcobello (100) also played in milestone games . . . The Blackhawks acquired Antoine Vermette from the Coyotes for defenseman Klas Dahlbeck and a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft . . . The Capitals acquired defenseman Tim Gleason from the Hurricanes for defenseman Jack Hillen and a fourth-round pick (via Arizona) in the 2015 NHL Draft . . . The Ducks acquired forward Tomas Fleischmann from the Panthers for forward Dany Heatley and a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.