Around the League notebook for Tuesday, March 17

EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF RACE (Click chart below to zoom)	WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF RACE (Click chart below to zoom)
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TUESDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

NEW JERSEY 2, Pittsburgh 0

Ottawa 2, CAROLINA 1 (OT)

Buffalo 2, BOSTON 1 (SO)

Montreal 3, FLORIDA 2

Minnesota 3, NASHVILLE 2 (OT)

WINNIPEG 5, San Jose 2

CHICAGO 4, NY Islanders 1

St. Louis 4, CALGARY 0

VANCOUVER 4, Philadelphia 1

PRESIDENTS' TROPHY RACE: CANADIENS AND BLUES WIN

The Montreal Canadiens (44-20-7, 95 points) and St. Louis Blues (45-20-5, 95 points) were victorious on Tuesday and sit tied in terms of points with the New York Rangers (44-17-7, 95 points) and Anaheim Ducks (44-20-7, 95 points) for first overall in the NHL. The top eight teams in the overall League standings are separated by only five points.

*The Canadiens defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2, with the teams scoring all five goals in an 11:06 span of the second period. P.K. Subban's 13th of the season at 15:26 stood as the game-winner.

*Subban's game-winning goal was his fifth of the season, second among NHL defensemen behind only Oliver Ekman-Larsson (7) of the Arizona Coyotes. Subban 13-39—52 is tied for second in League scoring among defenseman with the Pittsburgh Penguins' Kris Letang (10-42—52), four behind the Ottawa Senators' Erik Karlsson (18-38—56).

*Canadiens goaltender Dustin Tokarski made a career-high 41 saves to improve to 6-5-3 this season with a 2.66 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

*Jacob De La Rose (1-1—2) and Brandon Prust (0-2—2) had multipoint games for the Canadiens.

*Brian Elliott made 25 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and lead the Blues to a 4-0 win against the Calgary Flames and top spot in the Central Division. The Blues have now won five of their past six games, shutting out their opponents in three of those victories.

*Elliott's shutout was his 21st as a member of the Blues, setting a new franchise record (Jaroslav Halak – 20). Overall, the Blues have shut out their opponents nine times this season, two shy of the League-leading New York Rangers (11).

*The line of David Backes (1-2—3; plus-3), Alexander Steen (2-0—2; plus-3) and T.J. Oshie (0-2—2; plus-3) combined for seven points and a plus-9 rating.

WILD, JETS WIN TO HOLD DOWN WILD CARDS IN WEST

The Minnesota Wild (39-24-7, 85 points) and Winnipeg Jets (35-23-12, 82 points) were victorious Tuesday and hold down the two wild cards into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference.

*Trailing by a goal in the third period, Charlie Coyle (2-0—2) tied the score with his second goal of the game to set the stage for Matt Dumba's first career overtime goal at 22 seconds to give the Wild a 3-2 win against the Nashville Predators and a franchise record eight-game road winning streak.

*Dumba's goal set a franchise record for fastest overtime goal on the road, previously held by Marian Gaborik (0:25, Oct. 18, 2006).

*Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves to improve to 30-10-3 this season, his first time reaching the 30 win milestone in a single season. In 28 straight starts with the Wild, Dubnyk is 21-5-1 with a 1.67 GAA, a .939 save percentage and five shutouts, including a 12-1-1 record on the road. Overall this season, Dubnyk ranks second in the League in GAA (2.08), is tied for second in save percentage (.929) and is tied for seventh in wins (30).

*The Jets jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first period and never looked back en route to a 5-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at MTS Centre. The Jets improved to 5-1-3 in their past nine home games.

*Blake Wheeler (2-1—3) and Mark Scheifele (1-2—3) led the way with three points each with Wheeler extending his point streak to five games (5-4—9).

Andrew Ladd (1-1—2) and Drew Stafford (0-2—2) had multipoint games. Stafford has 10 points (5-5—10) in 14 games with the Jets and Ladd is tied for the team lead in goals (24), assists (33) and leads the Jets outright with 57 points.

HAMMOND, SENATORS CONTINUE WILD CARD PURSUIT

Mark Stone scored the game-winning goal off a highlight-reel feed from Kyle Turris with 14 seconds remaining in overtime and Andrew Hammond made 35 saves to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes. With the win, the Senators (34-24-11, 79 points) moved within four points of the Boston Bruins (36-23-11, 83 points) for the final wild card in the Eastern Conference.

*According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hammond is just the second goaltender in NHL history to allow two or fewer goals in each of his first 12 career NHL starts, tying the record set by Frank Brimsek of the Boston Bruins in 1938.

*Hammond, who improved to 11-0-1 this season with a 1.35 GAA and a .956 save percentage, is the first goaltender to record a point in his first 12 NHL starts since Patrick Lalime went 14-0-2 in his first 16 career starts with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1996-97.

*Stone's 18th goal of the season was also his first career overtime winner. He leads the Senators with five game-winning goals this season and is tied for second among rookies with Predators forward Filip Forsberg, one behind New York Islanders forward Anders Lee (6).

BLACKHAWKS WIN THIRD STRAIGHT, HOLD STRONG IN CENTRAL

Jonathan Toews (2-2—4, including two goals in the first period) and Marian Hossa (2-0—2) led the Blackhawks to their third straight victory, 4-1 against the Islanders. With the win, the Blackhawks (42-21-6, 90 points) hold firm at third in the Central Division.

*Toews had his 30th career multigoal game and sixth career four-point outing. He has nine points (4-5—9) in his past six games.

*Hossa extended his point streak to three games (3-2—5) and has 10 points (4-6—10) in his past nine games.

*Corey Crawford made 38 saves to extend his personal point streak to seven games (6-0-1). He improved to 29-14-5 with a 2.18 GAA (sixth in NHL) and a .926 save percentage (tied for fourth).

QUICK STRIKES

*Alexandre Burrows scored twice in a 17-second span of the third period to break a tie and lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last Canucks player to score twice in a span of 17 seconds or less was Steve Bernier, who struck twice in 12 seconds in a 4-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 7, 2009.

*Roman Josi scored twice in 45 seconds for the Predators. Elias says that is the fastest two goals by a defenseman in Predators history. The last Predator to score twice in a span of 45 seconds or less was Scott Hartnell, who tallied twice in 23 seconds of a 4-1 win against the Coyotes on Feb. 19, 2007.

AROUND THE RINKS

*Cory Schneider made 35 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and third in his past 10 starts to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 2-0 win against the Penguins. Schneider improved to 26-25-7 with a 2.16 GAA and a .929 save percentage. Jacob Josefson's goal at 16:25 of the second period stood as the game-winner.

*Buffalo Sabres goalie Anders Lindback made a career-high 44 saves through regulation and overtime and then stopped all three Bruins he faced in the shootout to earn a 2-1 win, his first victory as a member of the Sabres. Rasmus Ristolainen tied the game early in the third period with a power-play goal and Tyler Ennis scored the lone goal in the shootout.

LOOSE PUCKS

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (1-0—1) has set a new career-high for points (12-13—25), surpassing his total from his rookie season (8-16—24). … Panthers forward Brandon Pirri (1-0—1) scored his 16th goal of the season and has 13 goals over his past 18 games. … Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner (0-1—1) had his 100th career NHL assist. … Blues forward Paul Stastny (600), Flames defenseman Kris Russell (500) and Islanders forward Casey Cizikas (200) played in milestone games. … Sharks forwards Joe Thornton (0-2—2) and Joe Pavelski (2-0—2) had multipoint games. Pavelski is tied for fourth in the League with 34 goals this season. … Nick Cousins skated 10:04 in his NHL debut with the Flyers. … The Canucks celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a special tribute to the life and legacy of the late Pat Quinn, including the unveiling of Pat Quinn Way.