COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Justin Danforth scored with 2:17 remaining to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets over Detroit 5-3 on Saturday night in the Stadium Series, leapfrogging the Red Wings to take sole possession of the first Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Denton Mateychuk notched the team’s first-ever outdoor goal, Dmitri Voronkov and Mathieu Olivier scored 32 seconds apart in the second period, and Adam Fantilli added an empty-netter.
Elvis Merzlikins made 43 stops to help Columbus beat Detroit for the second time in three days and win its fourth straight.
Alex DeBrincat scored twice to extend his point streak to nine games. Patrick Kane added a goal, and Cam Talbot made 16 stops for Detroit, which snapped a five-game road win streak and clings to the second wild-card spot.
The 43rd outdoor game in league history was Columbus’ first and played before a crowd of 94,751 at Ohio Stadium.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:
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BRUINS 3 PENGUINS 2
David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, extending his point streak to 17 games, and Boston beat Pittsburgh.
Pastrnak scored his 32nd goal of the season 1:32 into the game on a breakaway.
Mason Lohrei added a power-play goal for Boston and Charlie Coyle scored an empty-net short-handed goal to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead in the final minute.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped 29 shots for his first win since Jan. 23 when he shut out Ottawa.
Anthony Beauvillier scored a short-handed goal for Pittsburgh and Rickard Rakell scored a power-play goal in the final minute.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 23 saves for Pittsburgh.
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LIGHTNING 3 CAPITALS 1
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitchell Chaffee and Gage Goncalves scored, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced behind a remarkable tight-checking team effort as Tampa Bay won their eighth consecutive game by beating Eastern Conference-leading Washington.
The Capitals lost their third game in a row for the first time all season despite Alex Ovechkin scoring his 884th career goal to move 10 back of tying Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record. Before Ovechkin’s goal with 3:59 left, they struggled to generate quality scoring chances against one of the hottest teams in the league and couldn’t provide enough support for goaltender Logan Thompson, who made 16 saves.
At the other end of the ice, Vasilevskiy was good when the Lightning needed him to come up with a stop. The 2019 Vezina Trophy winner and 2021 playoff MVP blockered away a shot early and got his right pad on an attempt by Washington defenceman Matt Roy late in the second period.
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PANTHERS 3 FLAMES 0
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots for his 47th career shutout, Jonah Gadjovich and Evan Rodrigues had second-period goals, and Florida beat Calgary.
Mackie Samoskevich scored with 3:52 left to seal the win, Florida’s eighth in 10 games heading into a Monday showdown with Tampa Bay. The Lightning topped Washington 3-1 on Saturday for their eighth consecutive win.
Dan Vladar did all he could for Calgary, stopping 39 shots. Calgary has been shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 16-17, 2019.
Florida was again without Matthew Tkachuk because of a lower-body injury sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
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ISLANDERS 7 PREDATORS 4
NEW YORK (AP) — New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin was credited with his first career goal when Nashville forward Steven Stamkos sent a pass into his own net in the final seconds of New York’s victory.
Brock Nelson had two goals and an assist for the Islanders in their second straight win. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Bo Horvat and Casey Cizikas also scored, and Adam Boqvist and Simon Holmstrom each had two assists.
Sorokin stopped 23 shots. He made a save right before Stamkos’ errant pass went into Nashville’s empty net with 12 seconds left.
Cole Smith had two goals for the Predators in their third loss in four games. Marc Del Gaizo and Colton Sissons also scored, and Juuse Saros stopped 30 shots.
Nelson’s short-handed goal gave New York a 4-1 lead 2:38 into the second period. He added his 19th goal at 16:21.
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OILERS 3 HURRICANES 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Adam Henrique and Corey Perry scored to help Edmonton beat Carolina.
Connor McDavid added an empty-netter and Calvin Pickard stopped 35 shots for the Oilers, who snapped a five-game losing streak and got their first win since Feb. 5.
Sebastian Aho scored and Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for the slumping Hurricanes. who have lost six of their last eight.
The Oilers took a 1-0 lead on a short-handed goal by Henrique at 5:08 of the first period. Andersen stopped a shot from Mattias Janmark but the rebound bounced in off Henrique.
Perry made it 2-0 with 4:31 left in the second when he deposited a centring pass from Leon Draisaitl.
Aho’s power-play goal came 4:26 into the third period.
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CANADIENS 4 SABRES 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Montreal extended their winning streak to a season-high four games with a win against Buffalo.
Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson and Alex Newhook each scored, and Jake Evans added an empty-net goal for Montreal. Jakub Dobes made 23 saves.
Alex Tuch and Jiri Kulich scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves for the Sabres, who have dropped two in a row and three of the last five.
Caufield gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 1:13 of the second, but the Sabres went ahead 2-1 after Tuch and Kulich scored 1:29 apart.
Montreal made it 2-2 when Anderson scored on a 4-on-3 rush and took the lead when Newhook tipped a shot past Luukkonen with 2.6 seconds left in the period.
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SENATORS 5 SHARKS 3
OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Tim Stutzle scored and added an assist to keep his 11-game point streak alive, Brady Tkachuk and Shane Pinto returned to the lineup and scored, and Ottawa ended a five-game losing streak with a victory over San Jose.
The Senators didn’t get off to a great start but made up for it with a strong finish.
Trailing 2-1 to start the third, the Senators scored a pair of goals 94 seconds apart to take the lead.
Tkachuk tied the game scoring on a two-man advantage and just over a minute later a weird bounce provided Stutzle with his 19th of the year. David Perron and Michael Amadio also scored for the Senators. Linus Ullmark stopped 34 shots for his first win since Dec. 19.
Tyler Toffoli, Timothy Liljegren and Will Smith scored for the Sharks. Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves.
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FLYERS 2 JETS 1 (SO)
WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Rookie Matvei Michkov scored on a backhander against Connor Hellebuyck in the shootout and Philadelphia beat Winnipeg.
Jamie Drysdale scored in regulation the Flyers and Ivan Fedotov stopped 30 shots to help the Flyers extend their point streak to five games (4-0-1).
Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets and Hellebuyck made 31 saves. Winnipeg lost its second straight after an 11-game win streak to drop to 11-1-1 in its last 13.
Scheifele got his team-leading 34th goal of the season with a shot from the slot at 9:58 of the first period.
Philadelphia outshot the Jets 14-7 in the first period, but Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny both hit posts.
Drysdale tied it at 3:48 of the second with a high shot that hit both posts and went in.
Hellebuyck made a key glove save on Bobby Brink early in the third, then defenceman Dylan DeMelo laid down to disrupt a Flyers’ 2-on-1 attack midway through the period.
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BLUES 4 KINGS 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Colton Parayko and Pavel Buchnevich each scored, and Jordan Binnington made 25 saves to help St. Louis beat Los Angeles.
Dylan Holloway and Zack Bolduc also scored for St. Louis, which has won four in a row for the first time this season.
Kevin Fiala scored, and David Rittich made 30 saves for Los Angeles, which has lost three straight.
Bolduc scored his ninth goal of the season on a breakaway 9:27 into the second period to expand St. Louis’ lead to 3-1.
Buchnevich scored his 13th goal of the season on a feed from Robert Thomas to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 with 1:53 remaining in the first period. Thomas has an assist in nine straight games.
Parayko scored his career-best 15th goal of the season on a feed from Jordan Kyrou 9:37 into the first period to tie the game at 1-all.
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DEVILS 3 UTAH 1
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Timo Meier scored the tiebreaking goal 14 seconds into the third period, and New Jersey beat Utah.
Nico Hischier and Curtis Lazar also scored as the Devils won for the fourth time in their last five road games. Nico Daws made 24 saves.
Mkhail Sergachev scored for Utah, and Karel Vejmelka had 26 saves. Utah snapped a four-game home winning streak.
The Devils opened the scoring at the 9:34 of the first on Hischier’s 25th goal of the season.
Sergachev tied it just past the midpoint of the second as he snapped in the puck from distance.
Meier put the Devils ahead in the opening minute of the third with his 16th, snapping home the puck 5 seconds after Nick Schmaltz gave it away in the neutral zone.
Lazar made it 3-1 with 7:16 left.
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KRAKEN 6 CANUCKS 3
SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen had two goals, including the go-ahead score with 6:52 to go in the second period, and Vince Dunn had two assists to give him 200 for his career in the Seattle Kraken’s 6-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
Tolvanen’s score came one minute after Seattle’s Matty Beniers tied it at 3-3.
Andre Burakovsky scored the first goal of the game for the Kraken at 5:47 in the first period, but subsequent scores from Vancouver’s Pius Suter and Filip Chytil gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead.
Oliver Bjorkstrand tied it with a goal for Seattle early in the second, but Dakota Joshua put Vancouver back in front with a score at 8:05, before Beniers and Tolvanen each found the net for Seattle.
Brandon Montour scored to give Seattle a two-goal lead with 14:22 left in the game, and Tolvanen added an empty-netter with 1:31 remaining.
Shane Wright had two assists. Montour also had an assist.
Joey Daccord had 28 saves for Seattle, while Vancouver’s Kevin Lankinen finished with 18.
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BLACKHAWKS 6 DUCKS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Donato had two goals and an assist and Chicago ended a five-game losing streak with a victory over Anaheim.
Teuvo Teravainen had a goal and two assists and Lukas Reichel, Wyatt Kaiser and Patrick Marron also scored. Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves.
Leo Carlsson scored twice, and Jackson LaCombe added a goal for the Ducks, who saw their five-game home winning streak end. John Gibson made 18 saves in his return from an upper-body injury.
After a scoreless first period, the teams combined for five second-period goals.
The Associated Press
