- Times Leader
First Posted:
PHILADELPHIA — Evgeni Nabokov made 45 saves and Frans Nielsen and John Tavares scored on Ilya Bryzgalov in a shootout, helping the New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 on Tuesday night.
Nabokov was sensational, turning aside every shot he faced — including two in the shootout.
The last-place Islanders are 6-1-2 in their last nine games and 11-5-2 in their past 18.
Coming off losses to New Jersey and the New York Rangers last weekend, the Flyers hoped to rebound against a team they used to dominate. But they couldn’t get one past Nabokov. Nielsen scored on the first shot in the shootout. After Nabokov stopped Danny Briere, Tavares fired one past Bryzgalov. Nabokov then stuffed Wayne Simmonds to end it.
Devils 1, Rangers 0
NEW YORK — Martin Brodeur stopped 30 shots for his first shutout of the season and the record 117th of his NHL career, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers for their fifth consecutive win.
Brodeur was sharp and steady throughout, despite going several stretches without facing much action. David Clarkson gave him all the offense he needed with a first-period, power-play goal. Brodeur made it stand for the Devils, who didn’t need any help from Ilya Kovalchuk, who had three points in each of his previous three games.
The Rangers appeared to score the tying goal with 3.5 seconds left, but it was disallowed because Marian Gaborik was called for goalie interference when he crashed into Brodeur in the crease after being shoved from behind by New Jersey defenseman Anton Volchenkov.
Canadiens 3, Penguins 2
MONTREAL — Tomas Plekanec scored on Montreal’s eighth attempt in the shootout to lead the Canadiens to a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Carey Price made 32 saves during regulation and then stopped six of eight Pittsburgh shooters in the tiebreaker, including Jason Williams on the Penguins’ final attempt.
Evgeni Malkin used a spin-around move to convert Pittsburgh’s second attempt after Rene Bourque shot and scored on Montreal’s first.
Montreal’s Lars Eller and Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz both scored in the fifth round.
The Canadiens, who beat Winnipeg 3-0 on Sunday, won for just the second time in nine shootouts this season.
Capitals 4, Panthers 0
WASHINGTON — Mathieu Perreault scored with 13 seconds elapsed, Alex Ovechkin had two goals and the Washington Capitals beat the Florida Panthers to take over first place in the Southeast Division.
Former Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun stopped 42 shots in his fourth shutout of the season, the second against Florida.
Jason Chimera contributed a goal and an assist to help the Capitals supplant the Panthers atop the division. Washington has 60 points and Florida is at 59 with a game in hand.
Winning the Southeast title is imperative to both teams, because the runner-up may not end up among the eight Eastern Conference teams that qualify for the playoffs.
With the win, the Capitals jumped from ninth place to the third seed. And now Florida is ninth, on the outside looking in.
Blue Jackets 3, Wild 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Rookie defenseman David Savard scored his first career goal and added an assist to lift the Blue Jackets past the Minnesota Wild and give Columbus’ Todd Richards a win in his first game as coach against his former team.
Antoine Vermette added a power-play goal and Jeff Carter scored his second goal in as many games after missing 10 with a shoulder injury for Columbus.
Curtis Sanford made 28 saves to improve to 10-12-4.
Richards was 77-71-16 with the Wild from 2009-11 before being fired last April. He is 4-7-1 for Columbus since taking over for Scott Arniel on Jan. 9.
Nate Prosser scored his first career goal for Minnesota.
Niklas Backstrom made 34 saves for the Wild.
Kings 3, Lightning 1
TAMPA, Fla. — Kyle Clifford and Dustin Penner had second-period goals to lead the Los Angeles Kings past the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After withstanding pressure in the defensive end, the Kings took a 2-1 lead when Clifford scored on a breakaway off a long pass by Rob Scuderi at 10:16. Penner made it 3-1 from the slot with 2:14 left in the period.
Anze Kopitar also scored for the Kings, who are 15-0-1 this season when scoring three goals or more. Jonathan Quick, who entered with a 2-0-0 record and 0.38 goals-against average in three games against Tampa Bay, made 24 saves.
Steven Stamkos got his NHL-leading 35th goal on his 22nd birthday for the Lightning, who are 6-1-1 over their last eight games.
Blues 3, Senators 1
OTTAWA — David Perron scored twice and Brian Elliott made 28 saves in his regular-season return to Ottawa and the St. Louis Blues handed the Senators their seventh straight loss.
Elliott was traded to the Colorado Avalanche prior to last season’s trade deadline for Senators’ No. 1 goalie Craig Anderson.
Elliott then moved on to the Blues in the offseason.
Anderson, meanwhile, didn’t last four minutes Tuesday for the Senators.
Chris Porter also scored for the Blues, who won for just the second time in their past five games.
Daniel Alfredsson scored his 18th goal of the season for Ottawa.
