PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pekka Rinne stopped 42 shots to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
Rinne was 63 seconds from his fifth shutout of the season when Nick Bjugstad scored for Pittsburgh.
Viktor Arvidsson’s 32nd goal of the season – a power-play goal – set a career high and also was the 100th of his NHL career. Craig Smith and P.K. Subban also scored for the Predators, who moved into a first-place tie in the Central Division. Nashville, which clinched its fifth straight playoff berth Monday, has won five of seven after losing four of its previous six.
Matt Murray made 23 saves for the Penguins, whose three-game winning streak ended.
RED WINGS 4, DEVILS 0
DETROIT (AP) — Jonathan Bernier and Jimmy Howard combined for a shutout, Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and two assists and the Red Wings topped the New Jersey Devils for their fourth straight win.
Bernier made 21 saves in the first two periods before leaving with an upper-body injury. Howard stopped seven shots in the third period to complete the Red Wings’ sixth victory in their last seven games.
Dylan Larkin and Danny DeKeyser each had a goal and an assist, and Andreas Athanasiou also scored for Detroit.
AVALANCHE 3, COYOTES 2, SO
DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon’s shootout goal lifted Colorado over the Arizona Coyotes and the Avalanche tightened their grip on the second Western Conference wild-card berth.
MacKinnon and Derick Brassard also had power-play goals in regulation for Colorado, which extended its lead over Arizona to three points in the race for the wild-card berth. Both teams have four games remaining.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson had both goals for the Coyotes, including the tying goal with 51 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Avalanche also got 42 saves from Philipp Grubauer, who also stopped all three shots by Arizona in the shootout.
RANGERS 4, BLUES 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Vesey scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, helping the Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues.
Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich and Chris Kreider also scored, and Alexandar Georgiev made 44 saves for the Rangers, who had lost two in a row.
Vladimir Tarasenko and David Perron scored for St. Louis, which clinched a playoff spot when Arizona lost at Colorado. Jordan Binnington stopped 20 shots in only his third regulation loss on the road this season.
FLAMES 6, DUCKS 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Sean Monahan scored twice to set a single-season career high with 33 goals and also added two assists, leading the Flames to the win.
Mark Giordano, James Neal, Derek Ryan and Garnet Hathaway also scored for Calgary, which extended its lead atop the Pacific Division and Western Conference to eight points over San Jose. The Flames are looking for their first division title since the 2005-06 season and first conference title since 1989-90. The Sharks have five games remaining, including a home date with Calgary on Sunday.
Andy Welinski scored his first NHL goal for Anaheim.
WILD 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Devan Dubnyk stopped 35 shots and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Wild, who are four points back of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, improved to 5-0-1 all-time against Vegas, including a perfect 3-0-0 at T-Mobile Arena.
Minnesota opened the game with a 3-0 lead on goals by Greg Pateryn, Eric Staal and Kevin Fiala.
Despite the loss, the Golden Knights clinched their second consecutive playoff berth when Arizona lost in a shootout in Denver. Paul Stastny scored both of Vegas’ goals, and Malcolm Subban made 30 saves.
