David Rittich stopped all 26 shots he faced as the Los Angeles Kings put an end to the New York Islanders' six-game winning streak with Monday's 3-0 victory.
Adrian Kempe, Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore all had goals to back Rittich's second shutout of the season as the Kings bounced back from Saturday's 4-1 home defeat to the Dallas Stars. Moore added an assist on Danault's goal, which gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead 6:07 into the third period.
After an eventful opening period, Kempe put the Kings ahead 7:14 into the second by rifling a shot over the glove of New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
Moore set up Danault's close-range goal that gave Los Angeles some more breathing room, then sealed the outcome with an empty-netter with 2:22 left to play.
Rittch polished off his sixth career shutout by making 13 saves in the final period.
Sorokin stopped 22 of 24 shots for New York, which had totalled 13 goals in winning the first two games of its current four-game road trip.
Kapanen, Hofer lead Blues over Bruins
Kasperi Kapanen had a goal and two assists to support a 36-save effort from Joel Hofer that sparked the St. Louis Blues to a needed 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Kevin Hayes and Brandon Saad added a goal and an assist each to help the Blues end a three-game losing streak and gain some ground in the Western Conference play-off race. St. Louis is six points back of the current holders of the West's final wild-card spot, the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Despite the Bruins owning a 24-17 shot advantage through the first two periods, the Blues built a 4-0 lead as Hofer outperformed counterpart Jeremy Swayman.
Kapanen opened the scoring midway through the first period and Robert Thomas made it 2-0 with a power-play goal later on in the frame. Hayes then extended the margin by burying a feed from Kapanen on a 3-on-1 rush with 4:31 elapsed in the second period.
Saad scored St. Louis' fourth goal later in the second period before the Bruins finally got on the board early in the third on David Pastrnak's team-leading 41st goal of the season.
Boston later pulled Swayman with still nearly nine minutes remaining, a decision that enabled St. Louis' Alexey Toropchenko to score into an empty net with 8:33 left to play.
Swayman stopped just 17 of 21 shots as the Bruins had a four-game point streak snapped (3-0-1).
Rangers extend Devils' struggles, pad lead in Metropolitan Division
Jonathan Quick made 20 saves and the New York Rangers scored twice in the second period en route to a 3-1 win over the still-slumping New Jersey Devils.
Mika Zibanejad and Erik Gustafsson accounted for the second-period goals that helped New York extend its lead over the second-place Carolina Hurricanes to four points in the Metropolitan Division.
Quick yielded only Simon Nemec's goal with 2:34 remaining to record his 389th career victory, two shy of tying Ryan Miller for the most by an American-born goaltender in NHL history.
Vincent Trocheck tacked on an empty-net goal with 1:13 left that sealed New Jersey's eighth loss in 11 games, and third in four outings since Travis Green replaced the fired Lindy Ruff as head coach last week.
Kaapo Kahknonen stopped 23 of 25 shots in his Devils' debut. The goaltender was acquired by New Jersey from the San Jose Sharks at Friday's trade deadline.
NHL: Oilers beat Stars for 3-2 lead in Western final
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice on the power play and Stuart Skinner took a shutout late into the third period as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the top-seeded Dallas Stars, 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference final on Friday night.
Philip Broberg had the other goal and Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists for the Oilers, who can advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2005-06 with a win at home in Game 6 on Sunday night.
Skinner was perfect until Wyatt Johnson’s goal with 5:51 remaining. He held the Stars scoreless the rest of the way to finish with 19 saves in his second straight win after losses in Games 2 and 3.
There hadn’t been a power-play goal by either team in this series until Nugent-Hopkins scored on a rebound 18 seconds after a penalty in the first period. He struck again just 16 seconds after the Stars took a penalty early in the second period for a 2-0 advantage.
Dallas was limited to six shots on goal halfway through the game and dropped to 4-6 at home this postseason. The Stars are 0 for 11 on the power play in this series.
NHL: Panthers hold off Rangers for 3-2 lead in East final
Anton Lundell snapped a tie midway through the third period and Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final on Thursday night.
Gustav Forsling also scored for the Panthers, who can book a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final with a win at home in Game 6 on Saturday.
If a seventh game is necessary, it will be at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
The Panthers, who got 25 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, lost to Vegas last year in the championship series.
Chris Kreider scored a short-handed goal and Alexis Lafreniere tallied in the final minute, but the Rangers couldn’t find the equaliser and lost their second straight.
New York is 3-5 in its last eight playoff games after opening with seven consecutive wins.
The go-ahead goal came after the Rangers lost the puck in the Florida end. Eetu Luostarien got the puck, found Lundell at the New York blue line. His shot from the right circle beat Igor Shesterkin, although it may have hit off the stick of Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider.
Bennett’s empty-net goal proved necessary when Lafreniere made it a one-goal game with 50 seconds left.
NHL: Oilers score 2 in 51 seconds to even Western Conference final
Mattias Janmark scored a short-handed goal in the second period to snap a tie and Leon Draisaitl tallied 51 seconds later as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars to even the Western Conference final at two games apiece on Wednesday night.
Ryan McLeod and Evan Bouchard had first-period goals and Connor McDavid set up three scores for the Oilers, who trailed 2-0 less than six minutes into the game.
The series shifts back to Dallas for Game 5 on Friday night.
Stuart Skinner bounced back from consecutive losses with 20 saves.
Wyatt Johnston staked the Stars to a lead just 58 seconds into the game and Esa Lindell made it 2-0 at 5:29 of the opening period.
Dallas had a power play with eight minutes left in regulation and a chance to make it a one-goal game, but Edmonton killed its 23rd straight penalty before Mattias Ekholm’s empty-netter sealed the win.
The Oilers made three lineup changes, inserting defenseman Philip Broberg along with McLeod and fellow forward Corey Perry for Vincent Desharnais, Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick.
Stars defenseman Chris Tanev left in the second period with a lower body injury and did not return.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
