SPORTS SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2014 Blue Jackets go 8th straight Wild hold off Blackhawks

COLUMBUS: Matt Calvert and Brandon Dubinsky each had a and assist to lead the to a team-record eighth-straight win - and the longest active streak in the league - with a 5-2 victory over the on Thursday night in the franchise’s 1,000th game. Jack Johnson, Derek MacKenzie and Nathan Horton also scored for Columbus. Sergei Bobrovsky, last season’s Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top goalie, made 26 saves in his first game against his former club. Brayden Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier scored for the Flyers, play- ing the second of an unscheduled back-to- back set after a snowstorm in Philadelphia pushed their game, a 3-2 loss to Carolina, to Wednesday.

DUCKS 2, KINGS 1 Patrick Maroon scored the tiebreaking goal on a wraparound late in the second period, and the Ducks beat the Kings 2-1 in the prel- ude to the clubs’ landmark outdoor game this weekend. Frederik Andersen made 30 saves for Anaheim as the Southern California rivals warmed up for their meeting at Dodger Stadium on Saturday with a physical, hard-hit- ting meeting dominated by the Ducks’ defense. Dustin Penner scored a power-play goal in the NHL-leading Ducks’ 20th victory in 23 games. Anze Kopitar scored early in the first period and Jonathan Quick stopped 19 shots for the Kings, who have lost four straight.

BLUES 2, RANGERS 1 ST PAUL: Erik Haula #56 of the Minnesota Wild and Sheldon Brookbank #17 of the skate after the puck during the St Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk third period of the game on January 23, 2014. — AFP scored the tiebreaking power-play goal early Nelson, Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo had stopped one final flurry in the last 10 seconds Clarke MacArthur and Chris Neil had the in the third period, and the Blues got the best goals for the Islanders. and Zach Parise cleared the puck from Ottawa goals. Neil tied it at 3 from the right of the Rangers. Alexander Steen also had a Minnesota’s zone to run out the clock. circle with 2:18 remaining in the third. goal for the Blues before leaving late in the WILD 2, BLACKHAWKS 1 second period with a lower-body injury. David Jason Pominville and Matt Cooke scored LIGHTNING 4, SENATORS 3, SO STARS 7, MAPLE LEAFS 1 Backes had two assists, and Jaroslav Halak first-period goals, Darcy Kuemper made 33 Nikita Kucherov scored the lone shootout Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals to lead made 34 saves in beating New York’s Henrik saves and the Wild beat the Blackhawks. The goal and the Lightning beat the Senators. the Stars to a victory over . Jamie Lundqvist in a matchup of Olympic goalies. Wild, who lost to Chicago in five games in the Kucherov beat Craig Anderson on the first Benn had his 100th career goal and three New York’s Rick Nash scored his sixth goal in first round of the playoffs last season, have shot during the shootout. Lightning goalie assists for Dallas, which broke open a 2-1 lead four games - netting at least one in each - but won three of four against the Blackhawks this Ben Bishop stopped all three shots he faced. with four second-period goals and ended Shattenkirk took advantage of Nash’s slashing season. spoiled Kuemper’s Tyler Johnson, BJ Crombeen and Ondrej Palat Toronto’s six-game winning streak. Cody , scoring 9 seconds into the power shutout bid when he scored his 24th goal of scored in regulation for the Lightning, who Eakin added a goal and an assist, and Alex play at 3:09. Lundqvist made 23 saves in his the season with 31.2 seconds left to bring the had lost each of their previous five home Goligowski, Sergei Gonchar and Tyler Seguin return from a one-game absence caused by Blackhawks to within one. But Kuemper games (0-3-2) by one goal. Erik Karlsson, each had two assists for the Stars. Kari the flu. Lehtonen made 24 saves. Nikolai Kulemin scored for Toronto. HURRICANES 5, SABRES 3 NHL results/standings Alexander Semin had two goals and PREDATORS 2, CANUCKS 1 defenseman Andrej Sekera added a score at Carolina 5, Buffalo 3; St. Louis 2, NY Rangers 1; Columbus 5, Philadelphia 2; Tampa Bay 4, Nick Spaling scored the go-ahead goal on 9:50 of the third to lift the Hurricanes over the Ottawa 3 (SO); Pittsburgh 6, NY Islanders 4; Minnesota 2, Chicago 1; Dallas 7, Toronto 1; the power play in the third period and the Sabres. also scored for the Nashville 2, Vancouver 1; Anaheim 2, Los Angeles 1; San Jose 1, Winnipeg 0. Predators defeated the Canucks for their Hurricanes, who overcame three one-goal fourth win in five games. Craig Smith also deficits. Jiri Tlusty sealed the win by scoring scored for Nashville, and Carter Hutton made into an empty net with one second remain- Western Conference Eastern Conference Atlantic Division 33 saves. Chris Higgins scored for Vancouver, ing. , Tyler Ennis and Brian Pacific Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Boston 31 15 3 141 109 65 which got 24 stops from Roberto Luongo. Flynn scored for Buffalo, which dropped to 0- Tampa Bay 30 16 5 150 126 65 The Canucks, who still hold down the first Anaheim 38 10 5 179 130 81 3-2 in its past five games. Montreal 27 18 5 127 125 59 wild-card spot in the Western Conference, San Jose 33 12 6 162 123 72 Toronto 27 21 5 151 163 59 had their two-game winning streak come to Detroit 22 18 10 127 138 54 PENGUINS 6, ISLANDERS 4 Los Angeles 29 17 6 132 110 64 an end. Rookie defenseman Olli Maatta scored the Vancouver 26 17 9 130 130 61 Ottawa 22 19 10 144 159 54 Florida 20 23 7 120 151 47 go-ahead goal early in the second period and Phoenix 23 18 9 143 152 55 SHARKS 1, JETS 0 added an insurance score in Buffalo 13 29 7 92 142 33 Calgary 17 27 7 114 161 41 Metropolitan Division Joe Pavelski scored his 19th goal in the the third as the Penguins held on for a wild Edmonton 15 31 6 132 183 36 Pittsburgh 36 13 2 168 125 74 past 21 games and Alex Stalock made 20 win over the Islanders. The Islanders had a 5- Central Division NY Rangers 27 23 3 132 135 57 saves in his second straight shutout to help on-3 power play for 50 seconds late in the Chicago 32 9 12 189 146 76 Columbus 26 20 4 148 140 56 the beat Winnipeg, handing third, but couldn’t score against backup Jeff Philadelphia 25 21 6 141 152 56 Paul Maurice his first loss in five games as Zatkoff, who made 30 saves for the Eastern St. Louis 34 11 5 173 116 73 Carolina 22 19 9 125 142 53 Colorado 31 13 5 144 127 67 New Jersey 21 19 11 122 124 53 coach of the Jets. Pavelski snapped a score- Conference-leading Penguins (36-13-2). less tie with 13:12 remaining when he scored Brandon Sutter scored an empty-net goal for Minnesota 28 20 5 127 130 61 Washington 22 20 8 142 152 52 Dallas 23 20 8 148 153 54 NY Islanders 21 25 7 151 175 49 his 28th of the season and seventh in the past the Penguins, who trailed 2-0 early and also Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one four games to lead the Sharks to their fifth Nashville 23 22 7 127 153 53 got goals from Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby point in the standings and are not included in straight win with the help of another strong and Kris Letang. Michael Grabner, Brock Winnipeg 23 24 5 144 153 51 the loss column (L). performance from their backup goalie. — AP