right wing with 2:55 left in the second period. With room between the post and Niemi’s pad, O’Reilly missed stuffing the puck in and instead had it slide through the crease.”I’ve done

TAMPA Brandon Saad Jersey , Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves, Brayden Point had two goals and an assist, and the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Tuesday night.NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Mathieu Joseph also scored.Tampa Bay (33-8-2, 68 points) is two points off the pace of the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, who set the NHL record for points in a season with 132. The Lightning had a 16-game point streak (15-0-1) that ended with a 5-2 loss at San Jose on Saturday.Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled in the third after allowing four goals on 19 shots for the Blue Jackets, who are 8-3-1 over the last 12 games. Left wing Markus Hannikaimen (upper body) and center Brandon Dubinsky (lower body) left with injuries.Vasilevskiy turned aside 17 shots, including three good scoring chances by Artemi Panarin, during the second en route to his second shutout this season and 14th overall. The Vezina Trophy finalist last season was named before the game to replace Montreal’s Carey Price in the All-Star Game.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, RANGERS 2LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves and Vegas beat New York for its seventh straight victory.Fleury, who leads the NHL with 25 wins and 39 starts this season, has 429 career victories and is eight shy of tying Jacques Plante for eighth place.Cody Eakin, Brandon Pirri, Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan Carpenter scored for the Golden Knights, who once again moved into a first-place tie with Calgary in the Western Conference. Both teams have 58 points.The Golden Knights, who improved to 15-3-3 at home, are 19-4-3 overall since Nov. 18, when Nate Schmidt returned from a 20-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.Vegas owns the NHL’s longest active home point streak (10-0-2) since Nov. 23.Mika Zibanejad and Jesper Fast scored late for the Rangers. Backup goalie Alexandar Georgiev stopped 27 shots.New York has been outscored 22-5 during a four-game losing streak.SHARKS 7, OILERS 2SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Evander Kane and Joonas Donskoi each scored two goals, Erik Karlsson had three assists for the second consecutive game and San Jose routed Edmonton.Marcus Sorensen, Brent Burns and Joe Thornton also scored for San Jose Brent Seabrook Jersey Kids , which has won four straight and six of seven — totaling 36 goals during that stretch. The Sharks are 11-2-2 over their last 15 games.Karlsson has at least one assist in 14 consecutive appearances. He has 25 points (one goal, 24 assists) in that span.San Jose coach Peter DeBoer missed the game because he was ill.Alex Chiasson and Milan Lucic scored for the Oilers, who have lost eight of 10 after a 5-0-1 surge.CAPITALS 5, FLYERS 3WASHINGTON (AP) — Jakub Vrana scored twice to set a career high in goals and added an assist to help Washington hand Philadelphia its eighth consecutive loss.Vrana showed off his speed on his first goal and ended the defending Stanley Cup champions’ 0-for-12 power-play drought with his second. He reached a career-best 14 goals in Washington’s 42nd game.The 22-year-old winger assisted on Tom Wilson’s goal early in the first period as the Capitals scored on their first shot against journeyman goaltender Mike McKenna. When McKenna got the start, the Flyers tied an NHL record by using their seventh goalie of the season, a feat accomplished just three previous times.McKenna allowed four goals on 25 shots, becoming the seventh Philadelphia goalie to register a loss through 43 games. The Flyers have lost 13 of their past 16 and are second-last in the NHL with 36 points.T.J. Oshie also scored twice — including an empty-netter with 2.1 seconds left — for the Capitals, who won their second in a row to bounce back from a three-game skid. Backup goaltender Pheonix Copley made a season-high 37 saves to pick up his 10th victory of the season.JETS 7, AVALANCHE 4WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Blake Wheeler had a goal and three assists, Mark Scheifele got his 23rd goal and Winnipeg beat Colorado.Mathieu Perreault, Kyle Connor, Bryan Little, Andrew Copp and Jacob Trouba also scored for Winnipeg. Trouba, Scheifele and Tyler Myers each had two assists.Gabriel Landeskog scored twice and set a career high with his 27th goal for Colorado. Carl Soderberg had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Graves also scored.Connor Hellebuyck made 37 saves for the Jets. Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots for Colorado.HURRICANES 4, ISLANDERS 3UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Justin Williams scored late in the third period and Carolina snapped New York’s six-game winning streak.Williams scored his 10th goal of the season 15 seconds after leaving the penalty box to make it 3-2 with 17:18 left. The 37-year-old flipped a backhand past goaltender Thomas Greiss with an assist from Greg McKegg. It was his 299th career goal.Jaccob Slavin made it 4-2 with a power-play goal at 18:53 before Brock Nelson scored his second of the game for the Islanders at 19:01.The Hurricanes held on to win their fifth straight. Curtis McElhinney made 28 saves for Carolina, which also got goals from Saku Maenalanen and McKegg.PENGUINS 5, PANTHERS 1PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Murray stopped 36 shots to remain unbeaten since his return from a lower-body injury, Riley Sheahan and Bryan Rust scored short-handed goals in the second period and Pittsburgh stopped Florida.Murray improved to 8-0 with a 1.24 goals-against average and a .966 save percentage in his last eight starts for Pittsburgh, which has won nine of 10.Rust finished with two goals to push his season total to 11. Tanner Pearson picked up his sixth and Sidney Crosby added his 20th for the Penguins Youth Corey Crawford Jersey , who beat the Panthers at home for the seventh straight time.Aaron Ekblad collected his ninth of the season for Florida and the 62nd of his career to set a new franchise record for goals by a defenseman. Roberto Luongo finished with 12 saves on 16 shots before being pulled after Sheahan’s unassisted score 8:56 into the second period.BRUINS 4, WILD 0BOSTON (AP) — Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand each had a goal and two assists, Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots for his first shutout this season and Boston beat Minnesota.Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk also scored as Boston won its season-high fifth straight game. John Moore and Torey Krug had two assists apiece.Alex Stalock finished with 23 saves for Minnesota.STARS 3, BLUES 1ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tyler Seguin scored twice, Ben Bishop made several key saves and Dallas beat St. Louis.John Klingberg had a goal for the Stars, who won despite generating only 17 shots on net. Bishop, a St. Louis native, stopped 26 shots against his former team and improved to 5-5-1 versus the Blues.David Perron scored for the Blues, who lost for the first time in eight games against the Stars at the Enterprise Center. St. Louis is 11-5-1 in its last 17 games against Dallas.CANADIENS 3, RED WINGS 2DETROIT (AP) — Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia scored 66 seconds apart early in the second period, and Montreal edged Detroit.Andreas Athanasiou scored twice for the Red Wings, but Jeff Petry added a goal 19 seconds into the third for Montreal. Detroit wrapped up a five-game homestand that included only one victory. The Red Wings are 1-6-2 in their last nine games.Antti Niemi had 30 saves for Montreal. Jimmy Howard stopped 22 shots for Detroit.SABRES 5, DEVILS 1BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jeff Skinner got his 29th goal of the season and Buffalo scored five times in the second period to beat New Jersey.C.J. Smith, Casey Mittelstadt, Jake McCabe and Lawrence Pilut also scored for Buffalo, which improved to 23-14-6. Carter Hutton made 20 saves.Blake Coleman scored for New Jersey, and Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Upon handing the puck to Canadiens goalie Antti Niemi in honor of his 35-save performance, defenseman Karl Alzner had a hard time believing how long it has been since his teammate’s last shutout.It’s been more than two years.”It’s hard to believe as good of a goalie as he is for that to be the case,” Alzner said, Friday night Duncan Keith Jersey , following a 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres in a game between two teams out of playoff contention. ”It’s nice to be part of it and nice to be there for him to get it.”Niemi’s 36th career shutout was also significant given how the 34-year-old finally landed in Montreal – his fourth team in less than a calendar year. He went from being released by Dallas in June to signing with Pittsburgh in July and then being claimed off waivers twice in three weeks – first by Florida in October, and then by the Canadiens in November.”What he’s persevered through and also his work ethic is unbelievable,” coach Claude Julien said. ”There’s no doubt he’s been a real positive for our hockey club.”Niemi improved to 6-4-4 with Montreal, and the shutout was his first since a 20-save performance in Dallas’ 4-0 win over Chicago on Dec. 22, 2015.”I knew it’s been a long time,” said Niemi, who won a Stanley Cup with Chicago as a rookie in 2010. ”I wouldn’t have cared too much if they would’ve scored one in the end and we still won. I like the way I played.”Artturi Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal by converting a puck that bounced off the end boards 4:56 into the second period. Former Sabres forward Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher then scored empty-net goals 22 seconds apart in the final 1:15 to seal the win.Montreal had lost its past four overall, and gone 0-5-2 on the road since a 6-3 win at the New York Islanders on March 2.Nothing is going right for the NHL’s last-place Sabres, who closed their six-game homestand at 1-4-1. The Sabres’ league-worst home record dropped to 11-22-5, and they must win their final two home games to avoid setting a franchise low for fewest wins in an 82-game season (13-21-7, in 2012-13).Buffalo’s league-worst offense was blanked for the second time in three games – following a 4-0 shutout loss to Nashville on Monday – and seventh time this season. The Sabres also lost to a Canadiens opponent now tied with Arizona with the NHL’s fewest road wins (10) and has scored a league-low 85 goals on the road.The poster-boy for frustration was forward Ryan O’Reilly, who muffed Kyle Okposo’s pass while facing an open net during a two-man advantage eight minutes into the third period.”I’ve got to be better. It’s my fault,” O’Reilly said. ”I should just get behind it and take my time. It was a stupid play by me.”O’Reilly also had Niemi beat on a rush up the right wing with 2:55 left in the second period. With room between the post and Niemi’s pad, O’Reilly missed stuffing the puck in and instead had it slide through the crease.”I’ve done that move in practice hundreds of times,” he said. ”When it matters, I don’t do it. Just letting the guys down.”O’Reilly wasn’t the only one off the mark. Scott Wilson hit the crossbar from the left circle in the first period. And Sam Reinhart was set up alone atop the crease only to be robbed by Niemi in the second period.Sabres rookie Linus Ullmark allowed one goal on the 22 shots he faced.Lehkonen scored when teammate Alex Galchenyuk’s shot from the left circle was blocked in front. The puck dribbled to Jacob de la Rose, who snapped a shot just wide of the net from the slot. The puck struck the boards and to Lehkonen, who flipped it in above Ullmark’s out-stretched right leg.NOTES: Sabres C Zemgus Girgensons returned after missing two games with an undisclosed injury. … After opening the season with a 3-2 shootout win at Buffalo, the Canadiens proceeded to go 0-6-1 in their next seven. … Before the game, the Sabres honored Luke McDermott and Adam Page, two local members the United States gold-medal-winning Paralympic hockey team.UP NEXTCanadiens: Host Washington Capitals on Saturday.Sabres: At New York Rangers on Saturday.—