NEW YORK — Washington captain Alex Ovechkin became just the fifth player in NHL history to record 30 goals in each of his first 10 NHL seasons, but his two goals were not enough to stop streaking St. Louis, which won 4-3, Sunday. Left-winger Alexander Steen also recorded two goals and an assist, and right-wingers Dmitrij Jaskin and Vladimir Tarasenko added goals to lead the Blues to a hard-fought win.
The Blues played most of the game without defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who left early in the first period with a lower-body injury, and the final 34:35 without captain David Backes, who received a game misconduct for boarding early in the second period.
St. Louis' ability to kill that five-minute penalty went a long way in stretching their points streak to 11 games (10-0-1). The Blues (32-13-4) allowed the Capitals (25-15-10), ranked fourth in the NHL on the man-advantage, just two shots on the extended power play. Predators 4, Penguins 0
Carter Hutton recorded his first shutout of the season and defenseman Roman Josi had a goal and an assist as Nashville blanked Pittsburgh to hold on to first place in the Central Division.
Hutton, who has been filling in for star goaltender and MVP candidate Pekka Rinne, made 21 saves. It was Hutton's second career shutout — the other one coming last April 5 against San Jose.
Rinne missed his seventh straight games with a knee injury. Hutton has started six times in that stretch and posted a 3-1-2 record.
Coyotes 3, Canadiens 2
Left-winger Lauri Korpikoski's second goal of the game lifted Arizona over Montreal.
Goaltender Louis Domingue, making his first NHL start, stopped 18 shots for the Coyotes (18-26-6), who managed just their second win in their last 10 games. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored for Arizona.
Wild 4, Canucks 2 Minnesota scored goals two minutes apart in the second period and held off a late Vancouver rally to win.
Left-wingers Thomas Vanek, Zach Parise and Jason Zucker and defenseman Jared Spurgeon scored for Minnesota, while center Mikael Granlund added two assists. The Wild have won five of their last seven games and improved their record to 23-20-6. — Reuters
