Carey Price came less than seconds away from his third shutout of the season Tuesday.

The Montreal Canadiens goaltender was perfect sans a Sam Bennett goal with just 1.1 seconds left on the clock - that snapped his shutout bid. Price however, was unfazed by the goal postgame noting the win was more important.

"At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter that much. I’ve never been a really big statistics guy," said Price. "We need the win more than anything. It's the way it goes."

The victory was more important and helped Price and his team snap mini slumps. Price entered Tuesday's game having gone winless in his last three contests. Meanwhile, the Canadiens entered Tuesday having dropped three of their last four games.

All things considered, the team is back in the win column and hold an eight-point lead over the Ottawa Senators for top spot in the Atlantic Division.

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A change behind the bench appears to have sparked the New York Islanders.

The Brooklyn hockey club remained undefeated in regulation under interim coach Doug Weight with its 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

With the win, the Islanders improved to 3-0-1 since the firing of coach Jack Capuano. That stretch has seen them outscore their opponents 13-8, while goaltender Thomas Greiss has led the way in net, posting a 2-0-1 record with a .946 save percentage.

Next up for the team is a matchup with the Montreal Canadiens in Brooklyn on Thursday.

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Jack to the rescue.

The Buffalo Sabres rallied to stun the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, scoring two goals in the final 5:50 of regulation to knot the game at 4-4 and send it to overtime.

Forward Jack Eichel put the team on his back in the extra frame, collecting the puck in his own zone before cutting through the Predators' defense and rifling a shot over the glove of Juuse Saros.

The goal was his second of the game, giving him 12 goals and 21 points in 26 games.

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The Winnipeg Jets rolled the dice when they recalled veteran netminder Ondrej Pavelec from the AHL earlier this month.

The reasoning made sense. Young netminders Connor Hellebuyck and Michael Hutchinson have struggled this season, and with playoff hopes quickly slipping away in Winnipeg, the team turned back to a familiar face.

Except the reunion is quickly reminding Jets faithful why Pavelec was in the minors in the first place. Through four games back in Winnipeg, here is how he stacks up against the others manning Winnipeg's crease:

That's not the sort of strong goaltending the Jets had in mind. In one week back with the big club, Pavelec has allowed at least three goals in all four contests, including Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

Following the defeat, the Jets now hold a 22-25-4 record through 51 games. While the team is just three points back of the West's final playoff spot, that will be a difficult gap to make up if the team can't fix its play between the pipes either with Pavelec or by looking for a goaltending option currently outside the organization.

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It was an all too familiar site for the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night - a blowout in the opposition's favor.

The club dropped their fourth straight game and third in concession in which the team was outscored by four goals, thanks to a 5-1 shelling by the Montreal Canadiens.

Related: Canadian clubs feasting on Flames in January

Tuesday's game was a blowout and while the Flames may have outshot the Canadiens 31-20, head coach Glen Gulutzan was less than thrilled with his club's performance.

"We were pathetic ... no bite back ... we need someone to step up," Gulutzan said.

However, that was not the end of it for Gulutzan. The head coach told reporters that while it might be difficult to arrange logistically, he was considering waiving the team's mandatory day off Wednesday, according to Sportsnet's John Shannon.

In the wake of the coach's clear frustration, it was the players who owned up for the club's poor play of late.

"We're making too many glaring mistakes ... it's disappointing. It's on us," captain Mark Giordano said postgame. "We're not pushing back hard enough."

The Flames will play one more game Thursday against the Ottawa Senators before the All-Star break, where the team will hope to get things back on track before a condensed February that will see the team play 12 games in 28 nights.

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For a third straight night, a fellow Canadian club hammered the Calgary Flames.

Calgary came within seconds of being shut out for the second straight game, ultimately losing in a 5-1 drumming to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

For the Flames, the loss continues a miserable slide in January in which the club has struggled to beat teams who also call Canada home.

With the loss to Montreal, the Flames have now dropped six of their last seven games against Canadian teams. Their season record against Canadian squads now stands at an unimpressive 5-7-2.

Over that span, the Flames have now been outscored 24-10 and have now gone 4-7-1 overall in January. The team still clings to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but thanks to a Los Angeles Kings win, both the Kings and Vancouver Canucks sit just a point behind Calgary, each with three games in hand.

The Flames need to get things back on track, but don't look now - the team's next game is Thursday against Ottawa.

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David Pastrnak chose the best time to end his wicked cold streak.

The Boston Bruins winger pocketed the overtime winner over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, as the Bruins came away with the 3-2 victory and Pastrnak secured his first goal in 18 games.

Pastrnak had not scored since returning from a two-game absence in mid-December, when he missed a pair of games with an elbow injury. His last tally came Dec. 14 versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, which capped a streak of six goals in as many games.

With Tuesday's tally, Pastrnak pushed his total to 20 goals on the season.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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Your starting goaltender for the St. Louis Blues is ... Carter Hutton?

Facing the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, the Blues once again called on Hutton, who turned aside 34 shots for his second shutout in his past five outings.

Hutton has been the go-to goalie for bench boss Ken Hitchcock, with starter Jake Allen struggling to stop the puck. The situation became foggier over the weekend, when Allen didn't travel with the team, which called on farmhand netminder Pheonix Copley to face the Winnipeg Jets.

Copley allowed five tallies on 29 shots in a losing effort. Hutton, meanwhile, has appeared in all but three of the Blues' January games, posting a 4-2-0 record.

General manager Doug Armstrong insisted Allen remains the franchise's goaltender of the future, despite the fact that he has been pulled in his last three games, including twice versus the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

Prior to Tuesday's match, the Blues announced that Allen would get the call in the team's final match prior to the All-Star break, when St. Louis faces the Minnesota Wild.

But could that change anything after Hutton shut the door on the defending Stanley Cup champions? That's up to coach Hitchcock.

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Follow the puck.

Jonathan Toews picked up right where he left off Sunday night, finishing off a pretty passing play with Richard Panik and Ryan Hartman to give his club a 1-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The goal was Toews ninth of the season and comes after the Blackhawks captain put up four points against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night. Toews wasn't done there as he would pick up a helper on Duncan Keith's second period tally.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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