They may reside at the "World's Most Famous Arena," but the New York Rangers prefer life on the road.

The Blueshirts made the trek to Minnesota on Saturday to close out the second portion of their weekend back-to-back, and eked out an important 3-2 win over the Wild.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, though, as the Rangers have been the NHL's best road team all season long, leading the league in wins away from home.

Thanks to a foolish playoff system and a ridiculously competitive Metropolitan Division, the Rangers are slated to begin the playoffs as a wild-card seed. As it currently stacks up, New York would begin the postseason on the road in Montreal - a draw that sounds particularly unfavorable, until you look at the numbers.

The splits are inexplicably staggering, but in the long run, New York's trend of getting it done away from The Garden could pay dividends come Spring time, although they'd like find some consistency before then.

"We try to figure out why we are so good on the road and why it changes at home," forward Rick Nash told Jessi Pierce of NHL.com prior to the win in Minnesota. "It seems like we play straight lines on the road, get pucks deep, and at home we try to make the cute plays and not get as many shots on net. We are trying to bring that road game home."

However, perfecting the home game will have to wait, as four of the Rangers' next five games come on the road - something they probably aren't too upset about.

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OTTAWA - Paul Byron and Alexander Radulov scored in the shootout to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night in the first half of the teams' home-and-home series.

Andrew Shaw, Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher scored in regulation for Montreal, and Carey Price finished with 28 saves. Montreal extended its lead in the Atlantic Division to two points over second-place Ottawa.

The teams meet again Sunday at Montreal.

Derick Brassard, Ryan Dzingel and Erik Karlsson scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson, who had missed the past two games with a lower-body injury, stopped 29 shots.

There had been some debate in the morning as to who would start in goal for the Senators as it remained questionable whether Anderson was fit to play.

The Senators had a chance to win in overtime when Max Pacioretty took a penalty, but were unable to capitalize on the power play.

Trailing 2-1 to start the third, the Canadiens scored twice within 31 seconds.

Danault tied the game as he was able to beat Anderson through the legs at the 6:15 mark - it was Montreal's first shot of the period despite having just come off a power play. Then, Gallagher gave the Canadiens the lead, beating Anderson over the shoulder from a sharp angle.

With just under five minutes remaining Karlsson tied the game with a shot from the point.

After 40 minutes the Senators held a 2-1 lead after scoring twice in a span of 76 seconds.

Montreal opened the scoring at the two-minute mark of the second period after a defensive breakdown by Ottawa that allowed Danault to find Shaw all alone at the side of the net.

The Canadiens took advantage of the momentum and held the edge in play until the Senators tied things with a power-play goal with 7:24 to go in the period as Kyle Turris found Brassard streaking through the slot and was able to beat Price stick side.

Just over a minute later, Dzingel gave the Senators the lead as he battled for the puck at the side of the net and was able to squeeze it behind Price.

NOTES: Ottawa D Mark Borowiecki was back in the lineup after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury. ... Senators RW Mark Stone remains sidelined with a lower-body injury, missing his fourth straight game. ... Montreal D Alexei Emelin, LW Andreas Martinsen and RW Michael McCarron were healthy scratches.

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Not so fast, Brent Burns.

Erik Karlsson is making his case as the league's top defenseman.

The Ottawa Senators blue-liner has been the team's most valuable player this season, and he's now picking up his production through the most crucial part of the calendar.

While Burns has gone ice-cold in his last 10 outings - unable to find the back of the net after scoring 27 through his first 60 - Karlsson's offensive touch has only picked up steam:

The offensive numbers are close - Burns outpaces Karlsson by five points. But the stat line isn't as even in the defensive zone. There, Karlsson ranks as the NHL's best with 187 blocked shots, far ahead of Burns' 119.

But it's truly Karlsson's dominance in the opposition's end that has the two-time Norris winner once again in the conversation for top defenseman honors.

Karlsson, who last captured the trophy in 2015, has at least one former winner in his corner. Edmonton Oilers great Paul Coffey, who twice won it with the Oilers, and then repeated the feat a decade later with the Detroit Red Wings, evidently sees a lot of his own game in the Senators defenseman.

"I'll tell you one thing, a guy like Karlsson, not everybody can do it or they'd be doing it," Coffey told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. "No disrespect to anybody in the game or the way they play but the other side isn't hard. It's just commitment."

Coffey's second Norris with the Oilers came in the 1985-86 campaign, when he finished with a career-high 48 goals and 90 assists.

"Do you want Karlsson to stay back and be defensive or do you want him to play? You want him to play," Coffey added. "That's not easy. That's a talent."

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TAMPA, Fla. - T.J Oshie had three goals and an assist, Justin Williams and John Carlson had early third-period goals, and the Washington Capitals clinched a playoff spot by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Saturday night.

Oshie scored twice, including an early power-play goal, as the Capitals took a 2-0 lead midway through the first. He completed the hat trick with an empty-netter during the final minute. Oshie has 10 goals and 19 points in 14 games against Tampa Bay.

Williams had a redirection goal 3:14 into the period before Carlson swatted a thigh-high puck home to make it 4-2 at 5:30.

Washington also got four assists from Nicklas Backstrom, and Braden Holtby stopped 26 shots.

Nikita Kucherov had two goals, and Alex Killorn had the other goal for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.

Kucherov got Tampa Bay within a goal with 4-3 with 1:30 left, but Oshie sealed it with his third goal.

The Lightning tied it at 2 late in the first as Kucherov, on a power play set up by Oshie's high-sticking penalty, and Killorn had goals 16 seconds apart.

Killorn stopped a 16-game goal drought, while Kucherov got his 32nd goal this season and 100th overall.

Alex Ovechkin assisted on Oshie's goal and tied Florida's Jaromir Jagr for the most points against Tampa Bay with 83. He has played the Lightning 63 times.

Ovechkin, who has one goal in his last 13 games, had a couple of quality chances stopped by Vasilevskiy during the first.

NOTES: Capitals LW Andre Burakovsky returned after missing 15 games with a hand injury. ... Tampa Bay played without with centers Tyler Johnson (five games), Cedric Paquette (five games) and Vladislav Namestnikov (three games), who are all out with lower-body injuries. Center Steven Stamkos, out since right knee surgery in November, went through a full practice Friday but is not ready to play. ... Washington LW Marcus Johansson left due to illness. ... The Capitals have outscored their opponents 73-33 in the first period.

UP NEXT:

Capitals: Play the first of three straight at home against Calgary on Tuesday night.

Lightning: Complete a three-game homestand against Arizona on Tuesday night.

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Gravity wasn't going to stop Alex Killorn on his quest to earn his 17th goal of the season.

The Tampa Bay winger pushed the puck to the slot while being tripped up by a sprawled Matt Niskanen, then managed to fool Braden Holtby from the seat of his pants.

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Talk about chemistry.

Ottawa Senators center Derick Brassard completed a pretty passing play Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens, grabbing a cross-ice feed from Kyle Turris before burying it behind Carey Price.

The tally marked Brassard's first goal in his last six outings.

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Unlike some of his U.S.-born NHL brethren, the player many consider the face of American hockey chose to sit on the proverbial fence when asked about the ongoing struggle between USA Hockey and its national women's team.

"It's tough for all parties involved," Patrick Kane told Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune before Saturday's game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"I'm sure it's tough for those women to be doing that in the first place. I'm sure they love playing, especially when the World Championships are going to be on home soil this year and they have to give that up because of some rights they believe in," Kane added.

"At the same time, I've played for USA Hockey for a long time and you feel bad for them from their perspective too. You kind of understand both sides and hopefully there's a resolution quick."

Kane has represented his country for more than a decade, beginning with the Under-18 World Championship in 2006.

The women's team is threatening to boycott the upcoming worlds unless significant progress is made in their negotiations with the governing body over what they consider to be unfair wages.

A trio of Washington Capitals defensemen who've played for the U.S. on the international stage - Kevin Shattenkirk, John Carlson, and Brooks Orpik - weighed in on the dispute earlier in the week, offering comments in support of their female counterparts' cause.

USA Hockey and the female players have exchanged salvos in the form of critical press releases, succinct tweets, and even near-dares over the last few days.

Training camp for the World Championship starts Tuesday, and the tourney opens 10 days later in Plymouth, Mich.

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Contenders aren't created with the flick of a switch.

Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly believes that's why his squad still has something to play for in the season's final weeks, although the Sabres haven't made a satisfactory amount of progress in the 2016-17 campaign.

"You don't just wake up one year and decide you're going to win a Stanley Cup or decide you're going to be a competing team for it," O'Reilly told Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. "It's tough to jump in the standings. Each year you have to make a push."

Buffalo's current pace would see the team finish one point shy of last year's 81-point effort. That season's squad didn't include the likes of free-agent addition Kyle Okposo, a reborn Evander Kane, or a more seasoned Jack Eichel, who has built on his freshman year.

The Sabres appeared to be surging in recent weeks, putting together five wins in seven games through mid-February, only to follow it up by going 3-8-2 in their past 13. Through a recent California road swing, the Sabres went 1-for-3, their lone victory coming in a shootout win over the Anaheim Ducks, and managed only two goals in three contests.

On Feb. 18, Buffalo sat just two points back of a wild-card position and was within striking distance of its first postseason berth since 2011. After collecting just seven points in March, the Sabres have all but fallen out of the mix. Now eight points outside the playoff picture, this spring will mark six straight years without postseason play in Buffalo.

Still, the Sabres can look to the positives in their final 10 games to begin next season on a high note.

"To us, it's not over yet. We've got a lot to prove that we can play and beat these teams," O'Reilly added. "We have to show we should be better, that we should be in the playoffs and that this should be our run this year. That's something we have to prove constantly."

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It's getting more difficult for Viktor Arvidsson to fly under the radar.

The Nashville Predators forward scored his 26th goal Saturday, beating Carolina Hurricanes netminder Eddie Lack from a near-impossible angle.

Shooting from behind the goal line, Arvidsson banked his tally through a sliding Lack to cut the Hurricanes' lead to 2-1.

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It's usually the other way around, but the Washington Capitals will take plays like this any time.

Alex Ovechkin - typically the receiver of such perfect passes - showed his playmaking skills Saturday night with a great dish to T.J. Oshie, who promptly tapped in his second goal of the period.

Now at 28 goals, Oshie's set a new career-high, passing his personal best of 26 set a season ago. Additionally, the 30-year-old tied Ovechkin for the team lead, a title Ovi has held every season of his career.

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