All posts by The Associated Press

Goaltending optional as Stars beat Kings in wild affair

LOS ANGELES - Jiri Hudler scored the tiebreaking goal with 12:16 to play, and the Dallas Stars blew a late two-goal lead before hanging on for a wild 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.

Hudler, Tyler Seguin and Devin Shore had a goal and an assist apiece for the Stars, who snapped a three-game skid despite giving up four goals to the Kings in just over 10 minutes spanning the final two periods.

Drew Doughty scored the tying goal on the power play early in the third period, chasing Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen. But Hudler capitalized on a turnover behind the Kings' net and scored the first goal of his first season the Stars moments later.

Goalie Peter Budaj also was pulled by the Kings in the third period.

Dallas' Antti Niemi and Los Angeles' Jeff Zatkoff finished the game in net, but Dallas clinched the win on Patrick Sharp's empty-net goal with 52 seconds left.

Both teams hit the midway point of their mildly disappointing seasons with a high-scoring thriller, but the Stars survived with goals from Brett Ritchie, Jamie Oleksiak and Devin Shore. Hudler missed most of the season's first two months with an illness after signing with the Stars as a free agent, and he didn't score a goal in his first 15 games with Dallas.

Nick Shore scored a short-handed goal for the Kings, while captain Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown both broke lengthy goal-scoring droughts during the Kings' rally.

Doughty and Kopitar had a goal and an assist each for the Kings, who have lost two of three to open their seven-game homestand.

Los Angeles still got two particularly encouraging goals for one of the NHL's lowest-scoring offenses. Brown scored on an excellent wrist shot during a power play in the third period to snap his 15-game drought since Nov. 30, and Kopitar followed him two minutes later with his first goal since Dec. 13, ending his 12-game goalless skid.

NOTES: Dallas captain Jamie Benn missed his third straight game with a foot injury. ... Kopitar played his 800th NHL game, all with the Kings. He is just the sixth player to reach the mark in the Second Six franchise's 50 years of existence. ... Ritchie's goal was his eighth of the season. He is narrowly being outscored by his younger brother, Nick Ritchie, who has nine goals heading into their meeting Tuesday in Anaheim.

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Wild coach Boudreau wins in Anaheim return

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Matt Dumba and Jared Spurgeon scored early in the second period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Ducks 2-1 Sunday night in coach Bruce Boudreau's triumphant return to Anaheim.

Boudreau was fired by the Ducks after their first-round playoff exit last spring despite leading Anaheim to the past four consecutive Pacific Division titles and Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference finals. The veteran coach has turned his new team into an early-season Stanley Cup contender with 14 wins in its last 16 games.

Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves for the Wild, who won twice on their three-game California road trip.

Ryan Kesler scored and John Gibson stopped 34 shots for the Ducks, whose three-game winning streak ended. Anaheim played without captain Ryan Getzlaf, who missed his third straight game.

The Ducks made no public acknowledgement of Boudreau's return to Honda Center, where he replaced the fired Randy Carlyle and immediately injected life into a middling franchise early in the 2011-12 season. He went 208-104-40 with the Ducks, hanging four division banners in the rafters and falling one agonizing game short of the Stanley Cup Final in 2015.

But after last season ended with a seven-game loss to Nashville in the first round, general manager Bob Murray abruptly fired Boudreau. The Ducks won just three combined rounds in four postseason trips under Boudreau, losing a Game 7 on home ice in four straight years, and Murray chose to get rid of the coach instead of breaking up his roster core.

The Wild eagerly hired Boudreau, who has won eight division titles in his nine seasons behind an NHL bench. He has immediately turned Minnesota into an early-season Stanley Cup contender, getting the Wild (25-9-5) off to the best first half of a season in franchise history.

After a long search for Boudreau's replacement, Murray decided to re-hire Carlyle, the winningest coach in franchise history and the leader of their 2007 Stanley Cup champions - even though Carlyle won only one playoff round in his final four seasons before Murray fired him the first time.

Carlyle kept Boudreau's two assistants, and Anaheim has kept its spot in the Pacific race, while the Wild have taken off with Boudreau. The Ducks hadn't lost at home in regulation in eight games since Nov. 25.

Anaheim took the lead in the first period when Jakob Silfverberg stole the puck deep in Minnesota's end and Kesler scored on the rebound. Their line has been dominant in recent weeks, and Kesler's goal was the 25th of his career against the Wild in just 57 games.

But Minnesota scored twice in 1:42 after consecutive Ducks penalties early in the second. Dumba connected with a two-man advantage, and Jason Pominville's shot skipped off Spurgeon and past Gibson to put the Wild ahead.

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Cockpit smoke forces Stars’ plane back to airport

CAHOKIA, Ill. - A plane carrying the Dallas Stars hockey team was forced to return to a St. Louis-area airport because of smoke in the cockpit.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports the Boeing 737 took off at 11:52 a.m. from the St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia, Ill., but turned around within five minutes.

Mike Mavrogeorge, airport fire chief, says the smoke might have come from an electrical malfunction. He says there was no fire.

The plane was carrying 50 passengers including team members and staff.

The Stars were in St. Louis on Saturday night for a game against the Blues. A backup plane was summoned to take the team to Los Angeles to face the Kings on Monday night.

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Holtby blanks Senators, Capitals earn 5th straight win

OTTAWA, Ontario - Braden Holtby made 30 saves for his second straight shutout and fifth of the season and the Washington Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators 1-0 on Saturday night for their fifth straight victory.

T.J. Oshie scored 1:38 into the game to help the Capitals improve to 25-9-5.

Mike Condon made 19 saves for Ottawa. The Senators have lost four straight to drop to 20-14-4. They played for the first time falling 2-1 to the Capitals on Jan. 1.

On the goal, the Capitals broke into the Senators' zone and Oshie released a one-timer off a pass from Nicklas Backstrom past Condon.

Ottawa had a late power play in the third period after Karl Alzner was called for boarding Mark Stone. The Senators had some solid chances during the advantage, but were unable to beat Holtby.

They pulled Condon with 1:20 to play, but could only manage one shot on goal.

Early in the second period, Oshie took a hard hit from Senators defenceman Dion Phaneuf at the Ottawa blue line. Oshie slowly made his way to the Washington bench favoring his left shoulder. After a few moments on the bench, Oshie went to the locker room. He returned later in the period, but sat out the third.

Notes: Bobby Ryan was scratched for the Senators. Taylor Chorney and Liam O'Brien were scratches for the Capitals. ... Senators forward Curtis Lazar has yet to register a point in 18 games this season.

UP NEXT

Capitals: At Montreal on Monday.

Senators: Host Edmonton on Sunday.

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Andy Greene’s ironman streak halted at 350 games

NEWARK, N.J. - New Jersey Devils captain Andy Greene is missing his first regular-season game since 2012.

The 34-year-old defenseman sustained an upper-body injury in the Devils' game at Carolina on Tuesday night, when he was struck on the left wrist by a Jordan Staal shot. He had played in 350 consecutive games dating to March 6, 2012.

Greene was not in the lineup for Friday's game against Toronto. Coach John Hynes says Greene is uncertain for Saturday's game against Edmonton.

The streak was the third longest in franchise history. Travis Zajac played in 401 consecutive games between Oct. 26, 2006 and Apr. 10, 2011. Defenseman Ken Daneyko played in 388 straight from Nov. 4, 1989-March 28, 1994.

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Bruins plane diverted because of Florida airport shooting

BOSTON - The Boston Bruins' plane was diverted to Miami International Airport on Friday because of a shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport.

An arriving airline passenger with a gun in his luggage opened fire in the baggage-claim area at the Fort Lauderdale airport, killing five people and wounding eight before surrendering to authorities.

The Bruins' plane landed in Miami shortly after 5 p.m. They are scheduled to play the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

In a statement the team said ''the thoughts and prayers of the Bruins organization are with the victims of today's shooting and the entire Fort Lauderdale community.''

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Predators’ Sissons scores hat trick in win over Lightning

TAMPA, Fla. - Colton Sissons ended a 12-game goal drought with his first career hat trick, Pekka Rinne made 27 saves and the Nashville Predators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 on Thursday night.

Tampa Bay pulled its goalie for an extra skater with seven minutes left in the third, and Sissons got his second of the game a minute later before completing the trick from close with three minutes remaining. He entered with two goals this season and seven overall in 78 career games.

Nashville also got goals from Mike Fisher, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan Ellis. Rinne improved to 7-0-1 against Tampa Bay.

Tyler Johnson scored for the Lightning, who went 2-2-1 on a five-game homestand. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 13 shots.

Fisher had the lone goal in the first, coming on the power play at 2:25. The Predators are 11-0-4 when scoring first. Tampa Bay has allowed the first goal in 26 of 40 games (7-15-4).

Forsberg made it 2-0 before Johnson scored on the power play early in the second, and then Sissons made it 3-1 from the right circle at 13:21.

Ellis made it a 4-1 lead 43 seconds after Sissons scored with a goal that had two reviews.

The original call was no goal because of goalie interference on Viktor Arvidsson, but that was overturned after a Nashville challenge. Tampa Bay then challenged the on-ice call that play was onside, but the review was inconclusive and the goal stood.

The Predators have outscored opponents 50-27 in the second period. The first four Nashville goals came on just eight shots.

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Blue Jackets meet Capitals in search of record-tying win

WASHINGTON - The Columbus Blue Jackets will look to tie the NHL record for consecutive wins when they face Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Thursday night at Verizon Center.

Columbus goes for its 17th straight win in a game featuring the first- and fourth-place teams in the Metropolitan Division. In a bit of scheduling irony, Washington will be trying to stop Columbus from tying the mark set by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins - the Capitals' bitter rivals.

The Blue Jackets (27-5-4) rattled off their 16th consecutive victory with a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday in Columbus.

"I'm proud of the team. They deserve it," Columbus coach John Tortorella told NHL.com. "I'm really happy how they've handled the past three games with all the talk and all that. It's a good test for them."

Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves and extended his win streak to 14 games, three behind the record set by Boston's Gillies Gilbert in 1975-76. He has allowed just 23 goals in the 14 games.

Columbus is allowing two goals per game, tops in the NHL, and Washington is third at 2.10.

The Blue Jackets' power play continues to thrive, producing the first goal Tuesday night and 13 in the last 11 games. They're converting a league-best 28.3 percent of their chances.

"The power play, you can almost sense it when they go out there that they are going to score," Tortorella told NHL.com. "The bench feels that."

Capitals coach Barry Trotz said, "They have a good plan and they're executing their plan. I think their ability not only to get pucks in the area, but they also find ... off the original chance they turn that into a second and third chance and eventually a goal."

The Caps (23-9-5), meanwhile, has provided opponents 20 power plays in its last three games, though they've surrendered only two power-play goals while winning three straight.

"Obviously, the penalties are mounting up and they're hard minutes," Trotz said. "We're going to correct that."

Tuesday's 5-4 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs was an uncharacteristic Capitals affair. They were forced to rally from a 4-2 deficit before Ovechkin scored the winner.

Goalie Braden Holtby was pulled after allowing three first-period goals when the Capitals had allowed only 14 first-period scores all season.

"Certainly, I think we just kind of willed out way to that win," Justin Williams told The Washington Post after he notched a goal and two assists to give him eight goals and seven assists in his last 14 games. "It was fun and exciting for everybody."

Thursday's atmosphere should be exciting as well.

"Guys recognize that you're under a bigger spotlight, so it's probably like a rivalry game," Trotz said. "It's got a little more ... I'll say a little more zip to it, a little more emotion than some other games."

Columbus won the first two matchups between the teams - one in overtime - and leads Washington by seven points in the Metropolitan Division.

"Everyone in the division, everyone's winning," Blue Jackets winger Cam Atkinson said. "It's going to be a huge game. It's obviously fun to play those game because you know you're going to their A effort on the other side and we're going to bring it as well, so looking forward to it."

Atkinson has three goals in his last two games. Nick Foligno has three goals and five assists in his last five, and Brandon Saad and Alexander Wennberg have two goals and four assists each in the last five.

Against the Capitals, Atkinson has eight goals and five assists in 13 games, Saad has five and three in eight games, and Foligno has seven and 13 in 28 games.

Tortorella has his own long history against Washington. As the coach of the New York Rangers, his teams were eliminated twice in the playoffs by Washington and twice sent the Capitals packing. He was suspended for one game after an altercation with a fan in the 2009 playoffs.

Ovechkin has four goals and two assists in his last six games and is five points from 1,000. In 17 games against Columbus, he has 14 goals and three assists. Williams has nine and 11 in 32 games, and T.J. Oshie has eight and 13 in 30.

Holtby is 8-3-2 with a 2.83 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage against Columbus, and Bobrovsky is 6-5-3 with a 2.64 GAA and a .908 save percentage against Washington.

The Capitals will be looking to deal the Blue Jackets their first loss since Nov. 26 - the day before Thanksgiving - when they fell to the Florida Panthers 3-2 in overtime.

"They recognize Columbus is obviously the class of the league right now and they're coming into our building," Trotz said of his players, "and we'll give them a good match."

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Blue Jackets win 16th straight, own 2nd-longest all-time streak

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Cam Atkinson and William Karlsson scored powerplay goals and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to 16 games - one away from the longest ever in the NHL.

Nick Foligno also scored for the Blue Jackets, who can tie the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins with a victory Thursday night at Washington. The near-sellout crowd chanted ''We want 16!'' as the clock ticked down.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots for Columbus, which started the new year on the right note after winning all 14 games in December. The Blue Jackets haven't lost since Nov. 26 thanks in part to the league's best powerplay unit.

Oscar Klefbom scored for Edmonton, which was limited throughout by Columbus' hard-pressing defense. Cam Talbot had 32 saves for the Oilers.

The Blue Jackets got on the board 12:32 into the first period when Atkinson's shot ricocheted in off the skate of the Oilers' Andrej Sekera. Atkinson added to his team-leading totals of 18 goals and 38 points, and Zach Werenski and Alexander Wennberg got the assists.

"That was a nice bounce," said Atkinson, who has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in his past 13 games.

Edmonton managed just four shots on goal against a hustling defense in the opening period.

Klefbom evened it 5:39 into the second period with a shot from the slot on an Oilers rush. Shortly afterward, the Blue Jackets' Brandon Dubinsky and the Oilers' Patrick Maroon - who got an assist on Klefbom's goal - slugged each other briefly and went to the box for fighting after Maroon threw a high elbow.

Karlsson, skating for Dubinsky during the fighting penalty, put Columbus ahead 2-1 on another power play 10:43 into the second when he ripped a shot from the middle of the left circle past Talbot. Brandon Saad, who fed Karlsson with a perfect pass, got the assist, along with Seth Jones.

Foligno put Columbus up by two 2:45 into the third period with an unassisted goal after stepping in front of a pass as the Oilers were trying to get out of their zone.

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Schneider bounces back, starts 2017 with shutout over Bruins

NEWARK, N.J. - P.A. Parenteau scored his fifth goal in eight games, Cory Schneider made 22 saves and the slumping New Jersey Devils beat the Boston Bruins 3-0 on Monday night.

Sergey Kalinin added an insurance goal early in the third period and set up Taylor Hall's empty-netter as the Devils won for only the third time in 13 games (3-9-1).

Tuukka Rask had 23 saves for the Bruins, who lost to New Jersey for only the second time in eight games (6-2).

Schneider was the difference in picking up his second shutout of the season, and second in his last four starts. He stopped a power-play redirection in front by Tim Schaller with 1:20 left in the first and made an outstanding stick stop on a rebound try by Patrice Bergeron with 3.3 seconds left in the period following a giveaway by Parenteau.

The puck lay on the goal line for a second or so before Schneider slapped his glove on top of it inches from being a goal. The play was reviewed and the no-goal ruling was confirmed.

Parenteau put the Devils ahead 4:12 into the game with the help of just recalled rookie defenseman Steven Santini and Hall, who returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with a lower-body injury.

Santini, a former Boston College product playing in his second NHL game and first this season, took a shot from the right point. Rask pushed the rebound to the left circle and Hall shot it off the goalpost. Parenteau swatted the loose puck off the post and then into the net for his 11th goal. It was Santini's first NHL point.

Kalinin gave New Jersey breathing room 1:44 into the third period. Miles Wood, another Boston College player, set up the goal with a rush along the right boards into the Bruins' zone. Kalinin took his centering pass and beat Rask in close for his second goal.

NOTES: Bruins RW David Backes missed his second straight game with a concussion. ... This was first of five of six on the road for Bruins. ... Torey Krug and Ryan Spooner had five-game point streaks snapped. ... Boston killed off all six New Jersey power plays. ... Devils centers Travis Zajac and Jacob Josefson were out because of illness. D John Moore missed the game with a concussion.

UP NEXT:

Bruins: Hosts Edmonton on Thursday.

Devils: Visit Carolina on Tuesday.

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