Phoenix backup goalie Jason
LaBarbera made 46 saves, only conceding late when Vancouver defenseman
Christian Ehrhoff spoiled the shutout bid. Lee Stempniak scored into an empty net
with 1:05 left to restore the Coyotes' two-goal advantage.
The Canucks had their winning
streak snapped at seven games by their former backup goalie.
In
New York, the hosts hammered home five goals in the opening period to set up a
key win over Montreal.
Ryan Callahan, Marian Gaborik
and Brian Boyle scored 1:07 apart in the Rangers' highest-scoring first period
in more than 11 years.
The Rangers and Canadiens,
fighting for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference with about three
weeks left in the season, staged a postseason-like show at Madison Square
Garden.
New York, in seventh place,
moved within five points of sixth-place Montreal with 10 games left for both
teams.
More importantly, the Rangers
went four points ahead of Buffalo and Carolina.
P.K. Subban, Brian Gionta and
James Wisniewski scored for Montreal.
In
Newark, New Jersey, Washington put another dagger in New Jersey's playoff
hopes.
Rookie Michal Neuvirth
stopped 33 shots for his fourth shutout, defenseman Jeff Schultz broke an
81-game goal drought and Alex Ovechkin made a pair of fantastic passes to set
up goals by goals by Mike Knuble as the Capitals won comfortably despite having
only 12 shots on goal.
The win gave the Capitals 94
points, tying them for first place in the Eastern Conference with idle
Philadelphia. The Flyers have three games in hand and one more win.
The Devils remained six
points behind idle Buffalo in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth
in the East with 11 games to play.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Joni Pitkanen scored at 3:58 of overtime to
give Carolina a win over New York.
Carolina's Erik Cole forced
overtime with a tying goal at 15:23 of the third.
Jeff Skinner scored his 25th
goal and had an assist on Pitkanen's winner for the Hurricanes, giving him an
NHL rookie-leading 52 points. The win gave Carolina a share of eighth place in
the Eastern Conference, although Buffalo with the same number of points has two
games in hand.
Michael Grabner and Frans
Nielsen each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders. Grabner's goal was his
NHL rookie-leading 29th.
