Last Updated on November 1, 2015 3:22 am by admin
ST. LOUIS (AP) St. Louis’ David Backes scored in overtime for his second goal of the game, sending the Blues to a 3-2 win against NHL Central Division rival Minnesota on Saturday.
The victory moved the Blues a point above the Wild in the tight Central, where the top five teams are separated by only three points.
Los Angeles also had an overtime win, against Nashville, to extend its winning streak to seven games, Dallas made it eight wins from nine by defeating San Jose, and New Jersey won a shootout against the New York Islanders.
St. Louis’ Backes scored the overtime winner when he received a setup from Ty Rattie, had time to load up a shot from the high slot, and drove it past the Minnesota goaltender.
Backes had no previous goals this season before his tally, and another from Alexander Steen, put the Blues up 2-0.
Minnesota came back to square it through Jason Zucker and Erik Haula.
The Blues won their third in a row and improved to 8-2-1 despite missing several top players: forward Vladimir Tarasenko (lower body) joined Paul Stastny, Jaden Schwartz and Kevin Shattenkirk on the injury list.
Los Angeles’ Jeff Carter scored at 4:42 of overtime to give the Kings a 4-3 win against Nashville.
Tyler Toffoli continued his strong start to the season with two more goals, rookie Andy Andreoff also scored, and Jonathan Quick made 31 saves for the Kings, whose seven-game winning streak began after an 0-3 start.
James Neal and Shea Weber scored power-play goals in quick succession in the second period, and defenseman Ryan Ellis scored a tying goal in the third for the Predators, who had won their previous five against the Kings.
Dallas’ Antoine Roussel broke a third-period tie when the puck went in off his skate and the Stars went on to beat San Jose 5-3.
It was the second time in three games that Roussel had scored go-ahead goals in the third period, and they are his only scores of the season.
Joe Pavelski and Joel Ward scored on the power play for the Sharks, who have lost five of six.
New Jersey’s Mike Cammalleri and Jacob Josefson scored in the shootout to give the Devils a 3-2 win against the Islanders, and their sixth victory in seven games.
John Moore and Bobby Farnham each scored their first goal of the season for New Jersey, which lost all four games to the Islanders last season.
Anders Lee and Frans Nielsen scored for New York, which played without captain John Tavares due to illness.
Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in overtime to lift the Capitals past Florida 2-1.
Kuznetsov faked a pass to Alex Ovechkin – who had two assists – and then charged the net from the left side, going untouched to below the left circle and beat the goalie.
The Capitals have won seven of their past eight.
Jussi Jokinen opened the scoring for Florida early in the second.
Boston’s Jonas Gustavsson stopped 21 shots and Brett Connolly’s power-play goal snapped a third-period tie, as the Bruins beat Tampa Bay 3-1 to remain unbeaten on the road.
Detroit’s Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist and Danny DeKeyser each had a goal and an assist, lifting the Red Wings to a 5-3 win at Ottawa.
Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist to lead the Jets past Columbus 3-2.
Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury recorded his 40th career shutout as the Penguins beat Toronto 4-0 in former Maple Leaf Phil Kessel’s return to the Air Canada Centre.
Calgary’s Michael Frolik scored his third goal of the game with 8.7 seconds left as the Flames downed Edmonton 5-4 to snap a four-game losing skid.