Last Updated on March 7, 2016 1:43 am by admin
CHICAGO (AP) Patrick Kane scored his 38th goal on the first shot of the game to steer the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League on Sunday.
Jonathan Toews also scored for the defending Stanley Cup holders as the Blackhawks (41-21-5) joined the Dallas Stars on top of the Western Conference with 87 points.
”We’ve got a lot of division games coming up,” Toews said. ”Those aren’t going to be easy ones. It’ll be good preparation for the end of the year.”
Antoine Roussel scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period to lead Dallas past the Ottawa Senators 2-1.
Jason Spezza also scored for the Stars, and Kari Lehtonen made 23 saves.
Zack Smith scored the lone goal for Ottawa. Andrew Hammond turned aside 23 shots in the loss, which left the Senators six points behind the Red Wings for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
In New York, Cal Clutterbuck scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:28 remaining in the third period as the Islanders defeated the Rangers 6-4.
Johnny Boychuk had two goals for the Islanders, Kyle Okposo had a goal and an assist, Brock Nelson also scored and Frans Nielsen added an empty-netter with 1:01 remaining.
Across the Hudson River, Evgeni Malkin scored two goals as the Pittsburgh Penguins took advantage of a couple of defensive lapses by the New Jersey Devils to win 6-1.
Matt Cullen, Nick Bonino, Bryan Rust and Scott Wilson also scored. Backup Matt Murray made 17 saves as the Penguins rebounded from a dismal performance against Calgary 24 hours earlier.
Kyle Palmieri scored his 25th goal of the season for New Jersey, which played without injured All-Star goaltender Cory Schneider, who had limited Pittsburgh to six goals in the last six meetings.
Lauri Korpikoski scored the winner late in the second period as the Edmonton Oilers edged the Winnipeg Jets 2-1.
Patrick Maroon also scored for Edmonton, which moved out of last place in the Western Conference – one point ahead of Calgary and tied with Winnipeg with 59 points.
Jori Lehtera, back following a three-game absence after being hit in the face by a puck, scored in his return to the lineup as the St. Louis Blues held on to beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2.