RANGERS, WILD AND BLUES EARN WINS TO KEEP PACE WITH BLACKHAWKS
The Rangers (21-10-1, 43 points) posted a shutout win to remain one point behind the Blackhawks in the overall standings, while the Wild (17-8-4, 38 points) and Blues (17-10-4, 38 points) also secured victories to keep pace with their Central Division rival:

* Rick Nash scored the game-winning goal while shorthanded and Henrik Lundqvist (54:20) and Antti Raanta (5:31) shared duties in goal to help the Rangers pick up their fourth win in their past five games. Elias notes that Lundqvist – who stopped all 27 shots the team faced – and Raanta combined for the first team shutout in the franchise’s 90-year history. The Rangers moved into a tie with the Penguins for the most points among Eastern Conference teams.

* Devan Dubnyk made 34 saves and Eric Staal (2-0—2) scored the game-winning goal to help the Wild earn their sixth consecutive win. Dubnyk, who leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.62), save percentage (.947) and shutouts (4), picked up his sixth straight victory and extended his personal point streak to a career-high 10 games (8-0-2; 1.65 GAA, .944 SV%). Staal, meanwhile, leads the club in game-winning goals (4) and points (9-13—22) in his first season with the Wild.

* Two days after surrendering a three-goal lead at NSH (6-3 L), the Blues scored five unanswered goals to overcome a 2-0 deficit and improve to 13-1-3 at Scottrade Center this season, including an active 14-game point streak (11-0-3) that stands as the second-longest such run in franchise history. Vladimir Tarasenko (1-2—3) extended his point streak to five games (2-8—10) and ranks second in the NHL with 15-22—37 this season, trailing only Connor McDavid (12-27—39). Jake Allen made 24 saves to improve to 11-0-2 at Scottrade Center this season (1.81 GAA, .931 SV%, 1 SO).

HOLLAND LIFTS COYOTES PAST FORMER CLUB
Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz.) opened the scoring in his first game against his favorite childhood team, but his former teammate Peter Holland scored the lone goal in the shootout to lift Arizona to victory less than a week after being acquired from Toronto. Mike Smith made 44 saves through overtime – including a stop on Matthews’ baseball-style shot in overtime – to improve to 4-0-2 when facing at least 40 shots this season.

* Matthews will play his first NHL game in Arizona one week from today when the Maple Leafs wrap up their season series with the Coyotes.

LOOSE PUCKS
Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr (755-1,129—1,884) collected an assist to move within three points of tying Mark Messier (694-1,193—1,887) for second on the NHL’s all-time list . . . The Bruins opened the scoring with two goals in a span of 13 seconds, but the Ducks scored four of the next five goals to improve to 7-2-1 in their past 10 games . . . Forward Tyler Toffoli (2-1—3) scored twice in a span of 2:36 in the third period as the Kings improved to 8-3-1 in their last 12 contests . . . The Jets overcame deficits of 2-1 and 3-2 before Mathieu Perreault (0-1—1) scored the decisive goal in the shootout to snap a four-game slide (0-3-1) . . . Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (1-0—1) has scored eight times in his last 10 contests (8-2—10) and ranks second among rookies with 14-9—23 this season (29 GP) . . . Ducks forward Rickard Rakell (3-3—6) and Wild forward Mikael Granlund (2-4—6) extended their point streaks to five games . . . The NHL named Sonnet the official Canadian home and auto insurance partner of the League . . . The NHL announced that multi-platinum recording artist Bryan Adams, acclaimed Alt-rock chart toppers Arkells and Canadian country rock group Cold Creek County will provide the musical entertainment for the 2017 Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic.

SNEAK PEEK AT FRIDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
NY Islanders @ Buffalo, 7 p.m., MSG-B, MSG+
Los Angeles @ Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., SN, TVAS, NBCSN, ROOT
San Jose @ Montreal, 7:30 p.m., SNE, RDS, CSN-CA
Washington @ Carolina, 7:30 p.m., FS-CR, CSN-DC+
Florida @ Colorado, 9 p.m., ALT, FS-F
Columbus @ Calgary, 9 p.m., SNW, FS-O
Tampa Bay @ Vancouver, 10 p.m., SNP, SUN

information above was supplied by the NHL PR department