BOSTON (AP) - Patrice Bergeron scored two goals, and the Bruins beat the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 on Thursday night in the first meeting between the teams in Boston since the deciding game of the Stanley Cup finals.
Bergeron scored his first goal at 11:50 of the first period, and the Bruins broke the game open with goals by Carl Soderberg and Bergeron in a 13-second span early in the third.
Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots in posting his NHL-leading seventh shutout.
Chicago, fourth in the Western Conference, remained one point short of clinching a playoff berth for the sixth straight season.
The Eastern Conference-leading Bruins rebounded from a 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday that ended Boston’s 12-game winning streak. In their last 14 games, the Bruins have outscored opponents 51-19.
KINGS 3, PENGUINS 2
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Drew Doughty scored early in the third period to give Los Angeles the lead for good, and the Kings beat Pittsburgh for their franchise-record tying eighth straight road win.
Alec Martinez and Jeff Carter also scored for Los Angeles, and Martin Jones made 35 saves as the Kings matched the club road record set from Dec. 18, 1974-Jan. 16, 1975.
The Penguins rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie it on goals by Chris Kunitz and Taylor Pyatt. Jeff Zatkoff stopped 29 shots but couldn’t get a handle on Doughty’s slap shot 3:51 into the third. Pittsburgh has lost three straight.
A potential tying goal by Penguins forward Brandon Sutter midway through the third was waved off due to goaltender interference.
CANADIENS 5, RED WINGS 4
DETROIT (AP) - Max Pacioretty broke a third-period tie, Tomas Plekanec scored twice, and Montreal beat Detroit.
Tomas Vanek added a goal and two assists, and David Desharnais had a goal and an assist for Montreal. P.K. Subban had two assists, and Carey Price made 26 saves.
Tomas Tatar scored two goals for Detroit, Riley Sheahan had a goal and an assist, and Johan Franzen also scored. Jimmy Howard stopped 24 shots.
BLUES 5, WILD 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) - T.J. Oshie scored three goals for his first NHL hat trick, and Ryan Miller made 27 saves to lead St. Louis’ rout of Minnesota.
St. Louis has won three in a row overall and nine straight against the Wild. The Blues lead the NHL with 107 points.
Minnesota has lost six of eight.
Jaden Schwartz and Brenden Morrow also scored for St. Louis, which has points in its last 10 home games. Miller improved to 9-2-1 since being acquired from Buffalo on Feb. 28.
Zach Parise scored for the Wild, who had earned points in their previous three road games. Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves but fell to 12-8-4. He has won just twice in his last nine starts.
Oshie, who has a career-high 21 goals, scored twice in the first period - including a short-handed goal with 26 seconds left that made it 2-0. He completed the hat trick in the third.
COYOTES 3, DEVILS 2, SO
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Thomas Greiss stopped all three New Jersey shootout attempts and Mikkel Boedker scored on Phoenix’s first try as the Coyotes improved their playoff chances in the Western Conference.
The Coyotes, who hold the second wild card spot, earned five of six possible points during their three-game road trip and opened a five-point lead over idle Dallas.
Kyle Chipchura and Chris Summers scored for the Coyotes, and Greiss made 26 saves, including two outstanding stops against Patrik Elias in overtime. He turned aside Damien Brunner, Ryane Clowe and Elias in the shootout.
HURRICANES 3, PANTHERS 0
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Jiri Tlusty scored twice and Anton Khudobin stopped 35 shots to lead Carolina over Florida.
Khudobin recorded his first shutout this season and the third of his NHL career. His last shutout was March 31, 2013, at Buffalo. Jeff Skinner also scored for the Hurricanes.
Dan Ellis started the second period in relief of Roberto Luongo and made 18 saves. Luongo left after the first because of an upper body injury sustained in a collision with Carolina’s Radek Dvorak. The Panthers described it as a precautionary measure. Luongo stopped 11 of 12 shots.
Dvorak was ejected at 12:48 when he crashed into Luongo and sent him into the net, knocking it off its moorings.
LIGHTNING 3, ISLANDERS 2, SO
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Sami Salo scored in the 13th round of a shootout to lift Tampa Bay past the New York Islanders.
The shootout was tied at 4 through 12 rounds before Salo put a backhander past Evgeni Nabokov. Ben Bishop preserved the win by making a glove save on Johan Sundstrom.
Ryan Callahan had two goals for the Lightning, who trail Montreal by two points for second place in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay, 6-0-4 in its last 10 games, has two games in hand on the Canadiens.
The Islanders got goals from Ryan Strome and Matt Donovan. Right wing Kyle Okposo, who has a team-best 27 goals and 69 points, was a late scratch.
All three games between the teams this season were decided in a shootout, with the road team winning the first two.
PREDATORS 6, SABRES 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Shea Weber scored twice to pace Nashville’s rout of Buffalo that ended a six-game losing streak at home.
Colton Sissons, Colin Wilson, Calle Jarnkrok, and Eric Nystrom also scored for Nashville, which has won three of four.
Rasmus Ristolainen scored for the Sabres, who have lost 10 of 11.
The Predators got off to a fast start, scoring four goals in the first.
AVALANCHE 3, CANUCKS 2, OT
DENVER (AP) - Tyson Barrie scored 55 seconds into overtime, Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots, and Colorado moved a step closer to its first playoff berth in four years by beating Vancouver.
Matt Duchene scored and assisted on the winner, and Gabriel Landeskog added a goal.
Yannick Weber and Zack Kassian scored for the Canucks, whose three-game winning streak was snapped.
Daniel Sedin recorded his 800th NHL point with an assist in the first period. His twin brother, Henrik, reached that milestone on Oct. 15 at Philadelphia.
JETS 4, SHARKS 3
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Tobias Enstrom scored a power-play goal with 3:36 remaining in the third period to help Winnipeg deal a blow to San Jose’s chances to finish in first place.
Blake Wheeler added a goal and two assists for the Jets, who trail Phoenix by nine points in the race for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien also scored, and Al Montoya made 27 saves.
Dan Boyle, Brent Burns and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, who have lost four of six. San Jose holds a two-point lead over Anaheim in the Pacific Division but the Ducks have three games in hand. Antti Niemi made 27 saves for San Jose.
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