- Associated Press - Tuesday, March 20, 2018

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Pekka Rinne stopped 35 shots for his eighth shutout of the season and the Nashville Predators set a franchise record by earning a point in their 15th consecutive game with a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.

Mike Fisher and Ryan Johansen scored goals 4:34 apart in the second period, and Filip Forsberg and Ryan Hartman sealed the victory by scoring in the final four minutes.

The NHL-leading Predators improved to 14-0-1 in their past 15, and also extended their team-best road winning streak to nine straight.

Rinne won his 11th straight to match his personal best in a stretch in which he’s allowed just 18 goals. The shutout was the 51st of his 12-year career and third in nine games. Rinne also improved to 40-9-4 in becoming the NHL’s seventh goalie to win 40 games in a season three or more times.

BLUE JACKETS 5, BRUINS 4, OT

BOSTON (AP) - Cam Atkinson scored 2:55 into overtime to lift Columbus to its eighth straight win, spoiling a splendid NHL debut for Boston forward Ryan Donato.

Sonny Milano, Boone Jenner, Thomas Vanek and Artemi Panarin also scored for the Blue Jackets. Nick Foligno had two assists, and Vanek and Jenner each added one. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 34 shots.

Atkinson cut in on the left wing and fired a wrister past Rask for the game-winner.

Columbus moved into a tie with Philadelphia with 85 points, but the Flyers hold the tiebreaker for third place in the Metropolitan Division and the Blue Jackets hold the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Donato had a goal and two assists for Boston, which moved a point behind idle Tampa Bay for first in the Atlantic. Riley Nash, Brad Marchand and David Krejci also scored for the Bruins, and Tuukka Rask finished with 20 saves.

KINGS 4, WILD 3, OT.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Jeff Carter scored his second goal of the game with 33.8 seconds left on the clock in overtime and Los Angeles recovered after giving up a two-goal lead.

Tanner Pearson and Dustin Brown also scored for Los Angeles, which has alternated wins and losses over its past nine games. The Kings pulled into a tie with Anaheim for third place in the Pacific Division with 86 points, and hold the tiebreaker over the Ducks.

Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for the Kings, who appeared headed to a second straight loss until Brown tipped home a point shot from Drew Doughty with 46.5 seconds left in regulation. Doughty finished with three assists.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the first time in 13 games with 2:31 left to give Minnesota the lead after trailing 2-0. Eric Staal added his 39th and Zach Parise had his second goal in three games for the Wild.

Devan Dubnyk stopped 26 shots for Minnesota, which is in third in the Central Division, four points ahead of Colorado.

PANTHERS 2, CANADIENS 0

MONTREAL (AP) - Roberto Luongo stopped 28 shots for his third shutout of the season and 76th of his career to lead Florida.

Aaron Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov scored to help the Panthers inch closer to a playoff position, pulling three points behind idle new Jersey for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Florida has two games in hand on the Devils.

Antti Niemi finished with 38 saves for Montreal, which was shut out for the second straight game and 12th time this season - including three against the Panthers. The Canadiens were coming off a 4-0 loss at Toronto on Saturday.

COYOTES 5, FLAMES 2

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored twice late in the third period to lead Arizona.

Max Domi also had two goals for Arizona, including an empty-netter with 21 seconds left, and had an assist on Ekman-Larsson’s tiebreaking goal. Richard Panik scored early in the second period for the Coyotes, and Antti Raanta stopped 42 shots.

Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist, and Sean Monahan also scored as Calgary lost for the fourth time in five games. Mike Smith finished with 25 saves.

Domi stole a pass in the Calgary zone and beat Smith to tie the score at 2-2 with about 2 1/2 minutes left in the second period.

Both teams missed several scoring chances in the third period until Ekman-Larsson put the Coyotes ahead with 3:41 remaining with his 100th career goal. He then had an empty-netter 2:04 later for his 13th of the season to double the lead.

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