NHL NEWS FEB 20 – CLUBS STRENGTHEN GRIP ON PLAYOFF POSITIONS

The Rangers (38-19-1, 77 points), Ducks (31-19-10, 72 points) and Predators (28-22-8, 64 points) each secured victories to strength their grips on playoff positions.

Mats Zuccarello scored the go-ahead goal at 8:37 of the third period to help the Rangers improve to 7-1-0 in their last eight contests. Henrik Lundqvist (31 saves) earned the 401st win of his NHL career to tie Chris Osgood for 11th place on the League’s all-time list. The Rangers maintained their hold of the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference and moved within two points of the Blue Jackets (37-16-5, 79 points) for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

John Gibson (24 saves) registered his career-high fifth shutout of the season – and second in his past three starts – to backstop the Ducks past the rival Kings. Gibson became the first Anaheim goaltender to register five shutouts in a season since Jonas Hiller in 2013-14 (5). The Ducks increased their lead to 10 points over the idle Flames (29-26-4, 62 points) for third place in the Pacific Division.

The Blue Jackets erased a 3-1 deficit, but Mattias Ekholm scored the tiebreaking goal at 9:09 of the third period to power the Predators to victory. Nashville increased its lead to two points over Calgary for the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference and moved within three points of idle St. Louis (31-23-5, 67 points) for third place in the Central Division.

NHL NEWS AND MUSINGS

• Ryan Strome (2-1—3) registered his second career multi-goal game to help the Islanders extend their home point streak to 11 games (9-0-2), their longest such run since 1982
• Brayden Schenn scored his League-leading 14th power-play goal of the season and Shayne Gostisbehere (0-3—3) collected a career-high three points as the Flyers earned a 3-2 win
• Josh Morrissey scored the game-winning goal early in the third period to propel the Jets to 5-1-1 record in their last seven road games
• Tampa Bay surrendered a game-tying goal with 41.9 seconds remaining in regulation, but Jonathan Drouin scored his first career overtime goal as the Lightning extended their point streak to six games (4-0-2)
• The Red Wings swept their back-to-back set with wins over the Capitals and Penguins, the top two teams in the Eastern Conference
• Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron (0-1—1) reached the 400-assist milestone
• Senators captain Erik Karlsson (1-6—7), Bruins defenseman Torey Krug (1-5—6) and Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (0-5—5) each extended their point streaks to five games
• Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist donned a special mask during pre-game warmup as a tribute to equipment manager Cass Marques, who worked his 1,500th game with the team
• The Avalanche, Islanders and Penguins each hosted events in support of Hockey Is For Everyone month
• Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba will have a hearing this afternoon for an illegal check to the head on Senators forward Mark Stone
• The Penguins honored Sidney Crosby during a pre-game ceremony at PPG Paints Arena for recently reaching the 1,000-point milestone.

SUNDAY’S NHL RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
NY RANGERS 2, Washington 1
Detroit 5, PITTSBURGH 2
Winnipeg 3, OTTAWA 2
NY ISLANDERS 6, New Jersey 4
Chicago 5, BUFFALO 1
Nashville 4, COLUMBUS 3
Toronto 4, CAROLINA 0
Tampa Bay 3, COLORADO 2 (OT)
Boston 2, SAN JOSE 1 (OT)
ANAHEIM 1, Los Angeles 0
Philadelphia 3, VANCOUVER 2

MONDAY’S NHL ACTION
All Times Eastern
Florida @ St. Louis, 8 p.m.
Anaheim @ Arizona, 9 p.m.