NHL NEWS FEBRUARY 24 – MORE PLAYOFF CONTENDERS EARN VALUABLE POINTS

NHL NEWS FEBRUARY 24 – The Rangers, Islanders, Bruins and Flames each picked up victories to gain valuable points in their respective playoff races.

Rangers forward J.T. Miller tied the game in the third period and Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves – including two game-saving breakaway stops in the final minute of overtime – as New York improved to 8-1-1 in its past 10 games. The Rangers (39-19-2, 80 points) recorded their League-leading 20th road win of the season to leapfrog the idle Blue Jackets (37-16-5, 79 points) for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier, a native of nearby Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, brought his father to tears after scoring what stood as his first career game-winning goal while playing an NHL game in Montreal for the first time. Thomas Greiss (24 saves) earned his career-high third shutout of the season as the Islanders (29-21-10, 68 points) jumped into the second Eastern Conference Wild Card spot.

David Pastrnak scored his sixth game-winning goal of the season to help the Bruins (31-24-6, 68 points) pick up their fifth win in their last six contests, moving into a tie – in terms of points – with the Islanders for the second Eastern Conference Wild Card spot. New York, however, holds a game in hand.

Sean Monahan scored the 100th goal of his NHL career as the Flames improved to 7-2-1 in their last 10 contests and 5-1-1 in their last seven road games. Calgary (31-26-4, 66 points) kept pace with Nashville (29-22-9, 67 points) as the teams hold the two Western Conference Wild Card spots.

NHL NEWS FEBRUARY 24 AND MUSINGS

• Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist earned his 402nd career win to surpass Chris Osgood (401) for sole possession of 11th place on the NHL’s all-time wins list; he also moved within one of tying Grant Fuhr (403) for 10th place
• The Penguins acquired defenseman Ron Hainsey from the Hurricanes
• Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata scored to extend his point streak to seven games (2-5—7)
• Kings defenseman Kevin Gravel scored the first goal of his NHL career (45 GP)
• Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman skated in his 600th NHL game
• Claude Julien (MTL) became the 27th head coach in NHL history to coach 1,000 games
• The Panthers hosted a screening of Soul On Ice, while the Lightning and Predators each hosted Pride Night as part of Hockey Is For Everyone month.
• Wednesday is the 2017 NHL Trade Deadline (3:00 p.m. ET)

THURSDAY’S NHL RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
NY Islanders 3, MONTREAL 0
NY Rangers 2, TORONTO 1 (SO)
Calgary 3, TAMPA BAY 2
NASHVILLE 4, Colorado 2
CHICAGO 6, Arizona 3
Boston 4, LOS ANGELES 1

FRIDAY’S NHL ACTION
All Times Eastern
Edmonton @ Washington, 7 p.m.
Ottawa @ Carolina, 7:30 p.m.
Calgary @ Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Arizona @ Dallas, 8:30 p.m.