Gaborik's hat trick, 2 assists lead Wild past Ottawa
Marian Gaborik scored three goals and assisted on two others, and Dwayne Roloson made 36 saves to help the Wild beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-2, last night in Minneapolis.
Gaborik scored in the first minute of the second and third periods, and he completed his hat trick with two minutes left to seal the victory.
Marian Hossa notched his 33d goal of the season late in the second period for Ottawa, and Bryan Smolinski cut Minnesota's lead to 4-2 midway through the third before Gaborik scored again.
The loss dropped the Senators 3 points behind the Bruins in the Northeast Division. They remain tied with Toronto for fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Islanders 3, Lightning 1 -- Mattias Weinhandl, Justin Papineau, and Jason Blake scored third-period goals as visiting New York beat Tampa Bay.
Cliff Ronning had two assists for the Islanders, who have a 6-point lead over Buffalo for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth. New York is 2-3-1-2 over its past eight games.
Fredrik Modin had the Tampa Bay goal. The Lightning lead Philadelphia by 1 point for the best record in the East, but have lost two straight, their only two defeats in regulation since Feb. 3.
Canadiens 4, Avalanche 2 -- Saku Koivu scored a power-play goal 4:18 into the third period and Jose Theodore made 29 saves to lead host Montreal over Colorado.
Koivu, who assisted on Yanic Perreault's first-period goal to extend his point streak to six games, broke a 2-2 tie with a backhander past David Aebischer. Koivu's 14th goal helped the Canadiens pull out a win after they squandered an early two-goal lead.
Flames 4, Red Wings 1 -- Miikka Kiprusoff made 25 saves, and visiting Calgary got goals from four players in a victory over Detroit that stretched the Flames' unbeaten streak to six games.Kirk Maltby had a goal for Detroit, which had its eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) snapped.
The Red Wings lead Colorado by 3 points in the race for the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Blues 5, Kings 3 -- Petr Cajanek set up a pair of first-period goals before scoring into an empty net as visiting St. Louis completed a season sweep of Los Angeles and moved into a tie for seventh place in the Western Conference. Playing without suspended captain Chris Pronger, St. Louis built an early two-goal lead and extended its winning streak against Los Angeles to six games, dropping the Kings to ninth place in the West.
Sharks 3, Stars 3 -- Jonathan Cheechoo scored twice in the final 1:37 of regulation, including the tying goal with 34 seconds left, as visiting San Jose rallied from a three-goal deficit in the third period to tie Dallas.
Jason Arnott had two goals for the Stars, who were on the verge of closing within a point of first-place San Jose in the Pacific Division until their late collapse.
Mighty Ducks 3, Coyotes 2 -- Sergei Fedorov scored 29 seconds into overtime to lift visiting Anaheim past Phoenix, extending the Coyotes' winless streak to 13 games.The Coyotes are 0-8-2-3 in their last 13 games and 2-16-3-4 since consecutive wins over San Jose and Detroit in late January.
Canucks 2, Predators 2 -- Adam Hall scored with 19.1 seconds left in regulation to give visiting Nashville a tie with Vancouver.
Penguins 4, Capitals 1 -- Landon Wilson had two power-play goals, and Matt Hussey scored in his first NHL game to help host Pittsburgh push its unbeaten streak to six (5-0-1).
Oilers 3, Blue Jackets 2 -- Ethan Moreau scored the winner with 5:23 left, helping host Edmonton beat Columbus.
