Buffalo ended their recent struggles with a decisive 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Monday evening, as Jason Zucker netted the game-winning goal in the middle frame while also contributing an assist for the home team.
The Sabres (47-23-8, 102 points) received additional scoring from Alex Tuch, Josh Norris, and Jack Quinn, halting their two-game skid and creating a deadlock with Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division. Defenseman Bowen Byram contributed two helpers while goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen turned away 23 shots.
For the Lightning (48-23-6, 102 points), Jake Guentzel tallied one goal and one assist, with Nikita Kucherov adding the other marker for Tampa Bay, which had captured four victories in their last five contests. Defenseman Darren Raddysh recorded two assists while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves in the losing effort.
Buffalo took a 3-2 advantage when Zucker deflected Byram’s shot from the right point at waist height, finding the net 7:38 into the second period. Quinn sealed the victory with an empty-netter with 1:54 remaining, as Buffalo now has four contests left while Tampa Bay faces five remaining games.
Kings 3, Predators 2 (SO)
Los Angeles extended their point streak to four games (3-0-1) as Joel Armia and Scott Laughton found the net in regulation, while Adrian Kempe delivered the decisive shootout goal in the home victory over Nashville.
Goaltender Anton Forsberg was stellar with 29 saves and remained perfect in the shootout for Los Angeles (32-26-19, 83 points), moving one point clear of Nashville for the second Western Conference wild-card position.
The Predators (36-31-10, 82 points) got scoring from Roman Josi, who added an assist, and Steven Stamkos, while Juuse Saros made 26 stops. Nashville had claimed the second wild-card spot with Thursday’s 5-4 shootout triumph in Los Angeles and maintained that position following Saturday’s 6-3 victory over San Jose.
Sharks 3, Blackhawks 2
San Jose rallied for a home victory over Chicago behind William Eklund’s goal and assist performance.
Kiefer Sherwood and Will Smith also found the back of the net for the Sharks, who have captured five of their last six games while staying within two points of playoff contention. Alex Nedeljkovic recorded 27 saves for the winners.
Chicago received one goal and one assist from Frank Nazar, with Ryan Donato also scoring for the Blackhawks, who managed just one victory in their past seven outings (1-5-1). Spencer Knight made 20 saves in defeat.
Jets 6, Kraken 2
Winnipeg’s playoff hopes received a boost as Kyle Connor recorded two goals and Mark Scheifele dished out three assists in the commanding home victory over Seattle.
The Jets improved to 6-2-0 over their last eight contests, with this recent surge bringing Winnipeg (34-31-12, 80 points) to within three points of the final Western Conference wild-card berth. Gabriel Vilardi and Jonathan Toews each contributed one goal and one assist, while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 of 24 shots.
Winnipeg dominated special teams with a perfect 3-for-3 power-play performance, exploiting Seattle’s struggling penalty kill. The Jets entered Monday with the NHL’s fifth-worst power-play percentage at 17.22%, while the Kraken’s penalty-kill rate of 72.77% ranked second-worst league-wide. Seattle (32-33-11, 75 points) now trails the final Western wild-card spot by eight points.
