Predators repel Lightning in clash of conference leaders

NASHVILLE, Tennessee: Nashville’s James Neal scored late in overtime to give the Predators a 3-2 win against Tampa Bay in Tuesday’s clash of the two NHL conference leaders.
The Predators opened a three-point lead in the overall league standings, as nearest rival Anaheim suffered a heavy defeat at Florida.
Tampa Bay’s defeat saw its lead in the Eastern Conference trimmed to a single point ahead of Montreal, which defeated Philadelphia in overtime.
In another key game, Winnipeg beat Minnesota to boost the Jets’ playoff chances.
Nashville’s Seth Jones and Taylor Beck scored to help send the game to overtime, and with 4:27 gone in the extra period, Neal’s wrist shot from the left circle went between the pads of Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Brett Connolly and Nikita Kucherov scored for Tampa Bay.
Anaheim dropped off Nashville’s pace after a 6-2 defeat at Florida.
Panthers’ goaltender Roberto Luongo made 31 saves and the hosts got goals from six players: Jimmy Hayes, Dave Bolland, Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Nick Bjugstad and Dmitry Kulikov.
Tim Jackman and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Ducks, who lost their third straight game.
Montreal moved right onto the tail of Tampa Bay by winning 2-1 against Philadelphia.
David Desharnais scored at 3:27 of overtime while Tomas Plekanec scored in the third period for the Canadiens, who won a third straight game.
Matt Read scored for the Flyers.
Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien scored on a breakaway at 4:00 of overtime to give the Jets a 2-1 win against Minnesota.
The result widened the gap between the two playoff aspirants to seven points.
Toby Enstrom scored in regulation for the Jets.
Jason Pominville scored for the Wild, which had won its previous six games.
Dallas’ Jamie Benn scored twice for the Stars, who twice scored when a man down and beat Boston 5-3.
Vernon Fiddler ended Boston’s run as the only remaining NHL team that hadn’t allowed a short-handed goal this season when he scored unassisted 7:28 into the game, and Trevor Daley repeated the feat.
The Stars won despite being outshot 44-32.
St. Louis’ Dmitrij Jaskin scored a go-ahead goal for the second time in four games and helped the Blues beat Arizona 2-1.
The New York Rangers edged Toronto 5-4, with Mats Zuccarello scoring his second goal of the game with 5:56 left.
The New York Islanders also won a tight game, downing Edmonton 2-1 after Casey Cizikas snapped a tie with 4:37 left.
Ottawa’s Milan Michalek scored at 12:15 of the third period to give the Senators a 2-1 win against Buffalo.