Jagr ties for 2nd in career points, Panthers beat Sabres

Jaromir Jagr of the Florida Panthers looks on during a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, in this Dec.8 file photo. (AFP)

SUNRISE, Florida: Jaromir Jagr had three assists to pull into a tie for second place on the NHL’s career points list as the Florida Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 after a shootout on Tuesday night.
Jagr pulled even with Mark Messier with 1,887 points, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (2,857).
Roberto Luongo stopped 33 shots, including both attempts in the shootout, to pull into a tie with Terry Sawchuk for fifth all-time in the NHL with 447 wins.
Nick Bjugstad had his first goal of the season while Keith Yandle also scored and Aleksander Barkov had a goal and two assists for the Panthers.
Rasmus Ristolainen and San Reinhart each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres. Evander Kane also scored and Robin Lehner made 36 saves.
Blue Jackets 3, Kings 2, SO: In Columbus, Ohio, Cam Atkinson had two goals and scored in the shootout to help Columbus get its franchise-record 10th straight victory.
Curtis McElhinney made 44 saves and Sam Gagner scored the decider in the shootout as Columbus earned a point for the 12th straight game, improved to 21-5-4 and hosts the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night with a chance to jump into first place in the brutally competitive Metropolitan Division.
Jeff Carter scored twice for Los Angeles, including a tying goal 10:16 into the third period, and also got a goal in the shootout. Peter Budaj stopped 25 shots but allowed goals on 2 of 3 shootout attempts.
Wild 2, Avalanche 0: In St. Paul, Minnesota, Devan Dubnyk made 18 saves for his NHL-leading fifth shutout this season as Minnesota won its eighth straight.
Charlie Coyle scored his team-leading 11th goal and Mikko Koivu added his eighth for the Wild.
Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov returned after missing four games with a groin injury and stopped 31 of 33 shots. The Avalanche have lost four consecutive games.
Islanders 4, Bruins 2: In Boston, Thomas Greiss stopped 48 shots while Anders Lee scored twice and had an assist as the New York Islanders snapped a five-game winless streak.
Thomas Hickey and Nikolay Kulemin also scored for the Islanders in their first win since beating St. Louis on Dec. 8.
Greiss took a shutout into the third period and was able to hold off the Bruins after they pulled to 3-2 on goals by Anton Blidh and Dominic Moore. Greiss made 23 saves in the third period and got a little cushion when Lee scored a power-play goal with 6:58 left to put the Islanders back up two.
Penguins 7, Rangers 2: In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby scored his NHL-leading 22nd goal while Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists as Pittsburgh moved into a tie with the Rangers atop the crowded Metropolitan Division.
Bryan Rust, Phil Kessel, Justin Schultz, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bonino also scored for the Penguins while Matt Murray made 26 saves.
Michael Grabner collected his team-high 14th goal for New York and Matt Puempel added his second, but New York struggled to keep pace with Pittsburgh. Antti Raanta stopped 40 of 47 shots and allowed four third-period goals after the Rangers had pulled within 3-2.
Canadiens 5, Ducks 1: In Montreal, Jeff Petry had a goal and two assists as Montreal beat Anaheim.
Paul Byron had a goal and a helper while Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Chris Terry also scored for the Canadiens.
Ironman Andrew Cogliano scored for the Ducks.
Cogliano played his 738th consecutive game to pass Jay Bouwmeester for the fifth longest streak in NHL history.
Blues 3, Stars 2, OT: In Dallas, David Perron put in a wraparound goal at 1:55 of overtime to lift St. Louis past Dallas.
On a delayed penalty, Perron picked up a loose puck to the left of the net, skated behind it and scored from the right side before Dallas goalie Antti Niemi could recover.
St. Louis’ Patrik Berglund had tied the game 2-2 with 31 seconds left in the second period. Jaden Schwartz scored in the first period for the Blues and Jake Allen had 36 saves.
Jason Spezza scored for a 2-1 lead less than a minute before Berglund tied the game, and assisted on Patrick Eaves’ power-play goal in the first period.
Niemi finished with 19 saves.
Senators 4, Blackhawks 3: In Chicago, Derick Brassard and Tom Pyatt scored 10 seconds apart during Ottawa’s three-goal second period as the Senators won their third straight.
Bobby Ryan added a goal and an assist as Ottawa stopped a seven-game road losing streak against Chicago. Dion Phaneuf scored a power-play goal, and Kyle Turris had two assists.
Artemi Panarin, Tyler Motte and Richard Panik scored for the Blackhawks, who had won five in a row and six of seven. Scott Darling made 26 saves while dropping to 6-3-1 in 10 starts since Corey Crawford had an emergency appendectomy on Dec. 3.
Lightning 4, Red Wings 1: In Tampa, Florida, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in relief of Ben Bishop as Tampa Bay beat Detroit in a game where both starting goalies left due to injuries.
Bishop was hurt 12 minutes into the first period, going down after kicking out his right leg to make a pad save on Nick Jensen’s shot.
Detroit’s Jimmy Howard departed with 12:41 remaining in the second. He was unable to put weight on his right leg following a goalmouth scramble involving Jensen and Tampa Bay’s Erik Condra.
Jensen, making his NHL debut, assisted on Anthony Mantha’s goal with 10.5 seconds left in the third while Brian Boyle, Jonathan Drouin, Brayden Point and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for the Lightning.
Predators 5, Devils 1: In Newark, New Jersey, James Neal scored twice in the first period while Juuse Saros stopped 27 shots as Nashville beat New Jersey.
Ryan Johansen and Mattias Ekholm each had a goal and an assist, Filip Forsberg also scored and Viktor Arvidsson had three assists for the Predators.
Sergey Kalinin spoiled Saros’ bid for his first NHL shutout with 4:49 remaining, and Cory Schneider finished with 32 saves for the Devils, who have lost seven straight.
Sharks 4, Flames 1: In San Jose, California, Joonas Donskoi scored twice as San Jose beat Calgary for their fifth win in six games.
Patrick Marleau and Paul Martin also scored for the Sharks, while Sam Bennett scored for the Flames.
Martin Jones stopped 20 of 21 shots for his fourth victory in five starts. Chad Johnson recorded 30 saves in 34 chances.
The Sharks muscled up to score four times within an 11-minute span in the second period, which included Donskoi’s first career multi-goal contest.
Canucks 4, Jets 1: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Jannik Hansen scored twice and Bo Horvat got his 10th goal of the season to help Vancouver beat Winnipeg.
Horvat scored an empty-netter after Sven Baertschi got a goal in the third period for Vancouver and Jacob Markstrom had 31 saves. Henrik Sedin added two assists.
Blake Wheeler scored and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 20 shots for the Jets.