Canadiens beat Rangers, Wild defeat Stars

Alexei Emelin of the Montreal Canadiens reacts while celebrating his goal with teammates on the bench during the NHL game against the New York Rangers at the Bell Center in Montreal, Canada. (AFP)

MONTREAL: Alexei Emelin, Max Pacioretty and Paul Byron scored in a 62-second span of the third period to lift the Montreal Canadiens over the New York Rangers 5-4 on Saturday night.
Alex Galchenyuk scored in his return after injuring his knee Dec. 4, and Brian Flynn also had a goal for Montreal.
Brandon Pirri, Rick Nash, J.T. Miler and Derek Stepan scored for the Rangers, who were coming off a 4-2 loss at home to Toronto on Friday night.
The Rangers’ Antti Raanta played for the first time since Dec. 29 but left in the first period with a lower-body injury after stopping 10 of 10 shots. Henrik Lundqvist replaced him and allowed five goals on 22 shots a night after losing to the Maple Leafs.
Wild 5, Stars 4: Jason Zucker scored the winner with 6:45 to play as Minnesota beat Dallas after blowing a four-goal lead.
Zucker skated into the paint as Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen blocked a shot. The puck bounced off Zucker’s chest and into the goal just before the net came off its moorings. A replay review confirmed the goal.
Three Minnesota players scored in the first 4:01, and the Wild led 4-0 before the period ended.
The goals by Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal and Matt Dumba knocked Stars starting goalie Antti Niemi from the game without a save.
Chris Stewart also scored against Lehtonen for a 4-0 lead at 12:45 of the first.
The Stars rallied with Antoine Roussel scoring seven seconds before the first period ended, Jiri Hudler and Tyler Seguin adding second-period goals and John Klingberg tying it on the power play with 8:47 remaining.
Panthers 4, Blue Jackets 3: Jaromir Jagr scored early in the third period, helping lead Florida past Columbus.
Shawn Thornton, Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Florida while Trocheck, Aaron Ekblad, Jason Demers and Jakub Kindl had assists. James Reimer made 30 saves.
With the Panthers leading 3-2, Jagr swatted in a loose puck behind Joonas Korpisalo for his eighth goal of the season 1:27 into the third.
Boone Jenner scored his eighth of the season for Columbus at 6:17 to cut the deficit to 4-3, but the Blue Jackets could not tie it.
Scott Hartnell and Cam Atkinson also had goals for the Blue Jackets, while Seth Jones had a pair of assists, and Ryan Murray had one. Korpisalo, playing in his second consecutive game in place of regular starter Sergei Bobrovsky, had 28 saves.
Hurricanes 7, Islanders 4: Brock McGinn had a goal and three assists while linemates Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm each had a goal and two assists as Carolina pulled away late to beat New York for its fourth straight victory. The Hurricanes overcame a 3-1 deficit with three straight goals in the second period and improved to 14-1-1 in their last 16 home games.
Carolina scored three more times in the third to make it a rout, including Lee Stempniak’s goal 5:42 into the final period that broke a 4-4 tie.
Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Carolina. Cam Ward made 28 saves.
Red Wings 6, Penguins 3: Andreas Athanasiou went end to end with the puck, split defenders and scored early in the third period, giving Detroit its first lead in a win over Pittsburgh.
Detroit coach Jeff Blashill won a challenge shortly after on a potential tying goal by the Penguins.