NEW YORK — David Backes scored twice in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and goalie Ryan Miller made 16 saves to lead the St Louis Blues to a milestone victory over the Winnipeg Jets. The Blues (47-14-7), who won for the eighth time in nine games, lead the NHL on 101 points and passed the 100-point plateau for the sixth time in franchise history and the first since 2000-01. St Louis leads San Jose, Anaheim and Boston (all on 97 points) in the battle for the President's Trophy with 14 games remaining. Eric O'Dell scored the lone goal for the Jets (31-30-9), who have lost seven of eight. Bruins 4, Wild 1: The Boston Bruins won their ninth straight game and beat the Minnesota Wild for the first time at TD Garden. The victory moved the Bruins five points ahead of the idle Pittsburgh Penguins at the top of the Eastern Conference and also lifted Boston into a three-way tie for second place in the overall league standings. Red-hot Jarome Iginla scored twice, and fellow right-wingers Loui Eriksson and Reilly Smith also scored for the Bruins. Iginla had his team-leading 24th and 25th of the season. Goaltender Tuukka Rask, winning his sixth straight, made 33 saves, yielding only a goal to right-winger Jason Pominville, who netted his 26th of the season for Minnesota (35-23-10). Lightning 4, Canucks 3: Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead into the final period and held on for their third consecutive victory. The Lightning (37-24-7) literally had the bounces go their way, twice collecting goals that went in off Canucks defenseman Ryan Stanton. Steven Stamkos also netted for Tampa Bay. Vancouver (31-30-10) rallied with three goals in the third period but it was too little too late. Coyotes 4, Kings 3: Jeff Halpern scored the game-winning goal and Mike Smith made 36 saves as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Los Angeles Kings. Phoenix (33-25-11) won for the first time in three games to remain in the thick of the Western Conference wild-card race. The Kings (37-25-6) lost their third consecutive game. Halpern's fourth goal of the season came after a review at 16:55 of the third period, as his shot from the goalmouth appeared to be saved by Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick but was ruled otherwise. — Reuters
