ANAHEIM, California — Anaheim moved back to the top of the overall NHL standings by beating Montreal 3-1 in Wednesday's clash of conference leaders. The Ducks were level with Nashville on points and games played going into Wednesday's game and pulled ahead thanks in part to 37 saves by goaltender John Gibson.
Montreal's lead in the East was trimmed to two points ahead of the New York Rangers, who collected a point from an overtime loss to Detroit and moved level with the crosstown Islanders at the top of the Metropolitan Division. Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin and Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks, who have won four straight games.
Cam Fowler added a short-handed, empty-net goal with 2:02 to play before Montreal's Alex Galchenyuk ruined Gibson's shutout bid on a power-play goal with 1:41 left.
Canadiens goalie Carey Price stopped 30 shots, but that was not enough for Montreal to secure the win that would have moved them into a share of the league's top spot.
Detroit's Marek Zidlicky scored a power-play goal 1:09 into overtime to give the Red Wings a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers.
Zidlicky was making his Red Wings debut after being acquired at the NHL trade deadline from New Jersey.
Justin Abdelkader also scored for Detroit, which closed within four points of East leader Montreal.
Defenseman Dan Girardi scored the sole goal for the Rangers.
Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and two assists, goaltender Semyon Varlamov had 28 saves and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. Jarome Iginla and Nathan MacKinnon also scored for Colorado.
Evgeni Malkin scored his fifth goal in the last four games for Pittsburgh, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 19 of 22 shots for the Penguins.
The Penguins (36-18-9) are third in the Metropolitan Division and securely in the playoffs barring a collapse in the final 18 games. They trail the New York Rangers by four points. They missed a chance to gain ground on the Rangers, who lost to Detroit in overtime on Wednesday.
Ottawa goalie Andrew Hammond stopped 35 shots and Kyle Turris scored a goal and set up another as the Senators dumped the Winnipeg Jets 3-1.
Hammond was the undisputed star for the Senators (28-23-11), who earned nine of 10 points in their last five NHL contests to stay relevant in the race for a wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
Hammond is to 6-0-1 since injuries to Ottawa starter Craig Anderson and backup Robin Lehner forced him into action.
Kyle Turris, Bobby Ryan and Erik Condra scored for Ottawa. Michael Frolik netted his 14th goal for Winnipeg (32-21-12). — Agencies
