Dmitrij Jaskin scored on a wraparound late in the second period, and Vladimir Tarasenko tapped in David Backes’ pass in the third period for St. Louis, which improved its run to 12-0-1. Jaden Schwartz added an empty-netter.
The Blues (34-13-4) won their seventh straight to match a season best, while beating the Sabres for the sixth straight time.
Buffalo (15-34-3) was shut out for the ninth time this season — one short of matching a franchise high. And the Sabres failed to build off the momentum of a 3-2 win at Montreal on Tuesday, when Buffalo snapped a teamworst 14-game skid.
Islanders 3, Flyers 2 (SO)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cal Clutterbuck scored the deciding goal in the seventh round of the shootout. Clutterbuck also scored in regulation for the Islanders, as did Mikhail Grabovski.
Frans Nielsen got a puck past Steve Mason on the first shot of the shootout, and Wayne Simmonds scored on Philadelphia’s last tying attempt in the third round.
After Clutterbuck’s wrister got past Mason, Sean Couturier was denied by Jaroslav Halak on the tying attempt and Philadelphia’s season-high fourgame winning streak was over.
Panthers 3, Kings 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Pirri scored with 3:05 remaining to lift the Panthers over the struggling Kings 3-2.
Nick Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers, and Roberto Luongo stopped 29 shots.
Pirri grabbed a loose puck in the left circle and fired it past Jonathan Quick. He scored for the fourth consecutive game and the sixth in his past seven.
The Panthers have won their past two games and Luongo beat the Kings for the first time in nine games.
Marian Gaborik and Jamie McBain scored for the Kings, and Quick made 17 saves.
Capitals 3, Senators 2
OTTAWA (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal, Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for the Capitals and Braden Holtby picked up his 25th win of the season by stopping 25 shots.
Kyle Turris scored the lone Ottawa goal, and Robin Lehner made 27 saves.
Trailing 2-1 to start the third period, the Senators did their best to score the equalizer but couldn’t find a way to beat Holtby.
Thursday’s game was a milestone for defenseman Chris Phillips, who set the franchise record by playing in his 1,179th game to surpass Daniel Alfredsson. Alfredsson and former teammate Wade Redden were on hand for the occasion.
Ducks 5, Predators 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jakob Silfverberg scored two goals, and the Ducks took the top of the NHL standings for themselves.
Anaheim and Nashville came in tied atop both the NHL and the Western Conference with 72 points, though the Predators have a game in hand. The teams also have the league’s winningest goalies with Pekka Rinne back in net for Nashville after missing three weeks with an injured knee. Frederik Andersen made 44 saves in tying Rinne with his 29th win.
Lightning 5, Stars 3
DALLAS (AP) — Tyler Johnson scored two third-period goals, lifting the Lightning.
Johnson tipped Brian Boyle’s shot from the top of the left faceoff circle down between goalie Kari Lehtonen’s legs to break a 3-3 tie with 3:37 remaining. He’d put Tampa Bay ahead 3-2 with a power-play goal at 12:27.
Nikita Kucherov scored into an empty net with 1:17 to go. Kucherov and Steven Stamkos each had a goal and an assist. Ondrej Palat assisted on Tampa Bay’s final two goals.
The Stars’ Alex Goligoski had a goal and an assist.
Hurricanes 2, Coyotes 1 (SO)
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Eric Lindholm scored the only goal of the shootout.
Carolina’s Victor Rask and Arizona’s David Moss scored early, then the teams went scoreless through the rest of regulation and overtime.
Mike Smith had 39 saves for Arizona, including a sprawling block with his toe in overtime. Cam Ward had 28 saves for the Hurricanes.
Rask was credited with a goal for Carolina just 1:03 into the game. It initially was credited to Ron Hainsey, but officials later determined the puck had hit Rask on the way to the net.
Red Wings 3, Avalanche 0
DENVER (AP) — Petr Mrazek had 28 saves for his first shutout of the season and Detroit scored twice into empty nets.
Justin Abdelkader put the Red Wings on the scoreboard in the second period, and Darren Helm and Luke Glendening added empty-net goals in the last three minutes. Detroit improved to 8-1- 0 in its last nine games and pulled two points behind Tampa Bay for tops in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.
Sharks 5, Canucks 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Antti Niemi made 33 saves as San Jose defeated the listless Canucks.
Matt Irwin, Melker Karlsson, Joe Pavelski, Andrew Desjardins and Chris Tierney, with his first NHL goal, scored for San Jose. Brent Burns and Logan Couture each added two assists.
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