Canadiens 3, Rangers 1

After weeks without a win, Montreal finally found a team they could beat in the struggling New York Rangers.

Antti Niemi made 31 saves and the Canadiens topped the Rangers on Thursday night to snap their six-game losing streak.

Tomas Plekanec, Jeff Petry and Phillip Danault scored for Montreal (23-29-8), which won for the first time since Feb. 4 and avoided matching its longest skid of the season.

"Regardless of what happens all year, this is the feeling you play for," said Brendan Gallagher, who got his team-leading 36th point with an assist. "The more we can do this, the happier we'll be. It's rewarding. A lot of guys played a really good hockey game tonight and we got what we deserved.

"For the crowd, it's been a while since we've been able to put smiles on their faces."

The Canadiens have the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference and are 11 points out of a playoff spot.

"It's been a frustrating year for everyone," said Petry, who scored the game-winner in the second period. "It's about playing a strong game. We have a lot to prove still, whether it be personally or as a team. Nobody wants to give up in here. We want to fight until the end."

Niemi got the start in place of injured Carey Price.

Before the game, Montreal announced Price will be sidelined indefinitely with a concussion. The goalie took a shot to the mask in Tuesday's loss to Philadelphia.

Earlier on Thursday, the Canadiens also announced Shea Weber will miss the rest of the season because he needs surgery for a torn tendon in his left foot. The 32-year-old defenseman, likely injured on opening night in early October, has not played since Dec. 16.

"Those are big losses for us," Danault said. "We have to learn to play without them. It's part of the game."

Kevin Hayes scored for the Rangers (27-29-5), who have lost five in a row. Alexandar Georgiev, making his NHL debut, stopped 38 of 40 shots.

"I felt great about my game today," said the 22-year-old Georgiev, who was solid throughout. "The guys played really great in front of me and blocked a lot of shots. It really helped me. I just played my game and it was very fun from the first second of warmups."

Hayes spoiled Niemi's shutout bid with exactly three minutes remaining. The Rangers' forward appeared to have kicked the puck straight into the net, but instead deflected the puck with his stick before it crossed the line.

With Price and Weber out of the lineup, another veteran stepped up for Montreal.

Plekanec made it 1-0 at 6:59 of the first period with his sixth goal of the season. The 35-year-old beat defenseman Rob O'Gara to the puck and buried a no-look feed from Paul Byron.

In the second period, Charles Hudon connected with Petry on a 2-on-1 for Montreal's second of the game at 3:50. Hudon's saucer pass narrowly avoided Brady Skjei's slide and landed right on Petry's stick at the side of the net. Petry has scored 10 goals for the first time in his career.

The play got started with a big hit by Nicolas Deslauriers in the neutral zone.

Danault scored into an empty net from deep in his own zone with 1:17 left.

Maple Leafs 4, Islanders 3 (SO)

Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock acknowledged his team didn't play very well Thursday night, and his players know things could become much more difficult if they have to deal with another injury absence for Auston Matthews.

Tyler Bozak scored the shootout winner in the first round and Toronto squeezed out a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders after Matthews left the game. He tipped in Jake Gardiner's shot to tie it 3-all with 3:29 remaining in the third period, but exited with 1:06 to go in regulation favoring his right shoulder after being sandwiched by Adam Pelech and Cal Clutterbuck.

Matthews did not return. The 20-year-old Toronto star missed six games in December with a concussion as the Maple Leafs went 2-4 without him. He sat out four games in November with an undisclosed upper-body injury.

"Clearly he's a big part of our team and going down the stretch we're going to need him, so hopefully it's not too bad," teammate Nazem Kadri said.

Babcock didn't give much of an update and said the club would know more about Matthews' status on Friday at practice.

Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly had the other Maple Leafs goals, and Frederik Andersen made 32 saves. Toronto (38-20-5) has won eight straight at home for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

"Obviously, we weren't very good," Babcock said. "Anybody who watches us regularly knows that we weren't that good. Saw it coming yesterday in practice, talked about it then and our preparation wasn't good enough."

Bozak beat Jaroslav Halak high blocker side for his third game-deciding shootout goal of the season. Bozak is tied for the NHL lead in shootout winners.

"He is unbelievable at it. I mean, he always talks and jokes about it, how good he was back in the day, and he still hasn't lost that touch," Marner said. "He's been great for us in that category, but I mean, I think we've got to stop going that route. Thankfully we have him or else we might be in trouble."

Ryan Pulock, Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle scored for the Islanders (29-26-7), and Halak turned aside 28 shots. New York, tied with Columbus for the second Eastern Conference wild card, dropped to 4-6-2 since the All-Star break and 13-15-3 on the road this season.

With his three points, Barzal has a team-leading 65 and a 14-point lead over Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL's rookie scoring race.

Barzal has eight games with three or more points this season, one shy of Bryan Trottier's franchise rookie record.

"It's unfortunate we couldn't score (in overtime). It's unfortunate to lose that extra point," Barzal said.

"We weren't shy to push the pace early. (Clutterbuck) and (Casey Cizikas) finishing checks early kind of set the tone for the rest of us. I thought we played a pretty good game."

Pulock opened the scoring at 8:39 of the first period, one-timing Thomas Hickey's feed past Andersen, who appeared out of position on the play after Eberle bumped into him. Barzal picked up the secondary assist.

The Islanders' rookie then doubled New York's lead, backhanding the rebound of Anthony Beauvillier's shot past Andersen for his 13th goal at 11:48.

Marner got the Maple Leafs on the board at 17:39. After picking up a feed from Kadri, he showed patience while waiting for Halak to make the first move and then beat the goaltender between the pads for his 15th of the season. The goal gave Marner 10 in his last 16 games.

Moments after the Islanders hit the post twice, Rielly tied it at 2 after taking Connor Brown's pass and beating Halak high on the glove side for his sixth of the season at 1:28 of the third.

New York responded 99 seconds later as Eberle's centering pass redirected off Nikita Zaitsev's skate and past Andersen. Barzal got the primary assist on Eberle's 21st of the season.

Panthers 3, Capitals 2

Vincent Trocheck scored the winning goal with 19.1 seconds left to lift Florida over Washington, hours after victims of last week's shooting at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were honored with a somber video tribute.

With the score tied at 2, Trocheck redirected a shot by Jonathan Huberdeau past goaltender Braden Holtby during a power play.

Nick Bjugstad scored the tying goal for the Panthers late in the third period, and Maxim Mamin got his first NHL goal. Roberto Luongo made 33 saves in his third game since returning from a groin injury.

Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller also scored for the Capitals. Holtby stopped 30 shots but lost his fifth straight.

Before the game, the arena video screen showed the names and faces of each of the 17 students who were killed on Valentine's Day in nearby Parkland. The darkened ice was then illuminated with 17 circles of light, with a student's name inside each one.

Luongo, a Parkland resident, gave an emotional speech about the bravery of those who lost their lives trying to save others and how inspiring the students have been coping with the tragedy. Players from both teams stood for the ceremony, some wiping tears from their eyes.

It was the first home game for the Panthers since the tragedy. They had been on a road trip in Canada for the past 11 days.

Florida players will wear Marjory Stoneman Douglas logos on their helmets and MSD uniform patches for the remainder of the season.

Lightning 4, Senators 3

Nikita Kucherov had two assists to reach 80 points this season and Tampa Bay defeated Ottawa.

Tyler Johnson, Victor Hedman, Vladislav Namestnikov and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning (41-17-3), who leapfrogged expansion Vegas to regain the top spot in the overall NHL standings with 85 points. Louis Domingue earned his third win by stopping 33 shots.

Kucherov, the NHL's leading scorer, has 32 goals and 48 assists in 61 games.

Ryan Dzingel, Mark Borowiecki and Derick Brassard scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson made 20 saves.

The loss snapped the Senators' five-game winning streak on home ice.

Flyers 2, Blue Jackets 1

Nolan Patrick scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Petr Mrazek made 19 saves in his Philadelphia debut, leading the streaking Flyers over Columbus.

Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist and Shayne Gostisbehere added two assists for the Flyers, who won their fourth straight game while improving to 8-0-2 in the last 10.

Artemi Panarin scored for the Blue Jackets, who dropped into a tie with the New York Islanders for the second Eastern Conference wild card.

Mrazek was acquired in a trade with Detroit on Monday night.

Predators 7, Sharks 1

Pekka Rinne made 33 saves in his 300th career win and Nashville routed San Jose.

Nick Bonino, Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson each had a goal and an assist, and Scott Hartnell, Kevin Fiala and Mattias Ekholm also scored for Nashville, which has won three straight. The Predators moved within one point of expansion Vegas for the Western Conference lead.

Nashville defensemen Roman Josi and P.K. Subban each had two assists.

All of Rinne's wins have come with Nashville. He tied former Predators goalie Tomas Vokoun for 33rd place in NHL history.

Logan Couture had the San Jose goal. The loss snapped the Sharks' three-game winning streak.

Wild 4, Devils 2

Joel Eriksson Ek and Chris Stewart scored in a 39-second span during Minnesota's three-goal second period, and the Wild rallied from two down to beat New Jersey.

Wild defenseman Mike Reilly also scored in the second period and Eric Staal iced the game with an empty-net goal, his 900th NHL point. Backup goalie Alex Stalock made 38 saves as the Wild moved into third place in the Central Division after winning for the 11th time in 17 games (11-3-3).

Taylor Hall and Stefan Noesen scored for the Devils, who have lost two in a row after a four-game winning streak. Eddie Lack made 21 saves.

Hall's 13-game point streak is the longest in NHL this season, one more than David Pastrnak of Boston.

After the game, the Devils acquired speedy forward Michael Grabner from the Rangers in the first trade between the cross-river rivals. New Jersey sent a 2018 second-round draft pick and 20-year-old defensive prospect Yegor Rykov to New York.

Sabres 3, Red Wings 2 (OT)

Marco Scandella scored with a second left in overtime, lifting Buffalo over Detroit.

Justin Abdelkader pulled the Red Wings into a 2-all tie with 1:25 remaining in the third period. They had a chance to win early in overtime, but Tomas Tatar failed to get off a shot on a breakaway.

Evander Kane scored a go-ahead wraparound goal late in the second period for Buffalo. Rasmus Ristolainen had a goal early in the game to put the Sabres ahead, and Robin Lehner finished with 35 saves.

Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots for the Red Wings. Detroit's Jonathan Ericsson tied the game at 1 early in the second.

Stars 2, Kings 0

Tyler Seguin broke a scoreless tie with 8:27 remaining and Dallas defeated Los Angeles in a matchup of teams fighting for a Western Conference playoff spot.

Backup goalie Kari Lehtonen made 18 saves for his first shutout of the season in his 21st game. Alexander Radulov added an empty-net goal with a minute to play.

Seguin tipped in Greg Pateryn's slap shot for his 30th goal, reaching the mark for the fourth time in five years.

Dallas had been shut out in two of its previous four games. The win snapped a two-game skid for the Stars.

The Kings had won three straight. Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick made several outstanding stops and finished with 26 saves.

Oilers 3, Avalanche 2 (OT)

Connor McDavid scored at 2:19 of overtime and had an assist to lead Edmonton past Colorado.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and set up McDavid's winner. Zack Kassian also scored for the Oilers, who won for just the second time in their last nine games.

Samuel Girard and Colin Wilson scored for the Avalanche, who have lost three of four.

Flames 5, Coyotes 2

Jon Gillies rebounded from a first-minute goal to make 35 saves in his first NHL start of the season, helping Calgary beat Arizona.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, Sean Monahan added a goal and an assist, and Sam Bennett, Mark Jankowski and Matthew Tkachuk also scored. Dougie Hamilton and Mark Giordano each had two assists.

Coming off a 7-3 loss Wednesday night at Vegas with David Rittich in goal, the Flames snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 9-3-1 in their last 13 road games.

Derek Stepan and Kevin Connauton scored for Arizona. Off since beating Edmonton 1-0 in a Saturday matinee at Gila River Arena, the NHL-worst Coyotes had won four straight and were 5-0-1 in their last six.

Notes

Bruins trade Vatrano to Panthers

The Boston Bruins stayed active as the NHL trade deadline nears, dealing forward Frank Vatrano to the Florida Panthers on Thursday for a third-round pick in the June draft.

Vatrano has appeared in 25 games with Boston this season, scoring two goals.

The trade deadline is Monday. Earlier this week, Boston acquired defenseman Nick Holden from the New York Rangers for a minor league defenseman and third-round pick in the upcoming draft.

Vatrano had career highs in all offensive categories last season with 10 goals and eight assists in 44 games. The 5-foot-9 winger also had one goal in six postseason games with Boston.

He was originally signed in 2015 as a free agent out of the University of Massachusetts.