Predators 4, Lightning 1

It was a very nice Monday for Calle Jarnkrok, Pekka Rinne and the rest of the Nashville Predators.

Jarnkrok had a short-handed goal and three assists, leading the slumping Predators to a victory over Tampa Bay.

Rinne stopped 38 shots and picked up his 14th career assist in Nashville’s first victory against Tampa Bay in six meetings on the season. Mattias Ekholm had a goal and an assist, and Eeli Tolvanen and Viktor Arvidsson also scored.

The Predators won for the second time in the past eight games.

“Everybody knows we’ve been struggling, it’s a big win,” Rinne said. “When we you lose games, it can get tough on everybody. Considering Tampa Bay is one of the better teams, this is a big win for us. It can give us momentum and energy going forward.’’

Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay, which lost for the second time on home ice this season in 12 games. Curtis McElhinney fell to 2-3-1 on the season after stopping 22 shots.

“Everybody is like ‘Holy cow you lose a game ... or the world’s caving in,'” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I look back at our last two losses. Scoring chances are nearly 2-to-1 and we’ve had some pretty good zone time and we’ve done some good things. We just got beat.’’

Nashville opened the scoring in the second period. Tolvanen got his sixth goal when he converted a wrist shot from the left dot at 3:58 after a cross-ice pass from Ryan Johansen.

Arvidsson made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 9:14. He scored on a one-timer from the left circle from a pass by Erik Haula.

Tampa Bay had a chance to cut into the lead with a power-play opportunity at 11:03, but Brayden Point was unable to knock a sailing puck out of the air inside the blue line. Jarnkrok then skated away for a breakaway to make it 3-0 on his eighth career short-handed goal.

“I think the whole lineup was playing good, playing the right way today,” Jarnkrok said.

Stamkos spoiled Rinne’s bid for his 60th career shutout when a pass intended for Yanni Gourde deflected in off the skate of Dante Fabbro at 10:03 of the third period.

“It’s a hard game and you can’t be perfect for 60 minutes,’’ Lightning center Anthony Cirelli said. “I think if we could limit the turnovers that we had and just fix a couple of things in the zone I think we’ll be alright.’’

Ekholm scored into an empty net with 19.6 seconds left.

The Predators had dressed six different rookies in the previous three games before Fabbro returned Monday after serving a two-game suspension. But no matter who is in the lineup for Nashville, coach John Hynes said the expectations for the team don’t change.

“We expect our team to play competitively (no matter) who’s in the lineup or who’s not in the lineup,’’ Hynes said. “When you’re winning games, you’re trying to find ways to get better, and when you’re not winning games, it’s no different. But the mentality and the process doesn’t change just because your lineup changes.’’

Tampa Bay started a stretch of five games in seven days with two sets of back-to-backs this week. So the Lightning gave goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who leads the league with 17 victories, the day off. Spencer Martin served as McElhinney’s backup against the Predators.

Capitals 6, Sabres 0

Alex Ovechkin matched Phil Esposito for sixth on the NHL list with his 717th goal, and Washington beat Buffalo.

Ovechkin scored in the third period, helping send the Capitals to their fifth straight win with his 1,299th career point — one shy of becoming the 35th player to reach 1,300.

He scored from the slot off a pass from former Sabre Conor Sheary, who found Ovechkin cutting toward the net. Ovechkin snapped a quick shot past Carter Hutton, who was screened.

Vitek Vanecek stopped 23 shots and improved to 4-0-1 against the Sabres. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Richard Panik, Daniel Sprong and Garnet Hathaway also scored for Washington.

Hutton made 24 saves for Buffalo, which is 0-9-2 in its past 11 games, the third-longest skid in team history.

Panthers 6, Blackhawks 3

Aleksander Barkov scored a tiebreaking short-handed goal in the third period, sending Florida to its fourth consecutive win.

Barkov poked in a loose puck from right in front with 6:34 left. It was the Panthers’ first short-handed goal this season.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots and won his sixth straight start. Gustav Forsling, Carter Verhaeghe and Alex Wennberg each had a goal and an assist. Owen Tippett scored his third goal in four games, and Aaron Ekblad also scored.

Patrick Kane, Philipp Kurashev and Brandon Hagel scored for the Blackhawks, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves.

Canadiens 4, Jets 2

Tyler Toffoli had two goals for Montreal, including an empty-netter in the final minute.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Josh Anderson also scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price, playing in his 700th game, made 34 saves.

Montreal had dropped three of four.

Winnipeg pulled goalie Connor Hellebuyck for an extra attacker with about two minutes left, but Toffoli put the game away at 19:12.

Kyle Connor scored two power-play goals for Winnipeg (17-9-2). Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots and denied Brendan Gallagher on a penalty shot in the second.

Canucks 3, Senators 2 (OT)

J.T. Miller scored in overtime for Vancouver, and Thatcher Demko made 44 saves.

Miller got his eighth of the season at 1:40. Jayce Hawryluk and Tanner Pearson scored in regulation for Vancouver.

Josh Norris and Colin White scored for Ottawa. Joey Daccord made 25 stops.

Flames 4, Oilers 3

Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist, and Calgary earned its third straight win under new coach Darryl Sutter.

Noah Hanifin also scored, Mikael Backlund had two assists and Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 shots. Sutter replaced Geoff Ward, who was fired March 4.

Leon Draisaitl, Josh Archibald and Adam Larsson scored for Edmonton, which played its third game in four days. Mike Smith had 23 saves.

Golden Knights 2, Sharks 1

Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone each had a goal and an assist to help Vegas beat San Jose.

Marc-Andre Fleury, making his 16th start in 17 games, finished with 23 saves to improve to 14-5-0 this season. Fleury earned his 481st career win, inching closer to Ed Belfour, who ranks fourth with 484.

Pacioretty scored in the first period and delivered a perfect backhand pass early in the third to Stone, who one-timed a wrist shot to make it 2-0. It ended up being Stone's sixth game-winning goal.

Timo Meier scored late for the Sharks, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 34 shots.

The Golden Knights are 12-1-3 in 16 regular-season meetings with San Jose.