Islanders 3, Blue Jackets 0

Platooning two goalies is working out just fine for coach Barry Trotz and the surprising New York Islanders.

Thomas Greiss took his turn Thursday night and responded by stopping 31 shots and picking up his fourth shutout of the season in a win over Columbus.

The 33-year-old German improved to 17-8-2 and stayed neck-and-neck with teammate Robin Lehner, who is 17-9-4. The Islanders, who began the night three points ahead of Washington atop the Metropolitan Division, won for the fifth time in seven games.

Greiss was outstanding in getting his 12th career shutout and third his last five starts, and the Islanders showed why they are tops in the NHL in keeping opponents' pucks out of their net. Greiss lowered his goals-against average to 2.18 — second in the NHL to Lehner's 2.08.

"They've both been good, and we've been keeping them fresh," Trotz said. "Both have responded, so there's no reason to sort of ride one when we can probably ride both of them. We'll see."

After turning away every Columbus shot, Greiss deflected the credit.

"The boys make me look good out there," he said. "Everybody is battling hard, a lot of blocked shots, no rebounds, so it was a great team win."

Casey Cizikas scored twice on breakaways, and Josh Bailey also had a goal for New York.

Sergei Bobrovsky had 24 saves for the Blue Jackets, who are tied with Pittsburgh with 67 points but hold third place in the Metropolitan due to a game in hand. The loss was a letdown for Columbus, which seemed to have momentum after shutting out the Capitals by the same score on Tuesday.

The Blue Jackets certainly had opportunities, but Greiss wasn't having any of it.

The first period ended with a 1-0 Islanders lead, thanks to Cizikas' breakaway, set up by a stretch pass from Cal Clutterbuck 7:06 into the game.

Later, Columbus' Josh Anderson got his own breakaway from the blue line but Greiss kept it out. Anderson broke away again later in the period but shot right at the goalie.

"We had opportunities early to get back in the game, to tie it and we didn't," Columbus coach John Tortorella said.

Cizikas got behind the defense again after a Columbus turnover and beat Bobrovsky between the pads to give New York a 2-0 lead at 5:50 of the second.

"There's not too many times you get two breakaways in a game," Cizikas said, "It's kind of rare, so I was able to capitalize on them and get some big goals. It was definitely nice."

Bailey found an open net after a rebound left Bobrovsky out of position with 41 seconds left in the second to extend the lead.

New York has allowed just 136 goals, best in the NHL.

"Whenever we go into a game with the two netminders that we have right now, we have a lot of confidence, and we believe in each other," Cizikas said.

The Islanders are 10-2-2 in their last 14 games.

Columbus has killed 41 of 42 penalties dating back to Dec. 31.

Blackhawks 5, Devils 2

Patrick Kane scored his 34th goal and added two assists to lead Chicago over New Jersey for its eighth victory in nine games.

Brandon Saad and Artem Anisimov each had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Toews and Drake Caggiula also scored for the Blackhawks. Cam Ward stopped 41 shots.

Damon Severson and Travis Zajac scored to give the Devils a 2-0 lead with a little more than three minutes left in the first period before the Blackhawks took over. New Jersey has lost two straight and five of its last six.

Devils goalie Cory Schneider finished with 31 saves to extend his regular-season winless streak to 24 games. He is now 0-17-4 since his last win Dec. 27, 2017.

Capitals 5, Sharks 1

Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 39th goal, T.J. Oshie had two goals and an assist, and Washington beat San Jose.

Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson each had a goal and an assist, and Nicklas Backstrom had two assists for Washington. Braden Holtby stopped 24 shots, and Ovechkin added an assist as the Capitals won for the fifth time in seven games after dropping seven straight.

San Jose ended a six-game winning streak, which began with a 7-6 overtime win at Washington on Jan. 22. Sharks goalie Martin Jones turned back 18 shots.

The Sharks took an early lead on Kevin Labanc's 11th goal at 2:06 of the first period, but it was all Washington after that.

Maple Leafs 6, Golden Knights 3

Auston Matthews scored two goals, including the 100th of his career, to lead Toronto over Vegas.

The Maple Leafs, who improved to 36-18-3 this season and 19-7-2 on the road, are 15-7-0 against the Western Conference and 9-2-0 against Pacific Division opponents this season.

Morgan Rielly scored his fifth game-winner when his shot made its way through traffic to beat Marc-Andre Fleury and put Toronto ahead 4-3 at the midway point of the third period.

Vegas, meanwhile, has lost three in a row and a franchise-record five straight at T-Mobile Arena, including the first three of a four-game homestand.

Canucks 4, Kings 3 (SO)

Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser scored in a shootout after Adam Gaudette tied it with 1:38 remaining in the third period to lift Vancouver.

Pettersson and Boeser also scored in regulation for the Canucks, who had lost four straight road games. Jacob Markstrom made 35 saves through overtime, before allowing a shootout goal to Ilya Kovalchuk and then stopping Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe.

Alec Martinez had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who had not played at home since Jan. 21 because of the All-Star Game, bye week and a six-game road trip while Staples Center hosted the Grammys. Jonathan Quick made 24 saves.

Predators 3, Canadiens 1

Pekka Rinne made 34 saves, Viktor Arvidsson scored and Nashville beat Montreal.

Ryan Hartman and Brian Boyle also had the goals for Nashville, which snapped a three-game skid.

Tomas Tatar scored and Carey Price made 35 saves for Montreal, which has lost consecutive games for the first time since early January.

Lightning 6, Stars 0

Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and three assists, and Tampa Bay beat Dallas.

Tyler Johnson, Mikhail Sergachev and Alex Killorn also scored to help the Lightning improve to 6-0-2 in the last eight games and reach 90 points in 58 games this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots for his fifth shutout of the season and 17th of his career to tie Ben Bishop for most in team history.

Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin was pulled from the game twice, allowing five goals on 21 shots. Landon Bow finished with four saves in 27:07 of ice time for Dallas, which fell to 1-2-1 in the past four games.

Blues 4, Coyotes 0

Jordan Binnington matched a franchise rookie record with his seventh straight victory, Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and St. Louis stretched its longest winning streak in 18 years to eight games.

Joel Edmundson scored early in the first and had an assist on Tarasenko's goal late in the period. Tarasenko put the Blues up 3-0 late in the second period with a power-play goal, giving him nine goals and eight assists during a career-high 10-game points streak.

Robert Bortuzzo scored his second goal of the third period for the Blues, who have their longest winning streak since 2000-01. St. Louis is 14-4-1 in 2019, including 9-2-1 on the road. Binnington made 21 saves.

Panthers 3, Flames 2 (SO)

Vincent Trocheck scored in the third round of the shootout to lift Florida over Calgary.

Elias Lindholm scored for Calgary late in the third period to extend the game, but Matthew Tkachuk missed in the third round of the shootout with a chance to do the same.

Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist, and Evgenii Dadonov scored for Florida. Mark Jankowski also had a goal for the Flames, who lost their fourth straight. Florida goalie James Reimer, pulled to start the third period in Sunday's 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay, stopped 41 shots. Mike Smith had 30 saves and lost his third straight.

Avalanche 4, Jets 1

Gabriel Landeskog scored his team-leading 30th goal of the season as Colorado beat Winnipeg to snap its season-high eight-game losing streak.

Dominic Toninato got his first NHL goal, and J.T. Compher and Sven Andrighetto also scored for the Avalanche, who were 0-5-3 during their skid. Matt Nieto had two assists, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots.

Brandon Tanev scored his career-high 12th goal of the season for Winnipeg, which lost in regulation at home for the first time in 10 games (8-1-1). Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves.

Predators 3, Canadiens 1

Pekka Rinne made 34 saves, Viktor Arvidsson scored and Nashville beat Montreal.

Ryan Hartman and Brian Boyle also had the goals for Nashville, which snapped a three-game skid.

Tomas Tatar scored and Carey Price made 35 saves for Montreal, which has lost consecutive games for the first time since early January.

Red Wings 3, Senators 2

Andreas Athanasiou scored twice, including a penalty shot, and Jimmy Howard made 40 saves in his 500th game to lead Detroit over Ottawa.

Frans Nielsen scored to break a 2-2 tie late in the second period.

Brady Tkachuk and Matt Duchene scored for Ottawa, and Anders Nilsson stopped 26 shots.