Feb 26, 2013; Sunrise, FL, USA; Florida Panthers center Tomas Kopecky (82) reacts to his goal against Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun (not pictured) in the first period at the BB

1. Evander Kane had two goals and an assist as the Jets continue to be hot on the road, beating the Rangers 4-3.  Olli Jokinen had the other 2 goals for the Jets, who won 4 of the 5 games on their longest road trip of the season to climb into a tie with Tampa for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  The Rangers have now lost 6 straight (with 1 SO point mixed in), got goals from Ryan Callahan, Taylor Pyatt and Anton Stralman.
2. Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson each had a goal and an assist and Braden Holtby made 33 saves for the shutout as the Capitals blanked the Canes 3-0 despite a 37 save performance from Cam Ward.  John Erskine had the other Washington goal, as they slowly try to turn around the Titanic-like start to their season.
3. The Blue Jackets snagged a point on R.J. Umberger‘s goal with 94 seconds remaining, but Loui Eriksson scored in overtime to give the Stars a 5-4 win in Columbus.  Brenden Morrow, Derek Roy, Antoine Roussel and Cody Eakin had scored in regulation for the Stars, who fired 39 shots on Sergei Bobrovsky.  Nikita Nikitin, Derek Dorsett and Cam Atkinson had the other Colubumbus goals.
4. Tuukka Rask made 36 saves to help the Bruins down the Islanders 4-1.  Brad Marchand, Adam McQuaid, David Krejci and Gregory Campbell scored for Boston, while Casey Cizikas had the lone Islander goal.  Boston moved within 1 point of first in the conference despite having played fewer games than any team in the league thanks to the schedule maker.
5. The Sabres actually won a game, 2-1 over the Lightning, despite playing with fire for much of the game.  After Steven Stamkos scored 1:24 in, it looked like the Sabres would be on the wrong end of the scoreboard once again.  However, despite giving up 6 power plays and a 45 second 5-on-3, the Sabres held on and got goals from Cody Hodgson and Tyler Myers to squeak out the win. Ryan Miller made 30 stops to get Ron Rolston his first win behind the Sabres bench in 3 tries.
6. Florida coughed up a 4-1 lead in the second period and then broke a 4-4 tie with two goals in the third to defeat the Penguins 6-4.  Tomas Kopecky had three goals  and an assist for the Panthers, and Brian Campbell and Tomas Fleischmann each had a goal and two assists in the win.  Tomas Vokoun was pulled after allowing the 4th Panther goal, which came just 31 seconds after the 3rd Panther goal. The Penguins woke up after that, striking for 3 goals in the next 10 minutes to tie it up before the period was out.  Marcel Goc had the other Florida goal while Pittsburgh got goals from James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Dustin Jeffrey and Paul Martin.
7. Zach Parise‘s goal 27 seconds into overtime was the difference as the Wild doused the Flames 2-1.  Alex Tanguay‘s first period goal looked for a while like it might stand, but Jason Zucker scored with under 5 minutes left to force the extra time.  Much maligned defenseman Ryan Suter set up both Wild goals.
8. Kyle Chipchura opened the scoring, and then also ended the scoring with an empty netter as the Coyotes upended the Canucks 4-2.  Mikkel Boedker and Antoine Vermette also scored for Phoenix, while Jason Garrison and Henrik Sedin replied for Vancouver.  Cory Schneider took the loss, allowing 3 goals on 21 shots, while Mike Smith made 29 saves for the Coyotes.
9. San Jose allowed a tying goal late, but Patrick Marleau saved the game with the shootout winner to lift the Sharks to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche.  Logan Couture and TJ Galiardi scored in regulation for the Sharks, while Chuck Kobasew and Mark Olver (with 3:15 remaining) scored for Colorado. Semyon Varlamov gave his team a chance to win by stopping 39 San Jose shots.

There are only 4 games on a light Wednesday night, as the Senators get a rare 2nd consecutive night off.  They can sit back and watch as two of their main rivals square off when Montreal visits Toronto.

February 24, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Beau Bennett (19) celebrates with teammate Sidney Crosby (87) after Bennett scored his first career NHL goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Pittsburgh Penguins won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

1. Tuuka Rask made 34 saves for the win as the Bruins beat the Panthers 4-1.  Milan Lucic, Zdeno Chara, Chris Kelly and Daniel Paille scored for Boston, while Tomas Kopecky replied for the Panthers.  Stephen Weiss was the story as he was nailed to the bench for most of the third period, seeing onluy 1:14 of ice time despite the Panthers playing from behind.
2. Evander Kane‘s goal with under 3 to play in the second period broke a 2-2 tie and the Jets went on to beat the Devils 4-2.  Andrew Ladd had the insurance marker in the third, adding to goals from defensemen Zach Bogosian and Grant Clitsome.  Travis Zajac and Steve Bernier had the Devils goals.  Johan Hedberg was the surprise starter after Martin Brodeur left the warmup early with “general soreness”.
3. On the second night in back to back, the Canucks stayed with the Red Wings for the first, even leading 3-2 through 1.  Then the travel and schedule seemed to catch up to them, and the Wings struck for 3 in the 2nd and 3 more in the 3rd to turn a close game into an 8-3 blowout.  Roberto Luongo was shelled for 8 goals on just 28 shots.  Damien Brunner had two goals and two assists, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall each had a goal and two helpers to lead the Wings.  Daniel Sedin had two goals for the Canucks, both set up by brother Henrik Sedin.
4. The Islanders jumped up to a 2-0 lead on goals from John Tavares and Matt Moulson, but Carolina score 4 unanswered to get the come from behind win.  Eric Stall and Jordan Staal scored in the second period, while Bobby Sanguinetti (his first NHL goal) and Alexander Semin put up third period markers for the win.Cam Ward allowed 2 goals on 5 shots in the first, but settled down after that and stopped the last 20 shots he faced.  Kevin Poulin took the loss for the Islanders after replacing the demoted Rick DiPietro on the Isles roster.
5. The league leading Blackhawks faced league worst Columbus looking to extend their record to 18 straight games with a point to start the season and only mananged one goal from Andrew Shaw.  Fortunately for them, they were playing the Blue Jackets and one was enough for the win as Corey Crawford made 28 saves to win the goaltending duel with Steve Mason, who made 26 saves of his own.
6. Pittsburgh jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and then withstood a number of Tampa comebacks to outlast the Lightning 5-3.  Sidney Crosby had 2 goals and an assist, for the winners, while Steven Stamkos led the Bolts with a goal and two assists.  Other Penguins goals came from Paul Martin, Beau Bennett (his first NHL goal) and Ottawa’s favorite pest Matt Cooke.  Pittsburgh played without Evgeni Malkin, who left Friday’s game and is being treated for a concussion.
7. Jarome Iginla tripled his goal total with a pair in Calgary’s come from behind 5-4 win over the Coyotes. Iginla scored with 1:23 left to tie the game and then Curtis Glencross stole the Coyotes point with the winner 23 seconds later.  Tim Jackman and Michael Cammalleri also scored for the Flames who scored 5 on Mike Smith  who got the start despite making over 40 saves the previous night in Edmonton.  Raffi Torres had a pair for the Coyotes, with singles from Nick Johnson and Michael Stone (brother of Senators prospect Mark Stone).
8. Corey Perry‘s second of the game with 46 seconds left in overtime gave the red-hot Ducks a 4-3 win over the Avalanche.  Colorado had a 3-2 lead heading into the third on goals by Cody McLeod, P.A. Parenteau and John Mitchell, but couldn’t hang on for the win and had to settle for a single point.  Teemu Selanne had one for the Ducks, and Ryan Getzlaf knotted the game before Perry’s OT winner. Francois Beauchemin assisted on all 4 Anaheim goals.

There are 5 games on Monday, including Montreal heading into Ottawa, and Toronto going to visit the Flyers in the return of James van Riemsdyk to Philadelphia after last summer’s trade for Luke Schenn.  Chicago will return home to defend their streak against the Oilers and the Kings host the Ducks in the battle of LA area teams.