Mondays National Hockey League Capsules
MONTREAL 5, FLORIDA 2
SUNRISE, Florida Maxim Lapierre recorded a hat trick as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Florida Panthers, 5-2.
Montreal has won three straight in South Florida, and last lost to the Panthers on the road on December 29, 2006. With the victory, the Canadiens have now won four of their last five games.
Alexi Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec also tallied and Carey Price 26 saves for the Canadiens.
Rookie Michael Frolik and David Booth scored for the Panthers, who have dropped three of their last four decisions.
CALGARY 2, MINNESOTA 1
CALGARY, Alberta Eric Nystrom snapped a tie midway through the third period with a shorthanded goal to help the Calgary Flames extend their winning streak to three games with a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.
Daymond Langkow also tallied and Miikka Kiprusoff turned aside 23 shots as the Flames improved to 5-0-3 since a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on December 8.
Stephane Veilleux scored and Eric Belanger and defenseman Martin Skoula notched assists for the Wild, who fell to 3-9-1 in December.
NY RANGERS 5, NY ISLANDERS 4
NEW YORK Markus Naslund and Nigel Dawes scored nearly eight minutes apart as the New York Rangers tallied four times in the third period to rally to a 5-4 triumph over the New York Islanders in a battle of Atlantic Division rivals.
Petr Prucha, defenseman Michal Rozsival and Scott Gomez also scored and captain Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky notched two assists apiece for the Rangers.
Mike Sillinger, rookie Kyle Okposo, Blake Comeau and Mike Comrie tallied for the Islanders.
SAN JOSE 3, DALLAS 1
DALLAS Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek scored and Evgeni Nabokov turned aside 28 shots as the San Jose Sharks recorded a 3-1 triumph over the Dallas Stars.
Ryane Clowe added an empty-net tally with 62 seconds remaining in the third period to seal the win.
Defenseman Matt Niskanen scored and Marty Turco finished with 16 saves for Dallas.
With his team trailing, 2-1, Turco denied captain Patrick Marleau on a penalty shot with under four minutes to play in the third period.
COLORADO 5, NASHVILLE 1
DENVER Cody McLeod scored two goals and Peter Budaj stopped 25 shots as the Colorado Avalanche notched their third consecutive victory with a 5-1 triumph over the Nashville Predators.
Rookie Chris Stewart, David Jones and defenseman John-Michael Liles also tallied and Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski notched two assists apiece for Colorado, which has won six of its last eight games and is three games over the .500 mark for the first time this season.
Predators captain Jason Arnott scored and Pekka Rinne stopped 16 shots but dropped his second consecutive decision following a 7-1-0 start.
COLUMBUS 2, LOS ANGELES 0
LOS ANGELES Rookie Steve Mason stopped 24 shots for his second straight shutout and defenseman Kris Russell scored a power-play goal as the Columbus Blue Jackets blanked the Los Angeles Kings, 2-0.
Captain Rick Nash added an empty-net goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a seven-game (0-6-1) road losing streak.
Mason, who shut out Philadelphia on Saturday, stopped eight shots in the first period, 10 in the second and six in the third for his fourth blanking in 19 games this season.
Russell got Columbus on the board with 84 seconds left in the second period, knocking home a cross-slot pass from Nash on the doorstep.
Nash doubled the margin with 75 seconds left in the third period with his empty-net tally.