COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets made it 12 straight wins Friday night, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 to maintain the best record in the NHL.

Columbus, improved to 23-5-4, the best start in team history.

The win was the league-leading 20th for goalie Sergei Bobvrosky, who kept Columbus in the game despite an apathetic third period in which the Blue Jackets took just five shots.

Sam Gagner and Brandon Saad scored for Columbus. Jeff Petry had the Montreal goal.

WILD 7, RANGERS 4: Mikko Koivu, Nino Niederreiter and Marco Scandella scored in a 5-minute span early in the second period, and Minnesota won at New York for its franchise-record 10th straight victory.

Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba and Charlie Coyle also scored for the Wild, who chased Henrik Lundqvist with four goals on 13 shots.

PENGUINS 4, DEVILS 1: Sidney Crosby scored his NHL-leading 24th goal and host Pittsburgh bounced back from its worst game of the season.

Chad Ruhwedel got the first goal of his career for Pittsburgh, and Eric Fehr and Patric Hornqvist also scored.

CAPITALS 4, LIGHTNING 0: John Carlson scored two goals, Alex Ovechkin added another and Braden Holtby stopped 23 shots for his third shutout of the season as host Washington beat the short-handed Lightning.

ISLANDERS 5, SABRES 1: Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist, Thomas Greiss made 28 saves and the Islanders beat Buffalo to snap a three-game home losing streak.

RED WINGS 4, PANTHERS 3: Thomas Vanek and Frans Nielsen scored in the shootout, and Detroit won at Sunrise, Florida.