COLUMBUS, Ohio — Brandon Saad broke a scoreless tie in the third period and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 38 shots as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Minnesota Wild 1-0 on Thursday night.
Saad got his 19th goal of the year 4:32 into the final frame when he charged in to get his own rebound and poked it past Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk, who played an otherwise excellent game. Dubnyk had 39 saves for the Wild, who lost for the first time in three games.
Bobrovsky was every bit as outstanding for the Blue Jackets in the battle of the All-Star goalies, collecting his fourth shutout this season and the 16th of his career.
He made a sprawling save of a doorstep shot by Martin Hanzal with about two minutes left in the first, and came up with another big one in the second when Jason Zucker got a breakaway but couldn’t penetrate. Zucker got another direct shot at the net in the third period that he couldn’t get past the Russian goalie.
An apparent goal for Minnesota that trickled through Bobrovsky’s pads was disallowed in the second period when video showed that Erik Haula had kicked the puck during a scrum in front of the net and it went in off the skate of Columbus’ William Karlsson.
The Blue Jackets are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and moved ahead of Pittsburgh for sole possession of second place in the Metropolitan Division. Minnesota is holding on to first place in the Central Division.
The Wild and Blue Jackets met for the first time since a New Year’s Eve showdown of unbeaten streaks. Minnesota had a 12-game streak ruined, while Columbus won its 15th straight.
CAPITALS 1, DEVILS 0: NHL-leading Washington won its franchise-record 14th consecutive home game, beating New Jersey thanks to rookie forward Jakub Vrana’s power-play goal with about 12 minutes left in the third period.
Capitals goalie Braden Holtby only needed to make 15 saves for his eighth shutout of the season.
CANADIENS 2, PREDATORS 1: Paul Byron scored the tiebreaking goal with nine seconds left and Montreal edged visiting Nashville in P.K. Subban’s first game against the Canadiens since they traded him last summer.
Brendan Gallagher also scored and Carey Price made 24 saves as the Canadiens extended their winning streak to four games.
SENATORS 2, AVALANCHE 1: Alex Burrows scored twice in his debut with Ottawa and led his new club to a win at home.
Burrows was traded to Ottawa on Monday after playing his previous 822 games with the Canucks.
FLYERS 2, PANTHERS 1: Newly acquired Valtteri Filppula scored in regulation, and Jakub Voracek and Jordan Weal netted goals in the shootout to lead host Philadelphia past Florida.
Aaron Ekblad scored for the Panthers, who were trying to tie a franchise record with their sixth straight road victory.
SABRES 6, COYOTES 3: Evander Kane scored the go-ahead goal with 5:36 remaining, and host Buffalo was finally able to preserve a third-period lead after blowing two straight.
NOTES
KINGS: Broadcaster Bob Miller is retiring after 44 years and 3,351 games as the Hall of Fame play-by-play voice of the team.
The 78-year-old Miller plans to call the Kings’ last home game on April 8 against Chicago and their regular-season finale at Anaheim the following night to end his career.
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