Even though they are in different conferences, the parallels between the Calgary Flames and Buffalo Sabres are obvious.

As the teams prepare to meet Saturday afternoon at Buffalo, both squads are winless in their past two games and just outside a wild-card playoff spot.

Most importantly, both teams are in dire need of a victory.

One big difference is the Sabres are something of a surprise squad, having taken a leap forward with a young roster. The Flames, on the other hand, were the Pacific Division champions last season and have fallen well short of expectations to this point in the campaign.

Calgary’s 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday was yet another example of a squad that is falling short in close games, despite often outshooting its opposition.

The Flames outshot the Red Wings 36-17 (29-7 during five-on-five play) but watched a 1-0 lead late in the second period turn into a disappointing defeat.

“We’ve just got to find ways to score,” said Flames forward Blake Coleman, who scored his team’s lone goal in Detroit. “We’re really struggling to create offense right now and you’ve got to find ways to score ugly and have guys that are willing to pay the price to get to the front of the net.”

Calgary has a 12-9-10 record in one-goal games and will remain out of the playoffs without turning around those fortunes in a hurry.

“We were tied and up in the third (period) last game and that’s what … it’s going to be down the stretch,” Flames defenseman Chris Tanev said, referring to his team’s 5-4 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Monday. “We’ve got to find a way to win those games.”

The Sabres are back in action for the first time since the break, with their most recent game a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 1.

That’s not to say they haven’t made news. The club announced on Thursday that forward Dylan Cozens had signed a seven-year, $49.7 million contract extension, which keeps him in the fold on a long-term basis as another key part of their rebuild.

The Sabres have missed the playoffs 11 consecutive seasons and ending that run will be no easy feat, but it appears much better days are ahead.

“This is place I love to be,” Cozens said. “I love the people here. I love the community, how everyone comes together in adversity, and we’ve seen that lots this year. It’s just a city that I really want to win in and I believe that we will win in.”

Cozens, the seventh-overall pick in the 2019 draft, has collected 17 goals and 43 points in 49 games amid a breakout season.

“At the end of the day, he is ultra competitive and he loves the game,” general manager Kevyn Adams said of Cozens. “If you can get those type of people in your locker room, it makes everyone around them better as well.”

The Sabres had some more good news on Friday. Forward Tage Thompson, who leads them in both goals (34) and points (68), is expected back in the lineup against the Flames.

Thompson, who was injured in the Carolina game and missed the All-Star Game, was a full practice participant and cleared for a return.

–Field Level Media

The New York Islanders need to defeat the teams they’re expected to defeat if they hope to return to the playoffs this season.

The Islanders will get another opportunity on Saturday afternoon when they visit the Montreal Canadiens, who sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings.

New York missed a chance to move into a wild-card spot on Thursday night when it squandered a two-goal lead late in the second period against the visiting Vancouver Canucks. The Islanders lost 6-5 to end a four-game winning streak.

“When you’re up 4-2 in a hockey game late in the second period, and you don’t win the hockey game, you feel like you’ve let something slip away,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “I saw a lot of mistakes being made, a lot of individual turnovers.”

Like the Canadiens, the Canucks are well under .500 and seemed to raise the white flag when they traded Bo Horvat to the Islanders on Jan. 30 in a deal that included New York’s 2023 first-round draft pick.

On the positive side, Horvat scored for the second straight game and Brock Nelson extended his point streak to nine games (five goals, five assists) for New York.

The Islanders need to get back to performing tighter as a unit and leaving smaller gaps, defenseman Noah Dobson said.

“You watch the last couple games before (Thursday) night, you see five guys in the picture when we’re breaking pucks out. We’re helping each other out,” Dobson said. “Just finding at times we’ve been getting disconnected.”

The Canadiens lost four in a row heading into the All-Star break. They’re still trying to get some key players back to full strength.

Sean Monahan hasn’t played since Dec. 5 after a nagging foot injury finally sidelined him.

Monahan, who scored at least 22 goals in each of his first seven seasons in the NHL, initially was listed as day-to-day before the Canadiens announced he would be out two-to-three weeks.

He began skating again in early January, briefly joined his teammates for practice during the middle of last month and then wore a non-contact jersey on Jan. 21.

Monahan wasn’t seen again until he was on the ice before practice on Thursday, but a timetable for his return still has not been established.

Monahan was joined on the ice Thursday by defenseman Joel Edmundson, who has been out since sustaining an upper-body injury against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 26. There’s no timetable set for Edmundson’s return either.

Montreal right wing Joel Armia also was absent from the main portion of practice on Thursday because of an upper-body injury.

Canadiens left wing Jonathan Drouin returned to practice on Thursday. He’s been sidelined since Jan. 15 with an upper-body injury, but Montreal coach Martin St. Louis did not commit to playing him against the Islanders either.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard remained on the top line with captain Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson on Thursday. He joined the duo in Montreal’s most recent game and scored two goals in 5-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 31, and scored two goals.

“We played pretty well in the half game we played and I’m excited to get this chance,” Harvey-Pinard said.

–Field Level Media

The Edmonton Oilers will try to extend their point streak to 11 games on Saturday afternoon when they visit the Ottawa Senators.

Despite losing 2-1 in a shootout to Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, the Oilers are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games and have climbed within striking distance of the Vegas Golden Knights for the top spot in the Pacific Division.

Superstar captain Connor McDavid had an assist in the shootout loss and has the NHL’s active point streak at 14 games (nine goals, 13 assists). He also has a 16-game road point streak (11 goals, 19 assists) that dates back to Nov. 26.

Evander Kane scored the lone goal for Edmonton in the shootout loss to the Flyers. Kane has scored a goal in three straight games and has found his form after missing 31 games with a wrist injury sustained when was cut by an errant skate on Nov. 8.

“Evander was physical, he shot the puck, he’s playing the game the right way. He’s getting up to speed,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We anticipated it would take him time to get up and running, but I thought he played a whale of a game, and the better he can play the more dangerous a team we are.”

While the Oilers have already played twice this week, the Senators are playing their first game since Jan. 31 and coming off their All-Star break.

The Senators won four straight games going into the schedule pause, humming along and scoring 18 combined goals in that stretch. It’s created some excitement on and off the ice for Ottawa, especially with a home game coming out of the break.

“There’s no question that this team is trending in the right direction,” Anthony LeBlanc, the Senators president of business operations, told the Ottawa Sun. “Yes, we’ve had some ups and downs this season, but to go into the All-Star break was funny because what I was hearing from people was, ‘Dammit, I wish we didn’t have the break’ because the team was on a four-game winning streak.

“But that’s great for the team. They were able to get away, to relax, clear their minds and get some rest. We’re still on the outside looking in (at a playoff spot) but we’re not completely out which is what I think most fans are excited about. We’re playing meaningful hockey; we’re playing exciting hockey and the buzz around the team is continuing.”

At the All-Star Game, captain Brady Tkachuk continued that energy with a standout showing alongside his brother, Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk. They helped the Atlantic Division win the tournament.

Brady Tkachuk leads the Senators with 51 points (20 goals, 31 assists) in 50 games. Tim Stutzle (22 goals, 27 assists) and Claude Giroux (20 goals, 28 assists) are also closing in on the 50-point plateau for Ottawa.

McDavid leads the NHL in goals (41) and points (94) entering play on Friday, while Leon Draisaitl is tied with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in points (76).

–Field Level Media

Finding the right goaltender to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a Stanley Cup title has been a daunting challenge since they last celebrated in 1975.

Carter Hart looks like he could be the answer.

While the Flyers still remain a work in progress, Hart has continued to develop. Hart stopped 34 shots and denied two of three attempts in the shootout to lift Philadelphia to a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

Hart denied Leon Draisaitl in the third round to secure the win.

“He’s been like that all year,” Kevin Hayes said of Hart. “He’s been the backbone of this team. He’s an unbelievable goalie. We see it in practice every day. He just allows us to know that if there is a breakdown, we’re not nervous or anything because we know he’s back there.”

The Flyers will look to continue their winning ways when they host the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon.

Philadelphia did not commit a penalty, and that went a long way in helping it subdue the high-flying Oilers. Penalties have been an issue all season for the Flyers.

“It was something we discussed this morning and then before the game,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “They’re the No. 1 power play in the league and that first unit seems to score a lot of goals; you can’t give them any looks.”

Despite the big victory, outspoken head coach John Tortorella was critical of defenseman Tony DeAngelo.

“We want to try to help him,” Tortorella said. “We feel he needs to get better defensively — without taking away any of the great offensive ability he has.”

The Predators had won three in a row before dropping a 5-1 decision to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

Matt Duchene opened the scoring and Juuse Saros made 25 saves for Nashville, which was limited to a season-low 17 shots on goal.

“We didn’t get enough shots through,” Duchene said. “We took a lot of shots and they didn’t get through. … I thought our decisions were better in the second and third period, but you’ve got to get pucks through at the end of the day or keep possession until you can break them down. They did a great job of crowding the house and blocking shots.”

Captain Roman Josi notched an assist to extend his point streak to six games (six assists).

Josi, however, pointed the finger at himself for a pair of defensive miscues.

“I pretty much gave them two easy goals in the first,” Josi said. “The first one, the puck bounced, it’s going to happen sometimes. I think I have to do a better job of recovering. The second one, I kind of stepped up and didn’t get the puck. … I feel like we actually started well, and then gave them those two easy goals, which is on me.”

The Predators had been playing at a high level heading into the All-Star break. Now they have to get back in sync on the road against the Flyers.

“We weren’t good in a lot of facets and there’s no excuses for it,” Predators head coach John Hynes said. “The other team had a break too and (Tuesday) it wasn’t good.”

–Field Level Media

Filip Zadina gave the Detroit Red Wings an offensive boost on Thursday.

The Red Wings will look for more production from Zadina on Saturday afternoon when they open a home-and-home set against the visiting Vancouver Canucks.

The teams will reconvene in Vancouver on Monday night.

Playing in his first NHL game in over three months, Zadina scored the go-ahead goal in the third period of a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. Zadina’s first goal of the season came after a lengthy recovery from a broken leg.

“It’s been a long time and I’ve been waiting for the chance to be on the ice with them,” Zadina said. “I was just going to the game and thinking about playing the right way and trying to do something on the ice.”

Zadina was sent last week to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins for a rehab stint. His return came at the expense of Dominik Kubalik, who was inactive.

“These guys are pros, but the work to get back with this one was different. Z worked extremely, extremely hard and kept having little setbacks and he got what he deserved (Thursday),” coach Derek Lalonde said. “He played well, managed his game, I can’t think of one turnover, and he made a play when he had the opportunity which is what you want from a skilled guy. It was lifting for our group and I’m real happy for him.”

Ville Husso made 35 saves for Detroit, which will be seeking its fourth victory in six games. Following Saturday’s contest, the Red Wings will play their next five games on the road.

“It’s playoff hockey for us,” Husso said. “Thirty games left, we still want to make it and it’s on us. We need to come in every night and play like that and give ourselves a chance to win.”

The Canucks are coming off a 6-5 road win over the New York Islanders on Thursday.

Elias Pettersson scored two third-period goals for Vancouver, which absorbed one-goal losses to New Jersey and the New York Rangers during the first two legs of a four-game road swing.

“We’ve been close the previous two games, glad we found a way to get the win (Thursday),” Pettersson said. “We are trying to build here, but we can’t let in that many goals every game. We are changing our systems to play more aggressive and maybe it will take a while, but we are working to perfect it and play better as a unit.”

The Canucks faced former team captain Bo Horvat for the first time since they traded their leading goal scorer to the Islanders. Horvat scored against his former team but so did Anthony Beauvillier, one of the players the Canucks acquired in the deal.

Beauvillier scored Vancouver’s final goal of the game on a power play.

“I was trying to breathe and soak it all in,” Beauvillier said. “I was trying to breathe. It took me a couple minutes. There were a couple times I forgot which bench I was going to.”

The Canucks will be looking to string together back-to-back victories for the first time since they won three straight from Dec. 22-27.

–Field Level Media

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jordan Harris on Friday agreed to a two-year, $2.8 million contract extension that runs through the 2024-25 season.

Harris, 22, has recorded 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) and 18 penalty minutes in 47 games this season. He was set to become a restricted free agent after this season.

Harris also scored one goal in 10 games last season after making his NHL debut on April 2, 2022. The Northeastern product was selected by the Canadiens in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft.

–Field Level Media

For portions of the season, Patrick Kane was the marquee name linked to the New York Rangers in their search to boost an offense that ranked around the middle of the NHL pack.

Instead of turning to the Chicago Blackhawks and getting Kane, the Rangers turned to another Midwestern city and acquired Vladimir Tarasenko and his expiring contract from the St. Louis Blues.

The Rangers will get 31 regular-season games to see whether Tarasenko can boost their offense, starting Friday night when they host the slumping Seattle Kraken.

A little over a week after the rival New York Islanders acquired Bo Horvat from the Vancouver Canucks, the Rangers landed Tarasenko along with defenseman Niko Mikkola on Thursday afternoon. The Rangers gave up conditional 2023 first- and 2024 fourth-round picks, forward Sammy Blais and prospect Hunter Skinner.

Kane has yet to decide whether he wants to be dealt from Chicago, so instead of waiting closer to next month’s deadline, the Rangers struck early to acquire Tarasenko, whose 29 points ranked fifth on the Blues. Tarasenko, who has scored 10 goals, missed nearly a month with a right hand injury before returning Jan. 24.

“It’s something we’ve been looking at for a while,” New York general manager Chris Drury said Thursday. “When the pieces started to come together, I didn’t really see any reason to wait. It certainly gives the two new players a little more time to acclimate to our group.”

It is unclear which line Tarasenko may appear on since New York’s revamped lines have been rolling lately.

After a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Jan. 19, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant reunited the “Kid Line” of Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko and put stars Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin on the same line.

In five games since the changes, New York is 4-0-1 with 21 goals.

New York kept it going with a 4-3 home win over the Canucks on Wednesday.

“We all kind of knew that wasn’t our best game, but we found a way to get two points,” New York defenseman K’Andre Miller said. “That’s the biggest thing.”

Chytil tied a career high by scoring in his fifth straight game, giving him 11 goals in his past 13 contests.

Seattle won eight straight from Jan. 1-14 but is 3-5-1 in its past nine games. The Kraken scored 41 times during their winning streak, but their offense has produced 20 goals since.

Seattle fell to 0-2-0 on its five-game road trip when it followed up a 4-0 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday by allowing two power-play goals in a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

Adam Larsson scored for the Kraken, but Seattle was held to one goal or fewer for the fourth time in its nine-game slide.

“Sometimes you’re doing a lot of good things and not getting rewarded,” Seattle center Alex Wennberg said. “But you can’t look at it and be, ‘Oh, we don’t have luck.’ You earn luck. So, right now we’ve just got to keep doing the right things, keep shooting the puck and eventually it’s going to come.”

The Kraken also played their first game since losing leading scorer Andre Burakovsky to a lower-body injury. Burakovsky was injured early in the Tuesday game and is week-to-week.

–Field Level Media

Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy crafted his first shutout of the season, Brandon Hagel produced three points and the Lightning blanked the visiting Colorado Avalanche 5-0 on Thursday night.

In the first meeting between the clubs since last June’s Stanley Cup Final, Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots to extend his franchise-record shutout total to 29. Hagel had two goals and an assist to lead the Lightning offensive output as they broke a two-game skid (0-1-1).

Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, Corey Perry and Mikhail Sergachev each netted a goal, Alex Killorn handed out three assists and Anthony Cirelli added two as the Lightning moved to 21-4-2 at home. Pat Maroon skated in his 700th game.

The Avalanche, who won their third Stanley Cup by beating the Lightning in six games, have dropped two straight overall (0-1-1) to start their three-game road trip and were shut out for the fourth time. Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves.

Canucks 6, Islanders 5

Elias Pettersson scored the tying and go-ahead goals in a span of fewer than four minutes in the third period for Vancouver, which overcame a two-goal deficit to win in Elmont, N.Y.

Pettersson scored a power-play goal 4:38 into the third before he completed an end-to-end rush and beat Ilya Sorokin with 11:32 left. Anthony Beauvillier, who was traded by the Islanders to the Canucks for Bo Horvat on Jan. 30, added an insurance goal by redirecting a shot with 3:02 left. Boeser, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nils Aman added goals for the Canucks.

Horvat also scored in his first game against his former team for the Islanders. Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, Mathew Barzal and Noah Dobson tallied for New York, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Sorokin recorded 28 saves.

Golden Knights 5, Wild 1

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist and Reilly Smith scored on a penalty shot to help lead Vegas to a victory in Saint Paul, Minn. Eichel snapped a nine-game goal drought.

Nicolas Roy, Alex Pietrangelo and Paul Cotter also scored for the Golden Knights while Jonathan Marchessault added two assists. Logan Thompson made 23 saves to earn the win, but he was assisted off the ice with a left leg injury with 18:41 remaining in the game. Adin Hill finished up and made four saves.

Kirill Kaprizov scored for Minnesota, which lost its third straight game. Marc-Andre Fleury broke a tie with Terry Sawchuk for fourth place for most games played by a goaltender in NHL history with his 972nd contest. He made 18 saves on 23 shots before giving way to Filip Gustavsson, who made eight saves in the third period.

Flyers 2, Oilers 1 (SO)

Morgan Frost and James van Riemsdyk scored in a shootout as host Philadelphia topped Edmonton, though the Oilers did extend their points streak to double digits.

The Flyers won in the third round of the shootout, in which Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the only successful shooter for the Oilers. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid was unable to get a clean shot off in the shootout, and Flyers goaltender Carter Hart secured the win when he stopped Leon Draisaitl’s shot in Round 3.

Kevin Hayes scored the lone goal for Philadelphia in regulation, while Evander Kane found the net for the Oilers, who are 8-0-2 in their last 10. Hart finished with 34 saves, while Stuart Skinner stopped 35 shots for Edmonton.

Panthers 4, Sharks 1

Sam Reinhart scored twice, Eric Staal added two empty-net goals and Florida beat visiting San Jose in Sunrise, Fla.

Reinhart has 19 goals this season and six in his past eight games. Eetu Luostarinen led the Panthers with two assists, and Florida killed off a late double-minor penalty. Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves as Florida won its third straight game — its longest winning streak of the season.

Alexander Barabanov scored for the Sharks, and Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves. San Jose’s Erik Karlsson, who leads all NHL defensemen in points, picked up one assist. He has seven points in his past four games and 70 for the season.

Devils 3, Kraken 1

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored twice, extending his points streak to six games, as New Jersey defeated Seattle in Newark, N.J. Hamilton has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) during his streak.

John Marino added an empty-netter with 1:11 remaining and Ondrej Palat had two assists for the Devils, who won their third consecutive game and improved to 10-1-1 in their past 12. Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves.

Adam Larsson scored as the Kraken took a second straight loss on their five-game trip following the All-Star break. Philipp Grubauer stopped 24 of 26 shots.

Red Wings 2, Flames 1

Filip Zadina scored his first goal of the season after missing over three months as host Detroit edged Calgary.

Zadina was sidelined since early November by a foot injury before going on a rehab assignment last week. Dylan Larkin scored the other goal for Detroit, while Ville Husso made 35 saves.

Blake Coleman scored the lone Flames goal, while Dan Vladar made 15 saves.

–Field Level Media