Alex Stalock made 35 saves, while Lukas Reichel and Joey Anderson each scored, as the visiting Chicago Blackhawks edged the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Thursday night.

After stopping 23 of 26 shots in relief of the injured Petr Mrazek during Chicago’s impressive 6-3 win over NHL-leading Boston from Tuesday, the 35-year-old Stalock was on his game. In total rebuild mode, the Blackhawks (24-38-6, 54 points) have won consecutive contests for the first time since a five-game winning streak from Feb. 17-25.

Roman Josi’s goal with 25 seconds left in regulation made things interesting, and Juuse Saros stopped 19 shots, but the Predators (34-25-7, 75 points), trying to move into playoff position in the Western Conference, had a three-game winning streak snapped. Nashville, 8-3-1 since Feb. 21, also had its five-game winning streak against the Blackhawks come to an end.

Nashville had the first prime scoring chance of the night when Philip Tomasino found himself on a breakaway with 8:45 remaining in the first period. However, Stalock was up to the challenge to make the save. The Chicago netminder remained stout during the opening frame, and his team eventually gave him the lead.

Via a 2-on-1 with teammate Andreas Athanasiou, Reichel opted to pass the puck, but it caught the shaft of a diving Dante Fabbro’s stick. Fabbro ended up sliding into Saros, along with the puck, which eventually made it over the goal line for the game’s first goal with 47 seconds remaining in the opening period.

Stalock continued his solid play in the second period, stopping all 11 shots the Predators threw at him. The highlight came he faced a penalty shot with 6:20 to go in the second from Matt Duchene, who lost control of the puck, which easily slid in front of Stalock to grab and maintain Chicago’s lead.

The Blackhawks, who ended an 0-4-1 road rut, extended their advantage with just 11:59 minutes remaining in regulation. Off a relentless Chicago forecheck behind the Nashville net, the puck ended up on the stick of Boris Katchouk. He then sent a perfect cross-slot pass for Anderson to convert his third goal in 10 games since coming over from Toronto.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Bruins snapped a two-game losing skid, defeating the Jets 3-0 in Winnipeg Thursday night.

Boston’s Jeremy Swayman stopped 36 shots on goal for his third shutout of the season. Trent Frederic, Pavel Zacha and Tomas Nosek were the goal scorers for the Bruins.

It’s just the fourth time this season that the Jets have been shut out. In net for Winnipeg, Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves out of 23 shots.

The Jets continue to struggle, having won only four times over their past 15 games.

The Bruins opened the scoring 50 seconds into the contest, when the Jets got caught early, leaving Frederic alone in the slot. He quickly popped the puck into the net on Boston’s first shot of the game.

The Jets would push back, generating some great chances with seven shots on goal over two power-play opportunities following a pair of tripping calls on Boston. However, it would be the Bruins that would light the lamp next.

With 6:38 remaining in the first period, Boston made it 2-0 when a streaking Zacha, turning the puck up ice following a neutral-zone turnover by Winnipeg, wired a shot past Hellebuyck.

Both teams were kept off the score board in the second period, with Swayman collecting 13 stops, while Hellebuyck settled in for 11 saves in the middle frame.

Only three times this season have the Bruins failed to pick up two points when leading heading into the third period, and Thursday night in Winnipeg was no exception to the trend.

Boston clogged up the middle of the ice in the final stanza and swallowed up the final Jets offensive efforts as the minutes ticked away.

With six seconds remaining, Nosek put the puck into the empty net to grow the Bruins lead and really put away the victory.

Bruins blueliner Derek Forbort left the game and did not return after blocking a shot from Neal Pionk in the second period.

–Field Level Media

Alex Killorn scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to another win over New Jersey, downing the Devils, 4-3, Thursday night in Newark, N.J.

After Tampa Bay’s Ross Colton and New Jersey’s Yegor Sharangovich left the match knotted at 1-1 after two shootout rounds, Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (32 saves) denied Jesper Boqvist in the top of the third.

Killorn followed with the winning shot off the left post, giving the Lightning (41-22-6, 88 points) their second win in three days over the Devils (44-17-7, 95 points).

Steven Stamkos scored twice and had an assist, and Colton added one as the visitors improved to 4-1-1 in their past six games. Mikhail Sergachev had two assists while Vasilevskiy moved to 31-17-4 this season.

For the Devils, Timo Meier scored twice, and Tomas Tatar had one. Nico Hischier had two assists. Netminder Akira Schmid posted 21 saves but fell to 8-4-2.

On Sunday in Tampa, the two clubs will conclude their season series with the week’s third meeting.

In a mostly evenly played, penalty-free opening frame, Tampa Bay outshot the home side 10-8 and was the only side to find the net.

Just 69 seconds into the rematch, Sergachev’s long blast after a faceoff win by Stamkos struck the leg of Colton and caromed in for the second-line left winger’s 16th goal.

After beating Vasilevskiy just once in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss in Newark, the Devils matched that mark at 8:59 of the second when Tatar notched his 16th off a strong rush that started behind Schmid’s goal.

In a turning point moment in the second period, the Lightning killed off a full two-minute, five-on-three New Jersey power play after Stamkos and Erik Cernak went off together at 15:51.

To make matters worse for the Devils as they failed to score, they trailed just 20 seconds after Stamkos left the penalty box. The captain took a backhanded pass from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and snapped one home at 18:11 to put the visitors back up.

At 9:41 of the third, Meier scored his second goal with New Jersey and the first on his new home ice by sending home a rebound from a sharp angle.

The teams traded power-play goals in the last five minutes, with Stamkos netting his 29th at 15:13 and Meier answering with his 34th just 2:31 later.

–Field Level Media

Chris Kreider scored the go-ahead goal at 11:45 of the third Thursday to give the New York Rangers a 4-2 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

In a seesaw game, Kreider fought off Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin near the slot, then swept the puck past the right skate of goaltender Tristan Jarry to make it 3-2.

Kreider added an empty netter with 49.2 seconds left.

It was the second of three games this week between the clubs. Pittsburgh (34-24-10, 78 points) won at home Sunday 3-2 in overtime, and they play again Saturday in New York.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist and Tyler Motte scored for the Rangers (39-19-10, 88), who are 4-0-1 in their past four.

New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves.

Rickard Rakell had a goal and an assist, Jake Guentzel scored, and Sidney Crosby added two assists for the Penguins (34-24-10), who lost their second straight.

Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 31 saves.

Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry left at 5:12 of the first after he took an elbow to the face from Motte as the two collided.

Zibanejad scored his team-leading 35th at 2:51 of the first. Artemi Panarin banked a pass off the right-wing boards to set up Zibanejad for a breakaway. Zibanejad went backhand to forehand and shot the puck over Jarry’s glove.

Pittsburgh top-line right winger Bryan Rust went to the bench briefly after blocking a shot, and Rakell took Rust’s spot with Crosby and Guentzel. Crosby intercepted a pass behind the New York net and fed Rakell with a backhand pass. Rakell lofted a one-timer over Shesterkin to tie it at 14:40 of the second.

The assist gave Crosby 82 points, assuring him of averaging a point per game for the 18th time, one season behind NHL leader Wayne Gretzky.

Motte restored the Rangers’ lead 2:13 later. He pilfered the puck from Penguins defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph and shot it under Jarrys’s pads.

Guentzel tied it 2-2 with his 30th at 9:09 of the third. He was alone in the slot when he took a feed from Crosby for a shot under Shesterkin’s pads.

–Field Level Media

Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad scored two goals each as the Florida Panthers hammered the Montreal Canadiens 9-5 on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.

Florida’s other goals came from Matthew Tkachuk, Colin White, Gustav Forsling, Ryan Lomberg and Sam Reinhart.

Tkachuk added a game-high three assists, and he leads Florida with 91 points. Tkachuk’s 60 assists are two short of his career high, set last season.

Verhaeghe leads the Panthers with a career-high 34 goals.

Florida (34-27-7, 75 points) led 7-3 after the first period as the 10 total goals tied an NHL record. The only other times 10 goals were scored in an opening period was in a 1987 game between the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks, and the Buffalo Sabres and the Canadiens in 1982. The record for most goals in any period is 12.

The Panthers also set a franchise record for most goals in any period with seven.

It was such a crazy game that Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky got the win despite being beaten on Montreal’s first three shots. He finished with 25 saves.

Montreal (27-36-6, 60 points) started former Panthers goalie Sam Montembeault, who was pulled after allowing three goals in the game’s first 6:04.

The Canadiens went to Jake Allen, who allowed six goals before he was pulled in favor of Montembeault. Allen made 12 saves.

For the game, Montembeault made 21 saves and allowed three goals.

Montreal got one goal each from Mike Matheson, Anthony Richard, Michael Pezzetta, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Rem Pitlick. Richard and Matheson each also had an assist.

Matheson, a former Panthers defenseman, opened the scoring with a wrist shot just 16 seconds into the game.

White scored from the slot with 2:43 gone to tie the score, and Verhaeghe’s first goal of the night — which came just 34 seconds later — gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

Montreal tied the score 2-2 with 5:20 expired as Richard turned and fired the puck from above the right circle. It was his second goal in two games.

Florida took a 3-2 just 44 seconds later as Forsling, who was trailing the play, fired on the rush from the left circle.

Just over two minutes later, Montreal tied the score for the final time on Pezzetta’s deflection of a Chris Tierney shot.

The Panthers took the lead for good just 51 seconds later on Ekblad’s wrist shot from just above the right circle.

Florida rolled from there, improving to 5-1-1 in its past seven games.

–Field Level Media

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, Cale Makar added a goal and an assist and the visiting Colorado Avalanche beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Thursday night.

Valeri Nichushkin, Evan Rodrigues and Lars Eller also scored, Nathan MacKinnon recorded three assists and Jonas Johansson made 32 saves for Colorado, which posted its fourth consecutive victory.

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist while Drake Batherson, Travis Hamonic and Shane Pinto scored goals for Ottawa, which took its fourth loss in a row. Tim Stutzle had three assists, Jake Sanderson finished with two assists and Mads Sogaard turned away 25 shots.

The Avalanche (39-22-6, 84 points) went ahead 1-0 when Makar beat Sogaard at 2:35 of the first period for his 16th goal of the season.

Colorado made it 2-0 just 2:25 later when Nichushkin deflected Makar’s shot over Sogaard. It was his 14th goal of the season.

The Senators (33-31-4, 70 points) got one back on a power play late in the first when Batherson redirected Stutzle’s shot past Johansson at 19:33 for his 20th goal of the campaign.

The Avalanche restored the two-goal advantage with Rantanen’s 45th goal at 4:23 of the second.

Ottawa answered less than four minutes later when Pinto’s wrister beat Johansson at 8:20 for his 18th.

Colorado made it 4-2 when MacKinnon set up Rodrigues for a snap shot that beat Sogaard at 15:17, his 14th of the season, and then it was a three-goal game after an unusual goal.

The Avalanche sent the puck down the ice, it bounced off the backboards and to the crease. Sogaard briefly controlled it but didn’t completely cover it, allowing Eller to poke it in at 18:09 of the second. It was Eller’s eighth of the season and first since coming to Colorado from the Washington Capitals in a March 1 trade.

The Senators made it 5-3 when Hamonic cleaned up Stutzle’s rebound at 2:52 of the third, his sixth goal of the season. Tkachuk’s 28th goal, on the power play at 13:18, got Ottawa within one.

With the teams skating four-on-four, Sogaard went off for an extra skater with 1:30 remaining and the Avalanche took a tripping penalty with 40.9 seconds left, but Ottawa couldn’t get the equalizer.

–Field Level Media