Penguins down Rangers in shootout

Jussi Jokinen scored in both regulation and the first round of the shootout in his initial contest with his new team.

Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 34 shots and denied Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and captain Ryan Callahan in the bonus format to preserve the win.

The Penguins ended a modest two-game skid following their impressive 15-game win streak to pull even with Chicago (58 points) in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.

Nash recorded his team-leading 14th goal and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 26 saves while playing in his 500th career game for the Rangers, who secured a point to gain the tiebreaker over the Islanders in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

- - -

Jochen Hecht set up the winning goal and added one of his own 12 seconds later as host Buffalo avoided a regular-season sweep by Ottawa.

Rookie Brian Flynn snapped a 2-2 tie with 5:23 remaining in the game while Steve Ott and Luke Adam also scored for the Sabres, who have won two in a row following a four-game winless skid (0-2-2). Ryan Miller made 35 saves.

Defensemen Marc Methot and Eric Gryba replied for the Senators, who lost their third consecutive game and have never swept Buffalo in franchise history. Rookie Robin Lehner stopped 26 shots.

- - -

Captain David Backes scored his second goal in as many games to snap a tie late in the second period as host St. Louis held on to move three points clear of Columbus in the Western Conference play-off race.

Chris Stewart opened the scoring and Patrik Berglund added a short-handed, empty-net goal for the Blues, who won their third straight game and improved to 3-0-0 against the Central Division-rival Blue Jackets.

Artem Anisimov scored the lone goal for Columbus, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.