Blues 5, Wild 3: Thanks to their 5-3 win over Minnesota on Sunday, the St. Louis Blues find themselves within one point of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with just 13 games to play. The Blues managed to hold off a late Minnesota rally, as Brad Boyes sealed the win with an empty net goal in the closing minute. Sunday's win comes less than 24 hours after the Blues suffered a loss to Detroit in a game that featured three Red Wings goals in just 46 seconds. The Blues have been on a roll in recent weeks, winning 10 of their past 15 games to stay in the playoff hunt.
Also inside Monday's edition of newsmakers: the Islanders continue their strong play by upsetting Chicago, the Blue Jackets have their winning streak snapped, and the Los Angeles Kings demonstrate just how easy it is to screw up a two-on-none breakaway.
Islanders 4, Blackhawks 2: Peter Mannino made his first NHL start for the Islanders on Sunday, picking up the win in New York's 4-2 win over Chicago. The 25-year-old rookie stopped 40 shots, while Mark Streit scored a pair of goals to lead the Islanders to their sixth victory in their past nine games.
Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 0: Columbus had its four-game winning streak snapped with a 4-0 loss at home to Detroit, as the Red Wings became the first team in NHL history to reach the 100-point plateau in nine straight seasons. Chris Osgood stopped all 24 shots he faced to record his second shutout of the season, while Marian Hossa, Niklas Kronwall, Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen all scored for Detroit.
The rest of Sunday's action
Travis Moen scores the only goal in San Jose's 1-0 win over Anaheim. Evgeni Nabokov gets the shutout by making 34 saves.
Chris Kunitz leads the Penguins over Boston in a 6-4 win.
Sean Avery Shines in New York's 4-1 win over the Flyers.
Colorado travels to Vancouver.
Daily rebounds
-- Let's go back to Saturday night as the Los Angeles Kings dropped a 2-1 decision to the San Jose Sharks. With the game tied, 1-1, Kings forwards Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar found themselves on a two-on-none break as Joe Thornton goes to the bench after breaking his stick. Here's the result:
For some reason, I could watch that all day.
Monday's key games
-- Only two games on the schedule Monday, and only one has any real playoff implications. Nashville travels to Los Angeles, as the Predators enter play tied with Edmonton for the No. 8 spot with 73 points. The Kings are still in it, sitting five points back of the final playoff spot but with four teams to jump over.
-- Washington travels to Atlanta for the Versus game, as Alex Ovechkin looks to score his 50th goal of the season.
