Backes, Pastrnak lead Bruins past Canadiens 3-1
BOSTON (AP) — David Backes scored the deciding goal in his first game in nearly a month, David Pastrnak added his league-leading 25th goal, and the Boston Bruins won their seventh straight game, beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 Sunday night.
Backes’ first goal of the season came off a feed from David Krejci through the right circle, with 9:31 remaining in the third period.
Backes was in the lineup for the first time since being injured during a scary collision with Ottawa’s Scott Sabourin on Nov. 2.
Jake DeBrusk added his sixth goal of the year on a give-and-go with Charlie Coyle two minutes later.
Tuukka Rask made 28 saves for the Bruins.
Boston extended its point streak to 11 games (8-0-3) and entered the third month of the season as the only team without a home regulation loss (11-0-4).
Joel Armia scored, and Carey Price had 31 saves for Montreal. The Canadiens extended their season-high losing streak to eight (0-5-3).
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Mikko Koivu scored the shootout winner in his 1,000th career game and reached 700th career points with a second-period assist in Minnesota’s win over Dallas.
Koivu, playing his 15th season with the Wild, beat Ben Bishop with his trademark move, a backhand over the goalie’s left shoulder. Then Alex Stalock, who made 26 saves, stuffed Corey Perry to seal the victory.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist and Zach Parise also scored for the Wild. Both also scored in the first three rounds of the shootout, but Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin countered for Dallas.
Blake Comeau and John Klingberg scored for Dallas and Bishop stopped 27 shots. The Stars have lost three in a row after a 14-1-1 run.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored two power-play goals and Edmonton snapped a two-game losing streak with a win over Vancouver.
Josh Archibald also scored for the Oilers (17-9-3). Connor McDavid and Alex Chiasson each had two assists. Mikko Koskinen stopped 30 shots.
Josh Leivo and Brock Boeser scored the Canucks (13-11-4), who are 3-3-0 in their last six games.
Goaltender Jacob Markstrom, making his first back-to-back start of the season, stopped 26 shots for Vancouver.