NHL Notebook: B's Top Ottawa & Lighting Strikes in OT

Celebrating his 28th birthday, Tuukka Rask made 39 saves, including all 21 he faced in the second period, and the Boston Bruins scored three goals in the second to defeat the Ottawa Senators 3-1 and improve to 3-0-2 in their past five games against the Senators.

* The Bruins have earned points in six straight games (5-0-1) to buffer their lead to six points over the idle Florida Panthers (29-23-14, 72 points) and seven points over the Senators (30-24-11, 71 points) for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

* Rask stretched his personal point streak to four games (3-0-1) and improved to 7-2-2 in 13 career games vs. OTT (2.07 GAA, .932 save percentage). His 39 saves were four shy of his season high set Jan. 29 in a 5-2 win at NYI.

* Ottawa native Ryan Spooner had his first career multigoal game while playing in his hometown. His six-game point streak (2-4—6) is the longest by a Bruins rookie since Matt Hunwick's six-game run from Nov. 17-28, 2008 (3-5—8). Spooner has 3-16—19 in 40 games.

* Loui Eriksson scored his 26th career game-winning goal and fourth this season. He has 5-3—8 in his past 10 games, including 3-1—4 on his four-game point streak.

JOHNSON'S OT HEROICS CREATES LOGJAM ATOP NHL STANDINGS Ben Bishop made 19 saves and Tyler Johnson broke a scoreless tie 63 seconds into overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 1-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens, their fourth straight win and fifth consecutive regular-season victory against the Canadiens.

* The Lightning (42-20-6, 90 points) improved to 3-0-0 against the Canadiens (42-18-7, 91 points) this season to move within one point of their division rival for top spot in the Eastern Conference and entire NHL. The top seven teams in the League are separated by two points and 10 points divide the top 12 teams.

* Tampa Bay is 6-0-1 in its past six regular-season games against Montreal, including four straight wins at the Bell Centre. The teams play twice more this season: March 16 at TBL and March 30 at MTL.

* Johnson scored his fifth game-winner and 25th goal of 2014-15, establishing career highs in each category. His first career overtime goal stretched his point streak to seven games (3-6—9), equaling a personal best set earlier this season.

* Bishop had his 11th career shutout, third this season and second in his past four games (also Feb. 27 vs. CHI). He is 7-2-0 with a 2.20 goals-against average and .923 save percentage in his past nine games.


WILD STRENGTHEN GRIP ON FIRST WILD CARD

Fourteen different players found the score sheet and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 6-2 win against the New Jersey Devils, their sixth win in their past seven games and third straight victory against the Devils at Xcel Energy Center.

* At 37-23-7 (81 points), the Wild opened a three-point lead over the Jets (33-22-12, 78 points), who lost in regulation, for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference and pulled with three points of the idle Chicago Blackhawks (39-21-6, 84 points) for third place in the Central Division.

* Making his 200th NHL start, and 25th in a row since joining Minnesota, Dubnyk notched his first career win against the Devils to improve to 28-9-3 this season. He also boosted his record in a Wild uniform to 19-4-1 with a 1.67 GAA, .937 save percentage and five shutouts.

* Thomas Vanek (2-0—2) had his 50th multigoal performance and second this season (also Feb. 14 vs. CAR). Vanek scored on Sunday vs. COL, making it the first time he has scored in back-to-back games since March 27 and 29, 2014 (w/ MTL).

* New acquisitions Chris Stewart (1-1—2) and Sean Bergenheim scored. Stewart has 2-2—4 in 5 GP since joining Minnesota, while Bergenheim scored his first goal since Jan. 29 (w/ FLA) and had his first point in a Wild uniform.

* Jared Spurgeon (1-1—2) scored his seventh career game-winner and second this season (also Jan. 2 vs. TOR). Former Devil Zach Parise had two assists for his 130th career multipoint game; he has 0-3—3 in 3 GP against his former team.

KINGS GAIN GROUND ON JETS

Brayden McNabb (1-2—3) and Kyle Clifford (1-1—2) established and matched career highs for points in game, respectively, to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche, their third straight win at Pepsi Center, and to a 6-0-1 record in their past seven games against the Avalanche.

* The Kings (32-21-13, 77 points) pulled within one point of the Jets (33-22-12, 78 points), who lost in regulation, for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Los Angeles holds one game in hand and owns the ROW tiebreaker (LAK: 30, WPG: 27), but Winnipeg won the season series (WPG: 2-1-0, LAK: 1-1-1).

* They tied the idle Calgary Flames (36-25-5, 77 points) for third place in the Pacific Division. Calgary, however, holds the ROW tiebreaker (CGY: 32, LAK: 30) and leads the season series (CGY: 3-1-0, LAK: 1-1-2). The teams will play once more in 2014-15 on April 9 at Scotiabank Saddledome.

* McNabb scored his third career goal, second in his past six games and first game-winner. He has 2-20—22 with the Kings this season (60 GP) after having 1-7—8 in his first 37 games with the Buffalo Sabres.

* Jeff Carter scored his team-leading 23rd goal while Marian Gaborik reached the 20-goal milestone for the ninth time in his career and first time since 2011-12 (w/ NYR). Jake Muzzin scored his seventh goal of the season to match a career high set in 2012-13, while Justin Williams had two assists.

* Jonathan Quick made 21 saves to stretch his personal point streak to four games (3-0-1) and improve to 11-4-1 in 17 career games against the Avalanche (2.41 GAA, .910 save percentage).


LOOSE PUCKS

Bruins forward Milan Lucic and Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky each recorded his 200th NHL assist . . . Senators forward Matt Puempel scored his first NHL goal (7 GP) . . . Defensemen Ryan McDonagh (NYR), Jeff Petry (MTL) and Adam Pardy (also 100th w/ WPG) each played in his 300th NHL game . . . Justin Faulk had 1-2—3 in the first period for his fourth career three-point game and third this season (also 1-2—3 vs. CGY Nov. 10 and 0-3—3 at SJS, Feb. 7). The Elias Sports Bureau says he is the first defenseman to post at least three points in the first period of a game since the club moved to Carolina and just the second in franchise history (also Brad Shaw 0-3—3 for HFD vs. QUE on March 21, 1990) . . . Tyler Myers had one assist to stretch his point streak to four games (1-3—4); he now has 2-7—9 in 11 games with the Jets . . . Teammate Michael Frolik scored his 16th goal of the season (67 GP), surpassing his 81-game total from 2013-14 and stretching his point streak to seven games (5-2—7) . . . Islanders forward Anders Lee scored his 23rd goal of the season, one behind Ottawa's Mike Hoffman for the rookie lead . . . Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie scored and now has 4-8—12 in his past nine games . . . ICYMI: The NHL and Samsung Canada announced a multiyear partnership, making the global leader in innovative technology the first-ever exclusive partner in the mobile, tablet and wearable hardware category.