UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves in his first start since March 19, Alexis Lafreniere and Colin Blackwell scored in the second period and New York Rangers beat the Islanders 4-1 on Friday night.
Georgiev improved to 7-1-0 in eight starts against the Islanders. Mika Zibanejad and K'Andre Miller also scored and Artemi Panarin had two assists for the Rangers.
Andy Greene scored and Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves for the Islanders.
The teams meet again on Sunday night at Nassau Coliseum.
AVALANCHE 2, DUCKS 0
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jonas Johansson made 28 saves in his first career shutout and Valeri Nichushkin scored in Colorado's victory.
Mikko Rantanen added an empty-net goal in the final minute as the West Division-leading Avalanche bounced back from an embarrassing 8-3 loss Wednesday to Minnesota, one that ended their streak of earning a point in 15 consecutive games.
John Gibson stopped 33 shots for Anaheim. The Ducks have lost 11 of 15.
The teams will finish the season series Sunday at Honda Center.
CAPITALS 4, SABRES 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Justin Schultz had a goal and two assists to help Washington beat Buffalo.
Washington star Alex Ovechkin scored his 21st goal of the season and No. 727 for his career, moving within four of Marcel Dionne for fifth on the NHL list. Brenden Dillon and Jakub Vrana also scored.
Vitek Vanecek stopped 30 shots for his NHL rookie-leading 16th win. Washington stopped a two-game slide and improved to 6-0-1 against Buffalo this season.
Henri Jokiharju, Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson scored for Buffalo.
PENGUINS 6, DEVILS 4
NEWARK, N.J. -- Bryan Rust scored two goals, Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists and Pittsburgh beat New Jersey.
Jared McCann, Brian Dumoulin and Colton Sceviour also scored and Casey DeSmith made 25 saves to help the Penguins win for the second straight night and eighth time in 11 games.
Miles Wood scored twice and Jack Hughes and Jesper Boqvist added goals for the Devils.
BLUES 9, WILD 1
ST. LOUIS -- Ryan O'Reilly had a hat trick and Jaden Schwartz scored twice in St. Louis' blowout victory over Minnesota.
Justin Faulk and Sammy Blais each had a goal and two assists, and Zach Sanford and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Blues, who posted a season high for goals in a game. Jordan Binnington made 23 saves.
Zach Parise scored for the Wild.
The teams play again twice in the next three days -- back at Enterprise Center on Saturday night and at Minnesota on Monday night.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 7, COYOTES 4
LAS VEGAS -- Reilly Smith scored twice to lead Vegas past Arizona.
Jonathan Marchessault, William Carrier, Keegan Kolesar, Chandler Stephenson, and Max Pacioretty also scored for the Golden Knights, and Robin Lehner made 22 saves.
After opening a 5-0 lead early in the second period, Vegas survived a third-period rally. Nick Schmaltz, Dryden Hunt, Clayton Keller and Michael Bunting scored for Arizona.
The teams conclude will finish the two-game set in Las Vegas on Sunday.
SHARKS 5, KINGS 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Martin Jones made 32 saves to stymie Los Angeles again and Patrick Marleau scored his 566th career goal to lead San Jose.
Kevin Labanc, Rudolfs Balcers and Dylan Gambrell also scored, and Brent Burns had three assists to give San Jose its fifth win in six games. Tomas Hertl added an empty-net goal.
Jones eat the Kings for the sixth time this season and has a .933 save percentage in seven games against his former team. He joined Mike Vernon (1997-98 against Anaheim) as the only Sharks goalies to beat one team six times in a season.
Alex Iafallo and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored for Los Angeles, and Cal Petersen made 24 saves. The Kings have lost seven of nine.
