NASHVILLE — Ryan Ellis ended a 42-game scoring drought by notching the first of Nashville’s three third-period goals and added an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.
Shea Weber scored in the first period, Craig Smith and Viktor Stalberg followed Ellis with goals in the third, and David Legwand had three assists to help Nashville snap a three-game losing streak.
Lee Stempniak and Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary, which has lost four of its last five.
Weber opened the scoring at 15:52 of the first period.
With Nashville on a power play, Roman Josi sent a pass from above the right faceoff circle to Weber above the left, where he blasted a one-timer over the glove of Karri Ramo.
The Predators entered Tuesday with the league’s seventh-ranked power play but had not scored a goal on the man advantage in their last four games.
A night after recording his first-career NHL shutout in Carolina, Ramo got the start Tuesday and made 30 saves.
The Flames drew even with 1:04 remaining in the first.
From behind the Nashville net, Jiri Hudler carried the puck just above the goal line on the left side and slid a pass to an unchecked Stempniak in the lower part of the right faceoff circle, and his shot beat Carter Hutton for his seventh goal of the season.
Stempniak’s goal was his first since Dec. 7, a span of 17 games.
Hutton saw his first game action since a disappointing effort in Carolina on Jan. 5 that drew some criticism from Nashville coach Barry Trotz.
He bounced back nicely Tuesday night, making 22 saves
Nashville went in front for good at 55 seconds of the third when Ellis carried the puck in on the left side, cut to the high slot and beat Ramo with a slap shot for his second goal of the season.
Less than two minutes later, Smith gave Nashville a 3-1 lead on another Predator power play.
Seth Jones’ slap shot from the centre of the blue line hit traffic in front of the Calgary net, and Smith dug the puck out and beat Ramo with a wrist shot to the glove side.
Stalberg put Nashville ahead 4-1 at 10:52 of the third when his redirection of Ellis’ shot got by Ramo, but Backlund made it a two-goal game at 13:07 with a nice move off the right half wall before beating Hutton on the stick side with a wrist shot.
Backlund has a goal in each of his last three games.
Stars 5 Oilers 2
DALLAS — Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists, and the Dallas Stars snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
Jamie Benn scored a rare power-play goal for the Stars, who had not won since New Year’s Eve. They entered 29th in the NHL with the man advantage.
Benn also assisted on the first goal of the game by Erik Cole, just 14 seconds in.
Cody Eakin and Trevor Daley each had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which built a 4-1 lead 1:10 into the second period.
The final Stars goal came on Daley’s shot into an empty net in the last minute.
Justin Schultz and Sam Gagner scored for Edmonton, with Taylor Hall assisting on both goals.
After the opening faceoff, Daley skated in from the left side, drawing goalie Ilya Bryzgalov’s attention. Daley then passed across to Cole, who swept the puck into the open right side.
Edmonton tied it at 3:20. Hall passed to Schultz in the lower right circle. He skated across the front of the net and flipped the puck over Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen.
Garbutt’s third goal in two home games against Edmonton gave the Stars a 2-1 lead at 8:35 of the first.
Benn’s power-play goal followed less than 2 minutes later.
Tyler Seguin passed from the top of the right circle to Benn on the left. His drive beat Bryzgalov.
It was only the seventh goal at home with a man advantage in 81 opportunities for Dallas this season. Overall, the Stars entered with a 12.4 per cent success rate (20 for 161).
Dallas’ fourth goal came at 1:10 of the second by Eakin. Antoine Roussel sent a centring pass to Eakin from the right corner.
The Oilers controlled play for most of the second period but came away only with Gagner’s goal. He got the puck in the crease after Lehtonen got tangled up with Daley.