CALGARY — Brian Elliott returned from a bout of the flu to earn his 10th consecutive win as Calgary beat Dallas 3-1.
Elliott made 24 saves after missing Calgary’s Wednesday loss to the Bruins, and he was 6:39 from his third shutout in his past four games. The Flames’ franchise-record-tying, 10-game winning streak ended against Boston.
Mark Giordano had a goal and two assists for the Flames. Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik also scored, and Tkachuk added an assist. Brett Ritchie replied for the Stars.
Sabres 2, Ducks 1 (SO): Zemgus Girgensons scored in the 10th shootout round to give the Buffalo a win over Anaheim on Friday night at the Honda Center.
Ryan O’Reilly scored in regulation for the Sabres (29-31-12), who received 39 saves from Anders Nilsson.
Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks (37-23-11), who moved within six points of the first-place San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division.
Penguins 6, Devils 4: Pittsburgh got goals from five players and took over second place in the Metropolitan Division with a win over New Jersey at PPG Paints Arena.
Pittsburgh leapfrogged Columbus and moved to within one point of first-place Washington.
The teams traded goals in the first period — New Jersey’s Kyle Palmieri and Stefan Noesen, Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel and Jake Guentzel — before Sidney Crosby scored late in the period for a 3-2 Penguins lead.
Nick Bonino for Pittsburgh and Beau Bennett for the Devils scored in the second to make it 4-3 going into the third.
Panthers 4, Rangers 3 (SO): Aleksander Barkov scored the only goal of the shootout, and Florida rallied for a victory over New York at Madison Square Garden.
The win was only the second in the last eight games for the Panthers, who kept their faint playoff hopes alive in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers have lost six straight on home ice. Their last win at MSG was on Feb. 19.
Canada pays tribute to Stanley Cup
Canada’s government recognized the creation of the Stanley Cup as a national historic event Friday on the eve of the National Hockey League championship trophy’s 125th birthday.
The trophy has had a unusual history, including being forgotten on a roadside and drop-kicked onto a frozen river, since Lord Stanley of Preston, Canada’s sixth Governor General, donated the cup as a prize for the nation’s top ice hockey club on March 18, 1892 at a downtown Ottawa hotel.
The original silver bowl was 18.5 cm tall and 29 cm in diameter. A replica of that cup sits atop the current trophy, which has rows of larger rings beneath it now bearing the names of players on teams that win the hardware.
The Stanley Cup began as a challenge trophy, first awarded to Montreal HC in 1893, but became exclusively the NHL’s championship trophy in 1926.
Its storied history includes being booted onto the frozen Rideau Canal on the Ottawa River in 1905 by members of the Ottawa Silver Seven during a title celebration and recovered the next day.
In 1924, as the Montreal Canadiens stopped to fix a flat tire on the way to a party at the owner’s house, they left the trophy on the side of the road but found it unclaimed when they hurried back after discovering it was missing.
In 1906, Montreal Wanderers players took the Cup to a photographer, forgot to reclaim it and weeks later found it serving as a flower pot. — Agencies
