LOS ANGELES (AP) Montreal’s Paul Byron scored the clinching goal in the fourth round of the shootout to secure a 5-4 win at Los Angeles on Sunday as the Canadiens avoided a winless swing through California.
The victory moved the Canadiens back above the New York Rangers for the best record overall in the Eastern Conference, while Western Conference pacesetter Chicago suffered a home defeat at the hands of Winnipeg.
Elsewhere, Edmonton took a point from an overtime loss against Minnesota and moved level on points for the Pacific Division lead while Philadelphia won its fifth straight game with a road victory at Nashville.
Montreal went into Sunday’s game with only one victory from its previous 11 games in California but pulled this one out in the shootout.
Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist while Alexander Radulov and Andrew Shaw also scored for Montreal.
Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist apiece for the Kings, who had lost only one of their previous seven games.
Winnipeg’s Andrew Copp scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:45 left and the Jets hung on to win 2-1 at Chicago.
Copp beat Blackhawks goaltender Scott Darling on the stick side with a shot from the right circle that slipped just inside the left post. Bryan Little also scored for the Jets; his fourth point in as many games since returning from a long-term injury.
Chicago’s Artemi Panarin had scored with 6:54 remaining to tie it 1-1, moments after Copp hit the post.
Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu scored 3:11 into overtime to give the Wild a 2-1 victory over Edmonton.
Charlie Coyle also scored for the Wild, who had lost their previous three games.
Patrick Maroon scored inside three minutes for the Wild.
Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds scored two power-play goals in a 4-2 win at Nashville.
Simmonds, who leads the Flyers with 13 goals, got the better of what had been a stingy Nashville penalty-killing unit at home. The Predators did not allow a power-play goal in their first 10 home games, but have given up three in their past two.
The Predators lost in regulation for only the second time in 12 home games this season.
Calgary score give times within a 6:04 span of the second period and routed Anaheim 8-3.
Carolina’s Phillip Di Giuseppe scored his first goal of the season 1:26 into overtime, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 win over Tampa Bay.
Detroit’s Danny DeKeyser scored 1:02 into overtime, lifting the Red Wings to a 4-3 win at the New York Islanders.
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