Lightning Strikes on Road Again

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s recent run of road success couldn’t be stopped by the Eastern Conference-leading New Jersey Devils.

Rich Parent turned away 34 shots Friday night as the Lightning beat the Devils, 3-1, at East Rutherford, N.J., to stretch its unbeaten streak in away games to three. Tampa Bay had lost seven in a row on the road before starting its current mini-streak.

“This has been a great trip for us,” said Mike Johnson, who scored Tampa Bay’s first goal. “We’ve been playing against and beating teams that have something to play for. We may be out of the playoff picture this year but we have something to play for too. We are playing for ourselves and we are playing for next year.”

Fredrik Modin and Todd Warriner also scored for Tampa Bay, which has the NHL’s second-worst record. Only the expansion Atlanta Thrasers have fewer points.

Washington 4, Carolina 2--Joe Murphy and Jeff Halpern each scored two goals and Olaf Kolzig made 31 saves at Washington to tie a franchise record with his 35th victory of the season.

Nashville 4, Phoenix 3--Greg Johnson scored with 1:04 to play in overtime at Phoenix, keeping the Coyotes from moving up in the Pacific Division.

The Coyotes, who led the NHL after one of the best starts in their history, lost second place in the division to the Kings this week and needed two points to pull even after the Kings lost to the St. Louis Blues.

Instead, the Predators forced Phoenix to settle for a point and a 3-9-1 record in its last 13 games.

Edmonton 4, Ottawa 2--Boyd Devereaux scored three goals for the first time in his career to lead the Oilers at Edmonton.