Anthony Stolarz stopped 26 shots to earn his second shutout after replacing Michael Neuvirth, who had collapsed early in the first period, as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the visiting New Jersey Devils, 3-0, on Saturday night.
Neuvirth left the game after collapsing in his crease 7:37 into the game. He was carted off on a stretcher and later taken to Pennsylvania Hospital, where he was ‘‘awake and alert,’’ according to Flyers GM Ron Hextall.
‘‘It’s obviously pretty scary when you see your goaltender just collapse like that,’’ Flyers left wing Chris VandeVelde said. ‘‘I'm not sure really what happened, if he fainted or got lightheaded or what, but it was pretty scary and I'm glad to see he was moving and functioning when he was rolled off the ice.’’
Brayden Schenn, Colin McDonald, and Jordan Weal scored for the Flyers, who won their fourth straight game to remain in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.
Philadelphia remained 6 points behind Boston for the second wild-card playoff spot in the East with four games remaining for each team.
Cory Schneider stopped 38 shots for the Devils, who lost their sixth straight (0-4-2) and are 2-14-4 in their last 20 games.
Stolarz, 23, learned he would be suiting up for the Flyers just two hours before the game when Steve Mason fell ill. Despite playing most of the game, Stolarz did not earn a decision in the win.
The Flyers took the lead at 7:28 on Schenn’s 24th goal of the season. Schenn was at the side of the Devils net when Claude Giroux’s errant shot caromed off the end boards onto his stick for an open netter.
Nine seconds later, on a faceoff in the Devils’ zone, Neuvirth collapsed and lay motionless on the ice for close to two minutes.
McDonald, who was recalled by the Flyers on Friday as an injury replacement for Matt Read, gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead with his first NHL goal since Nov. 27, 2015. McDonald, 32, raced past Devils defenseman Andy Greene, eluded a poke check by Schneider, and scored his 20th career NHL goal and first as a Flyer.
The Flyers made it 3-0 midway through the second period on Weal’s eighth goal of the season and first career power-play goal.
Maple Leafs 5, Red Wings 4 — Auston Matthews scored twice to lead visiting Toronto.
Matthews’s second goal of the night at 18:51 of the third period gave Toronto a 5-3 lead, but proved to be the winner when Detroit’s Mike Green tallied with 44.2 seconds left in regulation.
With two goals and an assist, Matthews tied Peter Ihnacak’s Leafs rookie points record of 66, set in 1982-83.
James Van Riemsdyk scored with 2:36 left in the third period to snap the 3-3 tie and put the Leafs ahead for good. Van Riemsdyk slipped a backhander past Detroit’s Jimmy Howard.
Mitchell Marner and William Nylander also scored for the Leafs, who moved into a second-place tie in the Atlantic Division with Ottawa.
Gus Nyquist, Nick Jenson, and Niklas Kronwall had the other goals for the Red Wings.
Canadiens 2, Lightning 1 — Alexander Radulov scored 51 seconds into overtime to lift visiting Montreal.
Phillip Danault also scored and Carey Price stopped 21 shots for the Atlantic Division-leading Canadiens.
Radulov scored from the right circle on the game-winner.
Yanni Gourde scored for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy had 34 saves.
Gourde got a goal in his third straight game, coming on a redirection of Victor Hedman’s shot tying it at 1 at 11:38 of the third. The forward has four goals in 17 career games.
Danault put a backhander past Vasilevskiy with 5:36 left in the second to open the scoring after Hedman lost the puck near the Lightning net. Max Pacioretty got his 200th assist with Montreal on Danault’s goal.
Predators 3, Wild 0 — Filip Forsberg and Kevin Fiala scored 10 seconds apart late in the second period for host Nashville.
Pekka Rinne made 31 saves for his third shutout this season as the Predators snapped a two-game skid with a victory that tied them with the Blues at 91 points. St. Louis holds the tiebreaker with the Predators visiting town on Sunday.
The Wild lost for the fifth time in six games after finishing March 4-10-2.
Coach Bruce Boudreau took a timeout with 2:43 left in the second period, and that’s when the Predators took control.
Forsberg scored his 31st by tipping the puck in at 17:21 — just four seconds after the Wild timeout. Then Fiala scored unassisted, skating in front of the crease and putting a wrister into the open net past goalie Alex Stalock 10 seconds later.
P.K. Subban added a long empty-net goal with 2:23 left.
Jets 4, Senators 2 — Mathieu Perreault scored the go-ahead goal 7:46 into the third, lifting host Winnipeg to its fourth straight win.
With the game tied at 2, Perreault took a pass from Bryan Little and fired a shot past Mike Condon, who had Jets forward Patrik Laine standing in front of him with the screen, to make it 3-2.
With Condon pulled for an extra attacker and just over a minute left, Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck whipped out his glove to snag Kyle Turris’s blast, preserving the lead. Nikolaj Ehlers sealed the victory with an empty-netter with 25 seconds left.
Blake Wheeler and Adam Lowry also scored for Winnipeg, which has its first four-game win streak of the season. Little had a pair of assists.
Mike Hoffman scored twice for the Senators, who have lost four straight — 0-3-1 — are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division with 91 points. Both teams have five regular-season games remaining.
Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the Jets. Condon had 23 stops for the Senators, who were playing the fourth game of a season-high, five-game road trip.
Stars 3, Hurricanes 0 — Jason Spezza scored, Kari Lehtonen earned his third shutout of the season, and Dallas blanked host Carolina.
John Klingberg and Devin Shore added empty-netters and Lehtonen stopped 25 shots in his second shutout in six starts.
Cam Ward stopped 21 shots for Carolina, which began 4 points behind Boston for the East’s final playoff spot with six games left and Tampa Bay between the teams.
