NHL: Ducks prevail over Bruins in marquee match-up

Anaheim, California: Devante Smith-Pelly scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and Matt Beleskey added his career-best 12th goal in the Anaheim Ducks’ 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Monday.

Frederik Andersen made 32 saves and Sami Vatanen also scored for the Ducks, who reclaimed the Western Conference lead. The Ducks fell out of first place in the overall NHL standings last weekend with their first back-to-back regulation losses of the season.

Brad Marchand and Simon Gagne scored for the Bruins, who have lost three of four.

Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots as Boston opened a tough four-game Pacific Division road swing without injured veterans David Krejci and captain Zdeno Chara, who didn’t make the trip.

Brett Connolly’s second goal of the game during a third-period power play lifted Tampa Bay to their third straight win over New York.

With Martin St. Louis off for slashing, Connolly scored past Henrik Lundqvist at 5:34 for his fourth of the season. Tyler Johnson gave the Lightning a two-goal lead 1:24 later with his second of the night, and Ondrej Palat added an empty-netter with 26.4 seconds left to give Tampa Bay their fourth consecutive victory.

Victor Hedman had three assists, and Ben Bishop made 32 saves to improve to 8-0 against the Rangers - including three wins in 15 days. He even had an assist on Connolly’s first.

Matt Carle added a goal for the Lightning, who outscored the Rangers 15-7 in the three games - including 11 goals at Madison Square Garden.

Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast and St. Louis scored for the Rangers, who had won four of five. Lundqvist struggled and could only come up with 15 saves.