Tippett opened the scoring in the first when he drove wide around Ryker Evans, cut hard and scored on the forehand. It was his 19th goal of the season (36 points; 148 shots). One more, and Tippett will have his third straight 20-goal season.

Poehling, who missed 11 games before the break after taking a dirty hit from Maxim Tsyplakov on Jan. 16, said “the toughest part is it’s not linear in terms of progress.”