Erik Karlsson scored from the top of the slot at 1:40 of overtime Thursday as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the visiting Detroit Red Wings 6-5 to move into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Sidney Crosby had a legacy night for the Penguins, moving past Phil Esposito into 10th on the NHL’s all-time scoring with 1,591 points. Crosby finished with a goal and two assists, reaching 1,000 assists in his career.
Bryan Rust added a goal and two assists and Drew O’Connor, Kris Letang and Jeff Carter also scored for the Penguins, who have a 10-game point streak (7-0-3). Pittsburgh goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves.
Lucas Raymond had a hat trick and an assist, Dylan Larkin contributed a goal and two assists and Jeff Petry scored for the Red Wings. Detroit goaltender Alex Lyon made 21 saves, and Alex DeBrincat notched three assists.
Kings 4, Flames 1
Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals and Los Angeles clinched a playoff berth for the third straight season with a win against visiting Calgary.
Kevin Fiala and Akil Thomas also scored, Anze Kopitar had two assists and Cam Talbot made 23 saves for the Kings, who won their fourth game in the past five to take a three-point lead over the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored and Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves for the Flames, who have lost nine of their past 11 games.
Islanders 3, Canadiens 2 (OT)
Kyle Palmieri scored 1:17 into overtime for New York, which overcame a pair of one-goal deficits and moved closer to clinching a playoff berth with a win over Montreal in Elmont, N.Y.
Pierre Engvall scored a tying goal in the second and Casey Cizikas scored in the third for the Islanders, who have won six straight and are three points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins in both the race for third place in the Metropolitan Division and the second Eastern Conference wild card.
The Islanders are four points ahead of the Red Wings, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, who are tied for ninth place in the East. Jordan Harris and Cole Caufield scored for the Canadiens, who have lost four of five (1-4-0). Sam Montembeault recorded 28 saves.
Flyers 4, Rangers 1
Travis Konecny scored and added an assist as visiting Philadelphia never trailed and snapped an eight-game losing streak with a victory over New York.
Konecny helped the Flyers get their first win since beating the Boston Bruins on March 23. Philadelphia also moved to within one point in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Cam York scored in the first period and Bobby Brink netted the tiebreaking goal off a fortuitous bounce 3:29 into the second. New York star Artemi Panarin scored a five-on-three power-play goal to extend his points streak to 11 games. Panarin also raised his points total to 117 — six behind Jaromir Jagr’s 2005-06 team record.
Jets 3, Stars 0
Laurent Brossoit made 24 saves for his third shutout of the season as visiting Winnipeg held off Dallas for its fifth consecutive victory.
The loss delayed the Stars’ attempt at capturing the Central Division. A win by Dallas would have clinched the title. Instead, the Jets prevailed and moved ahead of the Avalanche for second in the Central. Both Winnipeg and Colorado are 49-24-6 for 104 points, but the Jets hold the regulation-wins tiebreaker.
Nikolaj Ehlers, David Gustafsson and Mark Scheifele scored for Winnipeg. Mason Appleton provided two assists.
Devils 6, Maple Leafs 5
Jesper Bratt scored his second goal of the third period at 18:46 and visiting New Jersey survived two goals from Auston Matthews to earn a win over host Toronto.
Bratt and Timo Meier each finished with two goals and an assist for the Devils, who were 1-4-1 in their previous six games.
Matthews extended his goal streak to seven games with his league-leading 67th and 68th goals of the season. He passed Dave Keon for third on the all-time Maple Leafs goals list with 367.
Panthers 4, Blue Jackets 0
Sam Reinhart scored his 54th goal — second most in the NHL this season — as host Florida defeated Columbus in Sunrise, Fla.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves as the Panthers shut out their second straight opponent. Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored and Oliver Ekman-Larsson added two assists in the win.
The Panthers have already clinched a playoff berth. They are one point behind the first-place Boston Bruins, who were idle, in the Atlantic Division. Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves, a 23-year-old rookie making just his seventh NHL start, produced 42 saves.
Sabres 4, Capitals 2
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves and Buffalo beat visiting Washington.
The Capitals trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by one point for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference after the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 in overtime late Thursday.
Alex Tuch scored his 22nd goal of the season for the Sabres, who had lost two straight and have been eliminated from playoff contention. Jordan Greenway and Henri Jokiharju each had two assists.
Senators 3, Lightning 2 (SO)
Brady Tkachuk scored the only goal in a shootout, Anton Forsberg made two crucial saves and Ottawa beat host Tampa Bay.
Tkachuk, who notched his team-leading 35th goal and an assist in regulation for the Senators, beat Lightning goalie Matt Tomkins (25 saves) with a backhander in the bottom of the first round during the backup netminder’s first career shootout.
The Lightning got a goal and an assist from Point and Conor Sheary. Tampa Bay is 11-2-2 in the past 15 games.
Sharks 3, Kraken 1
Rookie goaltender Devin Cooley made 49 saves as San Jose spoiled Seattle’s final home game of the season.
Luke Kunin, Kyle Burroughs and Fabian Zetterlund scored and William Eklund had two assists for San Jose, which is in last place in the NHL’s overall standings.
Brian Dumoulin scored for Seattle and Joey Daccord, making his first start since March 30 after an undisclosed injury, stopped 20 of 23 shots. The Kraken, who will play their final four regular-season games on the road, had a two-game winning streak snapped.
–Field Level Media
