NEW YORK (AP) — T.J. Oshie scored twice, Dmitry Orlov and Nicklas Backstrom each had a goal and two assists, and the first-place Washington Capitals beat the struggling New York Islanders 7-3 Thursday night.
Andrei Burakovsky added a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller and John Carlson also scored to help Washington improve to 10-4-3 in its last 17 games against the Islanders. Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists and Philipp Grubauer finished with 35 saves for his 11th win of the season.
PENGUINS 5, CANADIENS 3
MONTREAL (AP) — Patric Hornqvist’s second goal of the game gave Pittsburgh the lead in the third period, and the Penguins went on to beat Montreal.
Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh, which remain tied with Washington in points atop the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals, however, currently hold the tiebreaker with two games in hand.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, SABRES 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to lead Toronto.
Connor Carrick, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Maple Leafs, and Curtis McElhinney stopped 38 shots.
BLUE JACKETS 5, FLYERS 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cam Atkinson scored a hat trick to lead surging Columbus to its sixth straight victory.
Oliver Bjorkstand and Boone Jenner also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves for the Blue Jackets, who tied Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers currently hold the tiebreaker with one more regulation/overtime win with 11 games remaining for both.
PANTHERS 3, BRUINS 0
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — James Reimer tied a season high with 46 saves to lead Florida past Boston.
Making his first start in six games, Reimer earned his third shutout of the season. Nick Bjugstad had a goal and an assist, and Vincent Trocheck and Aaron Ekblad also scored. Evgenii Dadonov added two assists.
AVALANCHE 4, BLUES 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, Semyon Varlamov stopped 44 shots and Colorado won its third straight to move into the first wild card spot int he Western Conference.
Mikko Rantanen also scored twice to help the Avalanche move a point ahead of idle Dallas — and five ahead of St. Louis. The Avalanche, who won 10 in a row from Dec. 29-Jan. 22, are 6-0-3 in their last eight games.
JETS 6, BLACKHAWKS 2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Kyle Connor scored twice to reach 25 goals this season and Winnipeg rebounded from a quick deficit.
Bryan Little and Jack Roslovic each had a goal and an assist as all four Jets lines produced goals. Joel Armia and Paul Stastny also scored. Connor Hellebuyck turned away 25 shots in his 36th win, increasing his franchise record for goaltenders.
KINGS 4, RED WINGS 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Anze Kopitar broke a third-period tie with a fluke goal and the Los Angeles Kings beat Detroit 4-1 on Thursday night to hand the Red Wings their eighth consecutive defeat.
Los Angeles moved two points in front of idle Anaheim for third place in the Pacific Division. Paul LaDue, Tyler Toffoli and Dustin Brown also scored for the Kings, who are one point behind second-place San Jose.
Jonathan Quick made 20 saves as Los Angeles won for the sixth time in nine games.
Gustav Nyquist scored for Detroit, and Jared Coreau stopped 18 shots.
PREDATORS 3, COYOTES 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kevin Fiala and Kyle Turris each had a goal and assist in the third period, leading the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Ryan Ellis also scored to help the Western Conference-leading Predators get their 21st road win of the season and improve to 12-0-1 in their last 13 games overall. Pekka Rinne finished with 32 saves.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Christian Dvorak scored for Arizona, and Darcy Kuemper — out on Tuesday due to an illness — stopped 26 shots.
