PITTSBURGH (AP) — Artemi Panarin had two goals and three assists, and the New York Rangers zoomed past the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 7-4 win on Saturday.
Chris Kreider and K’Andre Miller each had a goal and two assists for the Rangers, who have won four of five to create a sliver of space between themselves and Carolina in the race for first in the Metropolitan Division. Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko also scored.
Jonathan Quick made 34 saves to win for the sixth time in his last seven starts.
Bryan Rust scored his 20th goal of the season for the Penguins. John Ludvig, Lars Eller and Valtteri Puustinen also scored.
Tristan Jarry stopped 17 shots before he was pulled after Miller’s eighth goal of the season gave the Rangers a 6-3 lead 4:41 into the third.
New York is sprinting toward the playoffs behind Panarin, who has seven goals and 17 assists over his last 14 games. His three assists against the Penguins boosted his career total to 500. He has 93 points on the season to become the first player in Rangers history to record at least 90 points three years in a row.
The Penguins have dropped eight of 10.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:
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BRUINS 6 FLYERS 5
BOSTON (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored the tying and go-ahead goals, John Beecher and Jake DeBrusk added insurance markers 19 seconds apart early in the third period, and Boston held off Philadelphia in a wild third period that included seven goals.
Morgan Geekie and Danton Heinen each added a goal for Boston, which moved a point ahead of Florida for the league’s top record with 95 points — one more than the Panthers. Last season, the Bruins set NHL records for wins (65) and points (135), but were eliminated by the Panthers in the opening round of the playoffs.
Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for Boston, which won for the fourth time in five games.
Joel Farabee had two goals and Ryan Poehling, Nick Deslauriers and Morgan Frost each added one for the Flyers, who have lost four of their last six.
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LIGHTNING 5 PANTHERS 3
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored two goals, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 47 shots and Tampa Bay beat Florida.
Darren Raddysh, Michael Eyssimont and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who have won four of five. Vasilevskiy had 16 saves in the second period when Tampa Bay was outshot 18-3.
The Lightning are four points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Sam Reinhart had two goals and Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist as Florida lost its second straight after winning eight of nine. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 11 saves.
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CAPITALS 2 CANUCKS 1
VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 841st career goal and Washington beat Vancouver.
Tom Wilson also scored as the Capitals pulled into a tie with the New York Islanders, one point behind Detroit for the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. Charlie Lindgren finished with 21 saves.
Ovechkin pulled 53 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for first place on the NHL’s career scoring list.
Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who remained atop the Western Conference, one point ahead of Central Division-leading Colorado and Dallas. Casey DeSmith had 22 saves.
Vancouver pulled DeSmith with two minutes left but couldn’t beat Lindgren with the extra skater.
Vancouver got on the board just 1:11 into the game when Quinn Hughes fired a shot from the faceoff circle and Boeser tipped it in through Lindgren’s legs for his team-leading 36th goal of the season.
With an assist on the play, Hughes got his 77th point of the campaign, setting a new career high. The Canucks captain also broke the franchise record for points for a defenceman that he set last year when he had 76.
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PREDATORS 4 KRAKEN 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Roman Josi scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the third period, Filip Forsberg scored his 35th of the season into an empty net with 1:20 left and Nashville extended their points streak to 14 games with a win over Seattle.
The streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history, equalling a 14-game run during the 2015-16 season. Nashville earned points in 15 straight during the 2017-18 season, a stretch during which it went 14-0-1.
The Predators are 12-0-2 during this stretch and strengthened their hold on the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Josi snapped a 1-1 tie when he scored 9 seconds into a Nashville power play at 3:59 of the period. Josi’s second goal came off an offensive zone faceoff and his slap shot from the blue line beat Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer, who was screened on the play.
It was Josi’s second multi-goal game in the last few weeks after he netted a pair in a win over Ottawa that was the sixth game as part of Nashville’s points streak.
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HURRICANES 5 MAPLE LEAFS 4 (SO)
TORONTO (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored in the shootout and Carolina rallied from two goals down late to beat Toronto.
Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist, Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis also scored, and Guentzel and Brent Burns each had two assists for Carolina. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 36 shots.
Burns skated in his 1,400th regular season game, becoming the 42nd player in NHL history to reach the milestone.
John Tavares had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander, Nick Robertson and David Kampf also scored for Toronto. Morgan Rielly had two assists and Ilya Samsonov made 36 saves.
Toronto was without forwards Mitch Marner (high ankle sprain) and Calle Jarnkrok (hand injury). The Hurricanes played without forward Teuvo Teravainen (upper-body injury).
With the Hurricanes trailing 4-2 late in the third period and Kochetkov pulled for an extra skater, Aho scored a power-play goal with 1:32 left. Aho then tied with his 27th goal of the season with 5.8 seconds remaining and the team playing 6-on-5 to force OT.
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AVALANCHE 3 OILERS 2 (OT)
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen scored with one second remaining in overtime and Colorado battled their way to their sixth straight win, beating the Edmonton Oilers.
Nathan MacKinnon sent the puck across to a hard-charging Lehkonen, who scored his 12th of the season. With the assist, MacKinnon extended his points streak to 15 games.
Sean Walker had both goals in regulation for the Avalanche and Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves.
Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick scored for the Oilers, who had won two in a row. Connor McDavid was held without a point, ending his home points scoring streak at 26 games. Stuart Skinner stopped 40 shots.
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SENATORS 4 ISLANDERS 3 (OT)
NEW YORK (AP) — Brady Tkachuk scored on the power play in overtime to complete a hat trick and Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves to help the Ottawa beat the New York Islanders.
Ridly Greig also scored for Ottawa, which won its third straight game after losing seven in a row.
Bo Horvat tied the contest for the Islanders on the power play with 38 seconds left in regulation to send it into overtime. Horvat was called for holding at 3:05 in overtime and Tkachuk scored his team-leading 30th goal with 24 seconds remaining.
Tim Stutzle had three assists and Drake Batherson has two assists for Ottawa.
Matt Martin and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Islanders, who lost a third game in a row after winning six straight to vault into playoff contention.
Semyon Varlamov had 26 saves for the Islanders.
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BLUES 3 WILD 2 (SO)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn scored in the shootout, lifting St. Louis Blues over Minnesota.
Kyrou and Schenn also scored in regulation as St. Louis earned its third straight win. Jordan Binnington made 22 stops in regulation and OT.
The Blues and Wild are fighting for playoff positioning in the Western Conference, looking to chase down Vegas for the final wild card. The Golden Knights play Sunday afternoon against New Jersey.
Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist for Minnesota, which had won five of six. Marco Rossi also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves through overtime.
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RED WINGS 4 SABRES 1
DETROIT (AP) — Patrick Kane scored a tiebreaking goal late in the second period and James Reimer stopped 25 shots, lifting Detroit over Buffalo in a matchup of teams vying for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Detroit earned a desperately needed win after losing seven straight games in regulation for the first time since early in the 2019-20 season. The slump dropped the Red Wings out of a favourable position to end a post-season drought that dates to 2016.
Buffalo had won three straight, including a 7-3 win over Detroit, to improve its chances of rallying into a playoff spot for the first time since 2011.
Tage Thompson had a power-play goal midway through the first period to put Buffalo ahead.
Christian Fischer scored in the second period for Detroit.
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FLAMES 5 CANADIENS 2
CALGARY, Alta. (AP) — Mikael Backlund had two goals and an assist, and Calgary beat Montreal in the first game since coach Martin St. Louis took an indefinite leave because of family reasons.
Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist, helping Calgary to its second straight victory. Martin Pospisil and Daniil Miromanov also scored.
The Flames remained in distant playoff contention with 15 games remaining in their regular season.
Dustin Wolf made 36 saves for his second straight win since Jacob Markstrom was sidelined by a lower-body injury. Markstrom is day to day.
Flames defenceman Mackenzie Weegar had three assists, and winger Jonathan Huberdeau finished with two.
David Savard and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal. Cayden Primeau made 23 saves.
Calgary opened a 5-2 lead with two goals in the first 3:54 of the third period.
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STARS 4 KINGS 1
DALLAS (AP) — Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves to win a matchup of backup goaltenders and defenceman Thomas Harley had a goal and an assist to help lead the Dallas past Los Angeles.
Wedgewood beat the Kings for the second time in eight days. Craig Smith, Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn also scored for the Stars, who took a 3-0 first-period lead and avoided losing a third consecutive game in regulation loss for the first time since April 2022.
Dallas also swept the three-game season series against Los Angeles by a combined 13-3.
David Rittich stopped 25 shots for the Kings, who split a road back-to-back after winning 5-0 at Chicago on Friday night. Rittich entered with a career-best 2.19 goals-against average.
Kevin Fiala had the Kings’ only goal against Wedgewood for the second straight meeting.
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BLUE JACKETS 4 SHARKS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Alex Nylander scored twice and added an assist, Daniil Tarasov stopped 39 shots, and Columbus snapped a three-game losing streak with win over San Jose.
Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, and Boone Jenner added a goal and an assist as Columbus beat the Sharks for the fourth straight time in a game between the two teams in last place in their respective conferences.
Fabian Zetterlund and Henry Thrun scored goals and Magnus Chrona stopped 16 shots for the Sharks, who have lost 12 of their last 13 games and have the NHL’s worst record with just 39 points.
Jenner got Columbus on the board with 2:19 left in the first period, shovelling the puck under Chrona’s pads after a feed from Gaudreau.
Nylander’s score from the right circle made it 2-0 Columbus 49 seconds into the second period. He became the first Blue Jacket to score seven goals in his first 11 games with the team.
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COYOTES 4 DEVILS 1
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Karel Vejmelka stopped 37 shots and Arizona rode a three-goal first period to a victory over New Jersey.
J.J. Moser, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes. Nick Schmaltz assisted on three of the goals. Keller also had an assist on Guenther’s goal, giving him 400 career points. Shane Doan is the only other player to reach that mark during the franchise’s 28 years in Arizona.
Nick DeSimone scored for New Jersey, which has lost six of its last eight games and missed another chance to make up ground in the playoff race. The Devils entered Saturday four points out of the final wild-card spot in the East.
Moser opened the scoring at 9:37 with a wrist shot from between the circles. Guenther’s goal, his 10th of the season, came on the power play after Tomas Nosek was called for tripping. His shot beat Kaapo Kahkonen high on the stick side at 14:02.
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The Associated Press
