Lee Stempniak's power-play goal 25 seconds into overtime gave the St. Louis Blues a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night in Ryan Smyth's debut on Long Island.
Stempniak had an open shot from the left circle off a pass from Eric Brewer and beat Rick DiPietro to the far corner to give the Blues their sixth win in seven games (6-1-0).
The Islanders were cruising to a 2-0 victory with less than 3 minutes left in the game when Jay McClement and Petr Cajanek scored in a 38-second span to force overtime. Curtis Sanford picked up the win by stopping 25 shots.
PHOTO: AP
Smyth, acquired from Edmonton on Tuesday, assisted on Mike Sillinger's first-period goal, and played a key role in Marc-Andre Bergeron's second-period score. After the goal was knocked off its moorings, Smyth used his skate to push it back in place just before Bergeron's shot deflected in.
DiPietro stopped 36 shots.
The overtime point leaves the Islanders in sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Atlanta and one point ahead of Montreal.
Penguins 4, Rangers 3, SO
At New York, Sidney Crosby scored the only goal of the shootout, and Pittsburgh used three special-teams goals in the third period to rally to victory over New York.
Crosby, the last of six shooters, squeezed a shot between Henrik Lundqvist's pads.
Pittsburgh erased a two-goal deficit with back-to-back short-handed goals by NHL leader Jordan Staal and Colby Armstrong, and forced overtime with defenseman Sergei Gonchar's goal with 6 minutes left in regulation.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves in his second straight strong start following a benching. He then turned aside Michael Nylander, Jaromir Jagr and Petr Prucha in the shootout. Nylander and Jagr had both scored in regulation for the Rangers, 2-3-2 in their past seven as they try to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Panthers 2, Stars 1, OT
At Sunrise, Florida, Olli Jokinen scored a power-play goal in overtime to lift Florida past Dallas.
Jokinen's shot from the point beat Mike Smith at 2:11. It was the third consecutive overtime win for the Panthers. The Panthers have been in overtime in five of their past six games.
Jozef Stumpel also scored for Florida. Ed Belfour stopped 33 shots.
Darryl Sydor scored a goal for Dallas and Smith had 33 saves. The loss snapped the Stars' three-game winning streak.
Lightning 5, Capitals 4, SO
At Washington, Nick Tarnasky scored the lone shootout goal in the 10th round, goalie Johan Holmqvist was perfect during the tiebreaker and Tampa Bay opened its longest road trip of the season with a victory over Washington.
Flyers 4, Bruins 3, OT
At Boston, Scottie Upshall scored with 9.9 seconds left in overtime and Philadelphia snapped a five-game losing streak with a win over Boston, which got 51 saves from Tim Thomas.
Avalanche 6, Blackhawks 1
At Chicago, Brad Richardson had a goal and an assist, and Peter Budaj stopped 23 shots in Colorado's victory over Chicago.
Wild 5, Oilers 0
At Edmonton, Alberta, Third-string goalie Josh Harding stopped 30 shots, Pavol Demitra and Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist apiece for Minnesota.
Kings 4, Ducks 3, OT
At Los Angeles, Jamie Lundmark tied the game with 8:49 left in the third period. Michael Cammalleri got the winner on a power play at 3:17 of overtime, giving Los Angeles a victory over Anaheim.
Canucks 4, Coyotes 3
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Canucks captain Markus Naslund scored with 4:14 left in the third period to lift Vancouver over Phoenix.
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