David Clarkson and Patrik Elias scored in a shootout as the New Jersey Devils rallied from a late two-goal deficit to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Thursday night, snapping a season-high six game winless streak.
Elias and Adam Henrique got the Devils to the overtime, scoring in the final 6 minutes 30 seconds, with Elias tying the game on a rebound with 66 seconds left in regulation.
Thomas Vanek and rookie Brian Flynn staked Buffalo to a 2-0 lead, with Vanek tallying his team-high 13th goal of the season on a second-period power play and Flynn getting the first of his career midway through the third period.
Johan Hedberg made 23 saves and stopped both Sabres shootout attempts for New Jersey.
After Ilya Kovalchuk and Vanek missed on the first two shootout attempts, Clarkson made a nifty move to beat Ryan Miller with a backhander.
Capitals 7, Panthers 1
In Washington, John Erskine, Wojtek Wolski, John Carlson and Mike Ribeiro all scored before the game was 8:30 old as the Capitals climbed out of a tie for last in the Eastern Conference.
Florida’s Jacob Markstrom allowed two goals on two shots and was pulled after 3:10 — the fastest yanking of an NHL goalie for something other than an injury in more than a year, according to STATS LLC. Markstrom’s replacement, Scott Clemmensen, did not fare much better, giving up two goals in the first six shots.
Alex Ovechkin had two assists during that early run and added a power-play goal later.
Rangers 2, Islanders 1
In Uniondale, New York, Marian Gaborik scored a power-play goal 42 seconds into overtime. Gaborik took a feed in the high slot from Rick Nash, who got the Rangers even at one with 5:23 left in regulation, and fired in a shot for his eighth of the season and first in nine games.
The Rangers got their third power play of the night — the only advantages for either team — when Michael del Zotto was hauled down as he crashed in on Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov 21 seconds into the extra session.
Gaborik’s goal stretched the Rangers’ winning streak to a season-high four games and ended the Islanders’ winning run at two.
Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves for the win. Nabokov stopped 35 in a tough-luck loss.
Penguins 5, Flyers 4
In Philadelphia, Chris Kunitz scored his second goal just 18 seconds into the third period to cap a four-goal rally. Pascal Dupuis, James Neal and Tyler Kennedy also scored goals for the Atlantic Division-leading Penguins, who won their third straight game.
Jakub Voracek had two power- play goals, Zac Rinaldo and Kimmo Timonen also scored for the Flyers, who blew a 4-1 lead after the first period.
Both starting goalies — Philadelphia’s Ilya Bryzgalov and Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury — were pulled after allowing four goals.
Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2
In Boston, Tyler Seguin had two goals and an assist, while Patrice Bergeron had one of each.
Anton Khudobin stopped 25 shots for Boston, who blew leads in each of their previous two games and lost both.
David Krejci also scored for Boston and Brad Marchand had a pair of assists.
With the win, the Bruins moved three points ahead of Toronto in the Northeast Division, while remaining one point behind first-placed Montreal.
Nazem Kadri and Jay McClement scored for the Leafs, while Ben Scrivens made 21 saves for Toronto.
Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1
In Columbus, Ohio, Matt Calvert carried the puck almost from end to end, twice avoiding opposing players, before skating to the slot and scoring on a rising wrist-shot.
Calvert took a pass from Fedor Tyutin deep in the defensive zone and chipped the puck along the right boards, while twice fighting off defenders.
He then went unimpeded to the right hash, before whipping the puck high over the glove side of goalie Cory Schneider.
Red Wings 3, Oilers 0
In Detroit, Michigan, Jimmy Howard made 22 saves, while Jakub Kindl and Cory Emmerton scored in the second period to lift the Detroit Red Wings over the Edmonton Oilers 3-0.
Justin Abdelkader’s empty-net goal put the game out of reach.
Howard made 36 saves in a win on Tuesday against Colorado, but coach Mike Babcock was not all that impressed with his team’s overall performance that night.
The Red Wings were sharper defensively against Edmonton and took control in the second period, when they outshot the Oilers 15-7.
Detroit are 10-0-1 in their past 11 regular-season games against Edmonton.
In other NHL play, it was:
‧ Canadiens 4, Hurricanes 2
‧ Jets 2, Lightning 1
‧ Blues 6, Coyotes 3
‧ Stars 5, Kings 2
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