Kyle Okposo scored three of his four goals in the third period to complete his first NHL hat-trick as the New York Islanders jumped back into first place in the Eastern Conference with a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
Ryan Strome and Michael Grabner also scored, while John Tavares and Josh Bailey both had three assists for the Islanders.
The Penguins seemed poised to overtake the Islanders atop the Metropolitan Division and tie Tampa Bay for the top spot in the East, but they failed to hold leads of 2-0 and 3-2.
Photo: AFP
Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby scored twice and assisted on David Perron’s power-play goal.
Jaroslav Halak made 21 saves for the Islanders and outdueled fellow NHL All-Star Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 29 shots and heard taunting chants of his name after each goal allowed.
JETS 4, BLACKHAWKS 2
Bryan Little and Chris Thorburn scored 28 seconds apart midway through the third period to snap a tie for Winnipeg to win its third straight.
Zach Bogosian and Andrew Ladd each had a goal and an assist for the Jets, who — along with rookie goalie Michael Hutchinson — beat the Blackhawks for the third time this season, all in Chicago.
Hutchinson made 31 saves. In his previous two wins against the Blackhawks, he stopped 71 of 72 shots.
Chicago rookie Teuvo Teravainen scored his first NHL goal, while Brandon Saad also scored and Corey Crawford finished with 31 saves.
Jets forward Mathieu Perreault left the ice gingerly with 9.4 seconds left in the second period after being cross-checked across the back by Chicago’s Daniel Carcillo, and did not return.
DUCKS 5, DEVILS 1
Hampus Lindholm and Jacob Silfverberg scored 1:52 apart to break open a tie game, while Corey Perry scored his team-high 19th goal to lead Anaheim.
Patrick Maroon and Silfverberg scored in the final 3:33, helping the Ducks remain tied with Nashville atop the overall NHL standings following the Predators’ 4-3 win over Washington.
Ilya Bryzgalov faced only 15 shots while earning his first victory in three starts since returning to the Ducks on Dec. 9 as a free agent. He was the backup to Jean-Sebastien Giguere during Anaheim’s 2007 Stanley Cup championship season.
Playing their second straight game without Jaromir Jagr and Tuomo Ruutu, both of whom were back home with the flu, the Devils got their only goal from Martin Havlat.
CANUCKS 3, HURRICANES 0
Ryan Miller stopped 27 shots in his second straight shutout as the Vancouver Canucks beat Carolina.
Derek Dorsett, Shawn Matthias and Alexandre Burrows scored the Canucks’ three goals in a span of 10 minutes, 31 seconds of the second period.
Kevin Bieksa had two assists for Vancouver, which has followed a three-game losing streak with back-to-back shutouts on the road.
Miller, who beat Philadelphia 4-0 on Thursday night, earned his fifth shutout of the season and 34th of his career.
Cam Ward made 10 saves in two periods for the Hurricanes, but allowed three goals and was replaced by Anton Khudobin, who made four stops in the third.
In other results, it was:
‧ Predators 4, Capitals 3
‧ Rangers 2, Blue Jackets 1
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