Sidney Crosby scored in overtime as the streaking Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded after blowing a three-goal lead to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Thursday and clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Penguins have won eight games in a row and 14 of their past 15 to vault into second place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals have lost three consecutive games for the first time all season and have dropped four of their past five.
Photo: Geoff Burke, USA Today
Matt Cullen scored twice and Matt Murray stopped 27 shots for the Penguins, who have thrived since losing star center Evgeni Malkin to an upper-body injury. Conor Sheary also scored for Pittsburgh.
Marcus Johansson had two goals and Andre Burakovsky one for Washington.
Braden Holtby made 31 saves, but failed in his second attempt to tie Martin Brodeur’s single-season record of 48 wins.
STARS 4, AVALANCHE 2
In Dallas, Jason Dickinson scored in his first NHL game as Dallas beat Colorado to move closer to the Central Division and Western Conference titles.
With one game remaining for each team, the Stars and St Louis are tied with 107 points, but Dallas hold the tiebreaker. Dallas host Nashville and St Louis host Washington today.
Dickinson was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League earlier on Thursday because of injuries to Stars forwards, including 30-goal scorers Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza. The game was scoreless until Dickinson backhanded a shot past Calvin Pickard from short range at 15 minutes, 13 seconds of the first period.
Colton Sceviour and Jordie Benn scored on a power play in the second period, before Antoine Roussel added an empty-net goal with 3:06 remaining for the Stars.
Francois Beauchemin and Shawn Matthias scored for Colorado in the third period.
BLUES 2, BLACKHAWKS 1, OT
In Chicago, Vladimir Tarasenko scored his second goal of the game at 3:37 of overtime as St Louis cooled off Chicago in a possible playoff preview.
Tarasenko also tied it with 1:16 left in regulation with a laser from the left circle on a rebound attempt off a shot from Kevin Shattenkirk.
His team-best 39th goal was an easy one, with Alex Pietrangelo making a nice pass to set up an open net for the winner.
St Louis won for the eighth time in nine games to remain tied with Dallas for the Central Division lead.
Jonathan Toews scored for Chicago.
BRUINS 5, RED WINGS 2
In Boston, Torey Krug had a goal and two assists, while Brad Marchand and Loui Eriksson each added a goal and assist as Boston beat Detroit to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Tuukka Rask had 13 saves, while David Pastrnak and Lee Stempniak also scored to help Boston tie Detroit for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Alexey Marchenko and Andreas Athanasiou scored for Detroit.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, FLYERS 3, OT
In Philadelphia, Jake Gardiner scored a power-play goal at 2:51 of overtime to lift Toronto past Philadelphia.
The Flyers fell a point behind Boston and Detroit for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, but Philadelphia can secure a playoff berth by winning their final two games.
The Bruins and Red Wings each have one game left and one of them is guaranteed a playoff berth that goes to the third-placed team in the Atlantic Division.
Wayne Simmonds scored the tying goal for the Flyers with 58 seconds left with goalie Steve Mason pulled for the extra skater.
With Andrew MacDonald in the penalty box for tripping, Gardiner ripped a slap-shot past Mason to win it for the Leafs.
William Nylander, Colin Greening and Michael Grabner also scored for Toronto, while Jonathan Bernier made 41 saves.
Brayden Schenn and MacDonald also scored for the Flyers.
LIGHTNING 4, DEVILS 2
In Newark, New Jersey, Jonathan Drouin scored the winning goal in his second-chance return to the NHL as Tampa Bay beat New Jersey to clinch home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
Eric Condra and Cedric Paquette also scored, while Ben Bishop made 20 saves as the injury-plagued Lightning snapped a two-game losing streak and won for only the third time in seven games.
Valtteri Filppula scored an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Sergey Kalinin scored twice for the Devils.
As much as they wanted home-ice advantage, the story for the Lightning was Drouin. The third pick overall in the 2013 draft walked away from the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse in January after they refused to trade him.
Tampa Bay suspended him and he did not return to the minors until asking general manager Steve Yzerman for a second chance. Drouin returned on March 7 and had nine goals in a 10-game span.
With Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan out, the Lightning recalled the 21-year-old Drouin on Thursday and it paid off.
Thursday’s other results:
‧ Islanders 4, Rangers 1
‧ Predators 3, Coyotes 2, OT
‧ Canadiens 4, Hurricanes 2
‧ Flames 7, Canucks 3
‧ Senators 3, Panthers 1
‧ Kings 2, Ducks 1
‧ Jets 5, Sharks 4
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