Sidney Crosby on Thursday night scored a pair of highlight-reel goals as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied past the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 for their fourth straight victory.
Crosby beat Eddie Lack with a slick backhander in the first and added a redirect from his knees in the second to extend his points streak to 10 consecutive games, as Pittsburgh strengthened their grip on seventh in the crowded Eastern Conference playoff race.
Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist and Nick Bonino picked up his fifth of the year. Rookie Matt Murray shook off a slow start to finish with 31 saves.
Photo: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY
Phillip Di Giuseppe and Riley Nash scored for the Hurricanes.
KINGS 4, RANGERS 3
In Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar scored the tying goal with 4 minutes, 10 seconds to play and tipped home the winner at 1 minute, 34 seconds of overtime, propelling the Los Angeles Kings to victory over the New York Rangers.
Photo: AP
Kopitar deflected a slap shot by Jake Muzzin to end it in dramatic fashion for the Pacific Division-leading Kings, who rallied from a two-goal deficit for their third straight win over a certain playoff team. Los Angeles won after trailing to start the third period for the NHL-best eighth time this season.
After tipping home a shot by Milan Lucic to force overtime, Kopitar got his first multigoal game since his hat-trick against the Rangers last month.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist for the Rangers, who have not won back-to-back games this month.
COYOTES 3, SHARKS 1
In Glendale, Arizona, Shane Doan scored with 1 minute, 31 seconds left and Mike Smith stopped 27 shots in his first home game in nearly four months as the Arizona Coyotes took advantage of two disallowed goals to beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Thursday night.
Smith returned from a 40-game absence due to a core muscle injury with a 44-save shutout of Edmonton on Saturday last week and was sharp again in his first home game since Nov. 27 last year.
He was helped by two San Jose goals that were waved off after official reviews, one for offside and the other for kicking the puck into the goal.
Doan scored his 25th goal of the season by squeezing a shot past Martin Jones from a tough angle. Michael Stone also scored and Antoine Vermette added an empty-net goal.
STARS 4, LIGHTNING 3
In Dallas, Jamie Benn scored two goals to give him a career-best 36 as the Dallas Stars took sole possession of first place in the Western Conference by rallying for victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Benn’s winning goal 11 minutes, 50 seconds into the third period came about 2 minutes after Stephen Johns’ first NHL goal as the Stars dropped the Lightning to 31-2-0 when leading after two periods.
Dallas (93 points) are two points ahead of St Louis atop the West. Both teams have 10 games remaining.
Steven Stamkos had two goals for the Lightning (85 points), who remained in third in the Atlantic Division and fell four points behind division-leading Florida.
PANTHERS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1
In Toronto, Jussi Jokinen scored two unusual goals to help lift the Florida Panthers over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jokinen was not attempting to score on either goal against the Maple Leafs, with two passing attempts pinging off Toronto sticks and beating Jonathan Bernier.
Jaromir Jagr and Teddy Purcell added empty-net goals for the Panthers, who won for the fourth time in five games. Florida are three wins from matching their franchise record of 43.
Morgan Rielly scored for the Leafs, who had a two-game win streak snapped.
DEVILS 7, WILD 4
In Newark, New Jersey, Devante Smith-Pelly, Mike Sislo and Adam Henrique scored two goals apiece as the New Jersey Devils had their best offensive performance of the season in a victory over the Minnesota Wild.
Reid Boucher also scored, Tyler Kennedy added a season-high three assists and Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves as New Jersey snapped a three-game home losing streak.
Nino Niederreiter, Jared Spurgeon, Justin Fontaine and Mikko Koivu scored for the Wild, who squandered a chance to move ahead of Colorado into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
PREDATORS 4, ISLANDERS 2
In Nashville, Tennessee, James Neal and Ryan Johansen each scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Nashville Predators past the New York Islanders.
Ryan Ellis and Austin Watson also scored for Nashville, who have recorded at least one point in the standings in 16 of their past 17 games.
Rookie Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson had the goals for the Islanders, who have lost of four of their past five.
In other results, it was:
‧ Red Wings 3, Blue Jackets 1
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