COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Boone Jenner scored the go-ahead goal on the power play 6:42 into the third period, helping the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
Zachary Aston-Reese and James van Riemsdyk also scored for the Blue Jackets, who trailed 2-0 and ended the surging Sabres’ five-game winning streak.
With the game tied at 2, Jenner put a wrist shot past James Reimer to put Columbus up for the first time off assists from Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko.
Jet Greaves stopped 39 shots for Columbus.
Rasmus Dahlin and John-Jason Peterka each had goals for the Sabres. Reimer finished with 27 saves.
PANTHERS 4, RED WINGS 1
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brad Marchand got his first Florida goal to cap a three-goal second period, and the Panthers rallied to beat Detroit for their second consecutive win.
Mackie Samoskevich and Evan Rodrigues also scored in the second, and Aleksander Barkov scored with 5:57 left for the Panthers — getting to 20 goals for the 10th consecutive season.
Alex DeBrincat scored for Detroit, which fell to 6-13-1 in its last 20 games.
The win was the 915th regular-season victory for Panthers coach Paul Maurice, breaking a tie with Barry Trotz for outright possession of third place on the NHL list.
BLACKHAWKS 5, BRUINS 2
BOSTON (AP) — Nick Foligno scored a pair of goals, Arvid Soderblom made 31 saves and Chicago beat Boston.
Ryan Donato, Tyler Bertuzzi and Kevin Korchinski also had goals for the Blackhawks, who scored four goals in third period to pull away. Folignosa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ second goal was an empty-netter.
David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie had a goal and an assist each for the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman made 16 saves. Boston has lost 13 of its last 15 games and is in last place in the Eastern Conference.
Bruins forward Riley Duran played in his first NHL game. A native of the Boston suburb of Woburn, he has 12 goals and four assists in 58 games this season for Bostonsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ AHL affiliate in Providence.
RANGERS 9, ISLANDERS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Artemi Panarin and Brett Berard each scored twice and the New York Rangers trounced the New York Islanders for their third straight victory.
Mika Zibanejad, Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck, Juuso Parssinen and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal and an assist, Adam Fox had three assists and J.T. Miller and Sam Carrick each added two assists. Igor Shesterkin made 44 saves.
Marcus Hogberg made 21 saves before being replaced by Tristan Lennox, who made his NHL debut after Berard gave the Rangers a 6-1 lead at 7:54 of the third period. Lennox played 4:43 and made one save before Islanders coach Patrick Roy reinserted Hogberg following Berardsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ second goal at 12:37.
The Rangers took control early, scoring four goals in the first period, capped by Panarinsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ 36th of the season.
Parssinen, acquired in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche in March, had his first goal with the team.
CAPITALS 5, HURRICANES 4, OT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson scored his career-best 33rd goal of the season and Washington wrapped up the top spot in the Eastern Conference by beating Carolina.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the shootout winner after the Capitals rallied from a 2-0 deficit, then blew a 4-2 lead with Carolinasa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis scoring in the third period to tie it. That came after Washingtonsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ scoring spree in the second, with Dylan Strome, Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson all putting goals past Frederik Andersen.
Alex Ovechkin assisted on Stromesa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ goal, his 26th of the season, after getting being in a pregame ceremony for scoring his 895th career goal to break Wayne Gretzkysa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ NHL record on Sunday at the New York Islanders.
Dubois also scored in regulation, while Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves and stayed in the game after a nasty collision seven minutes in on Carolinasa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ second goal.
The Hurricanes, who are locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division and a first-round matchup against New Jersey, got to overtime but lost their fourth in a row. Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake also scored, and Andersen allowed four goals on 28 shots in regulation.
Brandon Duhaime and Jalen Chatfield dropped the gloves early to settle a score from the teams’ game last week. The Capitals were unhappy with Chatfieldsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ takedown of Connor McMichael at the end of their fight.
JETS 4, STARS 0
DALLAS (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots for his single-season franchise record 45th win and NHL-leading eighth shutout, and Winnipeg moved closer to the top seed in the Western Conference with a win over second-place Dallas.
Kyle Connor scored twice in the third period to get to 40 goals for the Jets, who are 54-21-4 for 112 points, and need only one more point over their final three games to be the No. 1 seed for the first time. Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron also scored.
Dallas (50-23-6, 106 points), which has three games remaining, is 0-2-2 its last four. But later Thursday guaranteed the Stars one of the top two seeds and home-ice advantage to start the playoffs.
Hellebuyck had tied his own franchise record with his on Monday, and extended it with 45th career shutout. He is in position to be the first goalie since Bob Froese for Philadelphia in 1986 to finish the season as the league leader in wins, goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts.
CANUCKS 4, AVALANCHE 1
DENVER (AP) — Kiefer Sherwood and Dakota Joshua had a goal and an assist, Kevin Lankinen stopped 31 shots and Vancouver beat Colorado as the Avalanche gave leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon the game off to rest and heal for the postseason.
Jake DeBrusk also scored for the Canucks, who’ve been eliminated from postseason contention. Nils Hoglander added an empty-net goal with 1:58 remaining.
Devon Toews had a goal and Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves for the Avalanche in their final home game of the regular season. Colorado will enter the postseason as the Central Divisionsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ No. 3 seed and open a first-round series on the road.
By sitting out, MacKinnonsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ streak of 209 straight games was halted. He might not play in the final two regular-season games, either. MacKinnon is tied with Tampa Baysa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Nikita Kucherov for the league lead with 116 points.
Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog began a minor league conditioning assignment with the Colorado Eagles and could suit up with the Eagles this weekend.
PREDATORS 4, UTAH 3
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Filip Forsberg beat Karel Vejmelka with a backhander for the lone shootout goal in Nashville's victory over Utah.
Forsberg, Nick Blankenburg and Ryan O’Reilly scored in regulation, and Juuse Saros made 39 saves and turned aside all three Utah attempts in the tiebreaker.
Nick Bjugstad, Josh Doan and Dylan Guenther scored for Utah — eliminated from playoff contention Wednesday night — in its home finale in its first season in Salt Lake City. Vejmelka stopped 28 shots.
Utah failed to score on an overtime power play after Fedor Svechkov was sent off for hooking Mikhail Sergachev midway through the extra period.
Guenther tied it at 3 with at 5:42 of the third period with his 27th goal of the season.
Nashville scored power-play goals late in the second and early in the third to tie it. With Utahsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Logan Cooley off for tripping, Blankenburg pulled the Predators within one with a long wrist shot with 3:39 to go in the second.
Forsberg then drew a hooking penalty on Sean Durzi with a second left in the period, and tied it with his team-leading 31st at 1:19 of the third. O’Reilly gave Nashville a 3-2 lead at 3:17 with the Predators’ third goal in a 5:56 span.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2, KRAKEN 1
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson scored for Vegas who took another step toward clinching the Pacific Division with a victory over Seattle.
The Golden Knights would have secured the division, but Los Angeles remained alive with a 6-1 win over Anaheim. Vegas has a six-point lead with three games remaining; the Kings have four games left. A regulation victory by the Golden Knights or regulation loss by the Kings over that span will give Vegas the division and home-ice advantage through at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Against Seattle, Adin Hill made 24 saves.
The Kraken scored on a wacky sequence when Jordan Eberle hit the left post and chased after his rebound. As he slid into the net, teammate Jared McCann knocked in the puck while standing at the right post. Joey Daccord had 23 saves.
KINGS 6, DUCKS 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Fiala scored two of Los Angeles’ three power-play goals, and captain Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield had a goal and an assist apiece in its victory over Anaheim.
Alex Laferriere and Jordan Spence also scored for the playoff-bound Kings, who have won five of six after dominating the final Freeway Faceoff of the season.
Second-place Los Angeles is four points ahead of third-place Edmonton with four games left in the race for home ice in what will probably be the fourth consecutive first-round meeting for the Pacific Division clubs.
Andrei Kuzmenko and Adrian Kempe had three assists apiece, and Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves.
Cutter Gauthier scored his fifth goal in three games for the Ducks, who are wrapping up their seventh consecutive non-playoff season, the longest drought in either Southern California teamsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ history. Lukas Dostal stopped 23 shots.
Byfield scored his 21st goal just 84 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Gauthier got the 20th goal of his promising rookie season early in the second, but Kopitar put Los Angeles back ahead three minutes later with his own 20th goal.
