Lightning tops Devils in scorefest

Oilers beat Columbus on road; St. Louis edges Minnesota late

NEWARK, N.J. — Tyler Johnson scored 1:16 into overtime as the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the New Jersey Devils 7-6 on Wednesday night, avoiding its first three-game losing streak since March 2018.

Ondrej Palat scored twice for the banged-up Lightning, which surrendered a tying goal to Kyle Palmieri in the waning seconds. Alex Killorn, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Mathieu Joseph also scored, and Curtis McElhiney made 36 saves.

Palmieri scored three goals and Jesper Bratt had two for the Devils. Sami Vatanen scored early in the third period for a 5-3 lead and Cory Schneider had 16 saves.

Johnson’s fourth of the season came from the inside of the right circle.

It looked as if Tampa Bay was headed for a win in regulation when Palat broke a 5-all tie on a turnaround shot from the right circle with 3:57 left.

But Palmieri forced overtime by scoring on a rebound with 7.4 seconds to play. It was his first hat trick with New Jersey and the second of his career.

Palmieri, Bratt and Vatanen scored three straight goals to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead in the opening minute of the third period.

OILERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1: In Columbus, Ohio, Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist, powering Edmonton to the road win.

James Neal and Jujhar Khaira also scored for the Oilers, who had dropped two in a row. Mike Smith stopped 23 shots.

Draisaitl’s second goal, his team-leading 12th of the season, chased Joonas Korpisalo, who had his second lackluster outing in a row. He allowed four goals on Edmonton’s first 12 shots before he was replaced by Elvis Merlikins, who finished with 19 saves.

Zach Werenski scored for the Blue Jackets in their second consecutive loss.

BLUES 2, WILD 1: In St. Louis, Jordan Binnington made 35 saves and Alex Pietrangelo snapped a tie in the third period, sending the Blues to the victory.

Sammy Blais also scored for St. Louis, which won for the fourth time in five games. It was the first game for the Stanley Cup champions since star forward Vladimir Tarasenko had reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder.

Binnington was busy all night, facing 12 shots in every period. He improved to 6-2-3 this season.

Mats Zuccarello scored for the Wild, which dropped to 1-8-0 on the road. Devan Dubnyk made 24 stops.