Kessel lifts Penguins in overtime
Phil Kessel celebrated the 800th game of his career in style, scoring twice, including the winner 3:15 into overtime to lead the Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the suddenly scuffling Columbus Blue Jackets last night in Pittsburgh.
Nick Bonino added his eighth for Pittsburgh and Patric Hornqvist scored his fifth goal in his last five games. Matt Murray stopped 28 shots as Pittsburgh drew within two points of second-place Columbus in the taut Metropolitan Division race.
Cam Atkinson capped a third-period rally with his 25th of the season for Columbus. Brandon Dubinsky and Alexander Wennberg also scored for the Blue Jackets. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 29 saves for Columbus, which is just 7-7-1 since going unbeaten (14-0-0) in December.
Red Wings 5, Islanders 4 — Danny DeKeyser scored with 27.9 remaining in regulation, lifting host Detroit to a win over New York.
DeKeyser’s shot from the left side of the left circle caromed off two Islanders defensemen, Nick Leddy and Thomas Hickey, and into the net.
Detroit had a one-goal lead for 20 minutes before Jason Chimera made it 4-4 with 2:26 left in the third period. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill challenged that Chimera was offside, but the goal that he chipped in between the post and Petr Mrazek stood off Darren Helm’s turnover.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin officially urged the Islanders to consider moving to Connecticut’s capital city.
The Democrats sent a letter to the team’s management, offering Hartford’s XL Center as an option for its interim use.
Hurricanes 2, Oilers 1 — Sebastian Aho scored the goahead goal early in the third period, lifting Carolina past Edmonton in Raleigh, N.C. Jordan Staal had a goal in the first period for Carolina. Connor McDavid scored the Oilers’ only goal, tying the game in the second period.
Carolina’s Cam Ward, who grew up in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, Alberta, stopped 24 shots.
Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot, who lost for the first time in five appearances against Carolina, had 21 saves.
Flames 4, Devils 3 — Defenseman TJ Brodie had four assists, the last on Mikael Backlund’s winning goal at 1:13 of overtime, and Calgary beat New Jersey in Newark to send the Devils to their seventh straight loss at home.
Sean Monahan, Kris Versteeg and Matt Stajan also scored as the Flames won their third straight game. Brian Elliott made 26 saves.
Adam Henrique, Pavel Zacha and Kyle Palmieri tallied for New Jersey, which battled back from an early 2-0 deficit to take the lead. Cory Schneider had 34 saves.
Panthers 2, Ducks 1 — In Sunrise, Fla., Jonathan Huberdeau scored his first goal of the season to lift Florida over Anaheim.
Reilly Smith also scored for the Panthers, and Aleksander Barkov had an assist in his return to the lineup after missing 15 games due to injury. James Reimer stopped 22 shots.
Huberdeau’s goal during 4-on-4 play with 4:58 left in the second period broke a 1-1 tie. Barkov passed from the left circle across to Huberdeau in the slot and he shot the puck high into the net.
Hampus Lindholm scored for Anaheim, and John Gibson made 35 saves.