Johnson’s overtime goal sends Lightning past Devils

NEWARK, N.J. >> Tyler Johnson scored

1:16 into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the New Jersey Devils 7-6 on Wednesday night, avoiding their first threegame losing streak since late March

2018.

Ondrej Palat scored twice for the banged-up Lightning, who 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.

OILERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1 >> 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 teamleading 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.

Longtime NHL executive Jim Gregory dies at 83

Jim Gregory, the Hockey Hall of Famer and popular longtime NHL executive best known for being one of the first to start bringing European players to North America, has died. He was 83.

The league said Gregory died Wednesday at his home in Toronto. A cause of death was not disclosed.

Gregory spent a decade as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the late 1960s until the late 1970s and was one of the first to import European players, most notably Swede Borje Salming. He spent almost 40 years with the NHL as director of central scouting, executive director of hockey operations and senior vice president of hockey operations and supervision.