Four points by Necas ignite Carolina’s win

Hurricanes slip past first-place Lightning

RALEIGH, N.C. — Martin Necas scored his second goal of the game to break a tie with 3:53 left, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Saturday in a matchup between the Central Division’s top two teams.

Necas, who also had two assists, put the Hurricanes ahead on a power play, with Dougie Hamilton getting an assist to extend his franchise-record point streak for a defenseman to 14 games. That’s the longest active streak in the NHL for any player.

Hurricanes goalie James Reimer had 19 saves. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 36 shots for the first-place Lightning.

■ Panthers 4, Stars 3, OT: At Dallas, Carter Verhaeghe had three goals for Florida, and Aaron Ekblad scored with 9.3 seconds left in overtime after his apparent winner moments earlier was wiped out by replay review.

■ Flames 4, Jets 2: At Calgary, Alberta, Andrew Mangiapane scored the decisive goal 49 seconds into the third period for Calgary, which halted its four-game skid and Winnipeg’s three-game win streak.

■ Red Wings 3, Blue Jackets 1: At Detroit, Adam Erne and Robby Fabbri scored 29 seconds apart in the first period to back Calvin Pickard, who had 21 saves in his first start of the season.

■ Flyers 2, Rangers 1: At Philadelphia, Sam Morin scored his first NHL goal in his 14th game with 4:27 left to put Philadelphia ahead to stay. The Flyers had a 37-25 edge in shots.

■ Bruins 3, Sabres 2: At Boston, Craig Smith scored the go-ahead goal with 3:50 left for Boston, which dealt Buffalo its 17th straight loss. The Sabres twice blew one-goal leads.

■ Coyotes 4, Sharks 0: At Glendale, Ariz., Phil Kessel notched his career seventh hat trick, and Adin Hill had 33 saves in his second shutout and first since Nov. 29, 2018.

■ Penguins 6, Islanders 3: At Pittsburgh, Bryan Rust scored three goals for Pittsburgh, which beat New York for the fifth time in seven meetings this season.

■ Maple Leafs 4, Oilers 3, OT: At Toronto, Auston Matthews scored 54 seconds into overtime after Toronto overcame a two-goal third-period deficit.

■ Predators 3, Blackhawks 1: At Chicago, Luke Kunin had two assists to back Juuse Saros, who had 29 saves in Nashville’s fourth straight win.

Gerry Broome The Associated Press Hurricanes goaltender James Reimer stops a first-period shot by Lightning left wing Pat Maroon in Carolina’s 4-3 victory Saturday night at PNC Arena.