Horvat and Holmstrom lift Islanders over Blackhawks
Bo Horvat and Simon Holmstrom scored in the third period to help the Islanders top the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves for New York, which pulled within one point of Washington for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Jason Dickinson scored for lastplace Chicago, which had won three of four. Connor Bedard had an assist, and Petr Mrazek made 27 stops.
The Blackhawks jumped in front when Bedard found Dickinson darting toward the back post 7:49 into the first period. Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson turned the puck over in the offensive zone and Casey Cizikas failed to stick with Dickinson, which created an odd-man rush opportunity.
It was Dickinson’s 21st goal, extending his career high. It was Bedard’s team-high 37th assist in his rookie season after Chicago selected the 18-year-old center with the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL draft.
Horvat tied it at 1 with his teamhigh 31st goal 1:33 into the third. He buried a feed from Mathew Barzal on the power play. Holmstrom put New York in front at 9:25. He got his 14th goal when he banged home a loose puck.
It was the Islanders’ first win in 10 attempts in the second half of a back-to-back situation. They beat Philadelphia 4-3 in overtime on Monday night.
Islanders forward Matt Martin dropped the gloves with Jarred Tinordi late in the first period after Tinordi delivered a big check on Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
PENGUINS 6, DEVILS 3
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice in Pittsburgh’s five-goal third period and the Penguins kept their playoff hopes alive, rallying for a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
The Devils led 3-1 after two periods on goals by Timo Meier, Curtis Lazar and Jesper Bratt. Crosby and Malkin scored 67 seconds apart early in the third to tie the score.
Rickard Rakell then put Pittsburgh ahead with 3:44 to play with his 13th goal before Malkin scored again 21 seconds later. Crosby made it 6-3 with his team-leading 39th goal at 17:07, an unassisted empty netter.
Erik Karlsson opened the scoring for Pittsburgh at 7:54 of the first before Meier knotted the contest on the power play with 16.6 seconds left in the first, rifling his 25th goal past Alex Nedeljkovic, who had 23 saves.
Lazar’s goal at 9:42 of second put New Jersey ahead before Bratt extended the lead with his 25th goal on a breakaway with at 17:47 of the middle period.
Crosby scored on the power play at 6:48 of the third before Malkin scored at 7:55.
Jake Allen had 15 saves for New Jersey.
Crosby leads the Penguins with 84 points and his 1,586 career points are the most among active players. The 36-year-old center is four points behind Phil Esposito for 10th place on the career list.