ISLANDERS RALLY FOR VICTORY OVER RIVAL RANGERS

new york » Brock Nelson and Nick Leddy scored 2: 24 apart early in the third period, rallying the Islanders to a 3- 1 victory over the crosstown- rival Rangers on Thursday night.

Jaroslav Halak stopped 34 shots to beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the eighth straight time, including five wins with the Islanders. Kyle Okposo added an empty- netter with less than two seconds left.

Marc Staal scored late in the second period for the Rangers and Lundqvist had 29 saves.

THURSDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

Jonathan Toews scored, Corey Crawford made 39 saves and the Blackhawks beat the Canadiens 2- 1 to extend their winning streak to nine games and move Joel Quenneville into sole possession of second place in career coaching victories. Quenneville has 783 wins, one more than Al Arbour but still well behind leader Scotty Bowman’s 1,244. … On the night Alex Ovechkin was honored for his 500th goal, fellow Russian forward Evgeny Kuznetsov had two goals and an assist as the Capitals beat the Canucks 4- 1 for their fifth straight victory. Kuznetsov scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season and set up Tom Wilson on a night the Capitals got a rare goal from defenseman Karl Alzner and 29 saves from Braden Holtby. … Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist as the Hurricanes beat the Blues 4- 1, extending their seasonhigh winning streak to four games. Brett Pesce, Brock McGinn and Riley Nash also scored and Eddie Lack made 23 saves for Carolina. … Blake Wheeler scored an unassisted goal 51 seconds into overtime to give the Jets a 5- 4 victory over the Predators. Dustin Byfuglien scored two goals for Winnipeg, including two of the Jets’ three second- period goals. … Danny DeKeyser scored in overtime and the Red Wings used two third- period, power- play goals to rally and beat the Coyotes 3- 2.