ATKINSON’S HAT TRICK LIFTS JACKETS OVER THE FLYERS

Cam Atkinson PHILADELPHIA scored a hat trick to lead the surging Blue Jackets to their sixth straight victory, 5- 3 over the Flyers on Thursday night.

Oliver Bjorkstand and Boone Jenner also scored for the Blue Jackets, who tied Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Claude Giroux, Andrew MacDonald and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the slumping Flyers, who dropped their seventh in the last eight games. Philadelphia and Columbus are one point ahead of idle New Jersey, which holds a wild- card spot.

If the playoffs began on Friday, the Flyers would finish third in the division based on tiebreakers while the Blue Jackets would get the first wild card. Both teams have 11 games remaining.

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves, including some big stops early in the third.

THURSDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

T. J. Oshie scored twice, Dmitry Orlov and Nicklas Backstrom each had a goal and two assists, and the first- place Capitals beat the Islanders 7- 3. Andrei Burakovsky added a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller and John Carlson also scored to help Washington improve to 10- 4- 3 in its last 17 games against the Islanders. … James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to lead the Maple Leafs to a 5- 2 win over the Sabres. Connor Carrick, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Maple Leafs, and Curtis McElhinney stopped 38 shots. … Patric Hornqvist’s second goal of the game gave Pittsburgh the lead in the third period, and the Penguins went on to beat the Canadiens 5- 3. Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh, which remain tied with Washington in points atop the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals, however, currently hold the tiebreaker with two games in hand. … James Reimer tied a season high with 46 saves to lead the Panthers over the Bruins 3- 0. Making his first start in six games, Reimer earned his third shutout of the season. Nick Bjugstad had a goal and an assist, and Vincent Trocheck and Aaron Ekblad also scored. Evgenii Dadonov added two assists. … Kyle Connor scored two goals to help the Jets rout the

Blackhawks 6- 2.

FOOTNOTES Predators’ Jarnkrok out for

season. The Predators say forward Calle Jarnkrok will miss the rest of the regular season with an upper- body injury.