BLACKHAWKS END 8-GAME SLIDE
Jonathan Toews had a goal and two assists, and the Chicago Blackhawks snapped an eight-game losing streak by topping the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Marcus Kruger, Brent Seabrook, Andreas Martinsen, Brandon Saad each had a goal and an assist for Chicago, which rebounded after blowing 2-0 and 3-2 leads to win for just the second time in 12 contests. Alex DeBrincat scored a power-play goal.
Toews became the 16th active player to reach 700 career points with the same franchise. He assisted on Saad’s empty-netter for his 701st point.
Bryan Rust scored three times for Pittsburgh in his second career hat trick. The 26-year-old forward, who entered with one goal in 29 games this season, missed on several other prime chances.
Corey Crawford made 40 saves for Chicago. DeSmith blocked 23 shots in his sixth straight start and 10th in the last 12 games.
Flames 6, Flyers 5, OT.
Johnny Gaudreau scored 35 seconds into overtime, and the Calgary Flames rallied to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 on Wednesday night.
Calgary trailed 5-3 before Sean Monahan and Rasmus Andersson scored in the final 68 seconds of third period. Gaudreau then secured the Flames’ sixth win in seven games with his 13th goal of the season.
Matthew Tkachuk had four assists for the Flames (20-10-2), who leapfrogged idle Nashville for the top spot in the Western Conference.
Monahan had two goals and an assist, and Gaudreau and Mark Giordano each had a goal and two assists.
Philadelphia (12-13-4) lost for the third time in four games.
Golden Knights 3, Islanders 2.
YORK» Tomas Nosek scored NEW the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and the surging Vegas Golden Knights beat the New York Islanders 3-2.
Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson also scored to help the Golden Knights win for the 10th time in 13 games. MarcAndre Fleury, making his 11th straight start, stopped 23 shots to take over the NHL victory lead with 18.
Anthony Beauvillier and Adam Pelech scored for New York. The Islanders have lost six of eight (2-4-2). Robin Lehner finished with 14 saves to fall to 0-4-2 in his last seven appearances.