Blue Jackets win sixth in row

Atkinson hat trick spurs triumph at Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — Cam Atkinson scored three goals to lead the surging Columbus Blue Jackets to their sixth straight victory, 5-3 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

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 Flyers, who dropped their seventh in the past eight games. Philadelphia and Columbus are one point ahead of idle New Jersey, which holds a wild-card spot.

If the playoffs began 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. He denied Nolan Patrick from close range with a good glove save 1½ minutes into the period and used his pad to stop Sean Couturier a minute later.

Atkinson scored into an empty net with 0.8 seconds left for this third goal.

Most of the scoring happened in the first two periods.

At

St. Louis, Nathan Mackinnon had

Avalanche 4, Blues 1 —

two goals and an assist, and Mikko Rantanen also scored twice to back Semyon Varlamov, who had 44 saves, as Colorado won its third straight and moved into the West’s first wild-card spot.

At Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar scored the goahead goal at 8:22 of the third period and added two assists as Detroit lost its eighth straight. Los Angeles has alternated wins and losses for its past seven games.

At Montreal, Patric Hornqvist’s second goal of the game put Pittsburgh ahead to stay in the third period as the Penguins stayed tied with Washington in points atop the Metropolitan Division.

At Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kyle Connor scored two goals for Winnipeg, and Jack Roslovic and Bryan Little each added a goal and an assist for Winnipeg.

At Sunrise, Fla., James Reimer tied a season high with 46 saves in his third shutout of the season, and Nick Bjugstad had a goal and an assist.

At New York, T.J. Oshie scored twice for Washington, and Dmitry Orlov and Nicklas Backstrom each added a goal and two assists.

At Glendale, Ariz., Kyle Turris had a goal and two assists as Nashville won for the 12th time in its past 13 games.

At Buffalo, N.Y., James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to back Curtis Mcelhinney, who had 38 saves.

Kings 4, Red Wings 1 — Penguins 5, Canadiens 3 — Jets 6, Blackhawks 2 — Panthers 3, Bruins 0 — Capitals 7, Islanders 3 — Predators 3, Coyotes 2 — Maple Leafs 5, Sabres 2 —