Eichel converts penalty, Sabres rally past Oilers

BUFFALO, N.Y. » Jack Eichel scored on a penalty shot 1:09 into overtime and the Buffalo Sabres rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Eichel was awarded the penalty shot after Edmonton’s Oscar Klefbom interfered with the Sabres’ captain as he attempted to break in alone across the Oilers’ blue line. Eichel couldn’t get a shot off on the delayed penalty, and Oilers goalie Mike Smith made an acrobatic save to prevent Sam Reinhart from scoring from the lower right circle.

Eichel then scored when he drove in on net from the left wing and snapped a shot inside the far post.

Reinhart and Curtis Lazar also scored for Buffalo, and Linus Ullmark stopped 25 shots.

Riley Sheahan and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers. Smith stopped 23 shots and dropped to 0-4-1 in his past seven appearances.

The Sabres snapped a four-game skid and improved to 2-6-1 in their past nine.

BLUE JACKETS 2, BRUINS 1, OT » Pierre-Luc Dubois scored 52 seconds into overtime, Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 shots and Columbus beat Boston.

Sonny Milano also scored for the Blue Jackets, tying the game two minutes into the third period. Dubois won it by finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with Seth Jones.

David Pastrnak scored his 30th goal of the season for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 31 saves as the Bruins lost in overtime or a shootout for the third time in four games.

Columbus seemed to score in the first 17 seconds when Gustav Nyquist beat Rask, but the replay showed goaltender interference and the goal was waved off. Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, who was fined $20,000 by the NHL for criticizing the officials after Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, held his temper.

LIGHTNING 2, CANADIENS 1 » Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 38 shots and Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to five games with a win over Montreal.

Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning (22-13-4). Vasilevskiy improved to 10-1-2 all-time against Montreal.

Defenseman Jeff Petry scored for the Canadiens (18-17-6), who have lost four games in a row. Carey Price made 21 saves in Montreal’s first home game after a seven-game trip.

Tampa Bay improved to 15-2-0 against Atlantic-division opponents this season.

All the scoring came in the first period.

DEVILS 2, ISLANDERS 1 » Nico Hischier scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 29 shots, and New Jersey beat the Islanders.

P.K. Subban also scored to help the Devils win their third straight and improve to 6-2-1 in their last nine games.

Brock Nelson scored for New York and Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves as the Islanders lost their fourth straight at Nassau Coliseum.

Hischier extended his point streak to three games when he scored the go-ahead goal at 1:09 of the third. PANTHERS 6, SENATORS 3 » Frank Vatrano scored the deciding goal as part of Florida’s four-goal outburst in the second period.

Evgenii Dadonov scored his second power-play goal of the game to tie it at 2-all for Florida (21-14-5), and 89 seconds later Noel Acciari gave the Panthers the lead. Vatrano and Colton Sceviour scored 44 seconds apart in the final minute of the second period to put the game out of reach. Jonathan Huberdeau added an empty-net goal in the third to round out the scoring for Florida.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves and earned his first road win since Oct. 30.

Tyler Ennis and Chris Tierney scored in the first period to give Ottawa (1620-5) a 2-1 lead heading into the first break. Connor Brown scored in the third. Craig Anderson stopped 25 shots for the Senators. MAPLE LEAFS 6, JETS 3 » William Nylander had two goals and an assist as Toronto beat Winnipeg to extend its point streak to nine games.

Kasperi Kapanen had a goal and assist, and Travis Dermott, Pierre Engvall and Mitch Marner also scored for the Leafs, who are 8-0-1 during their streak. Frederik Andersen stopped 45 shots.

Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, and Patrik Laine also scored. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 12 of 17 shots for the Jets before being replaced by Laurent Brossoit, who made 10 saves on 11 shots in the third period.

The Jets have one win in their last five games (1-3-1) and have lost five straight (0-4-1) at home.

COYOTES 4, DUCKS 2 » Christian Dvorak triggered a three-goal third period by scoring in the opening minute, Antti Raanta stopped 27 shots and Arizona rallied past Anaheim.

Lawson Crouse scored in the first period, but Arizona went into the third trailing 2-1.

The Coyotes came out of the locker room buzzing to start the third period and cashed in on Dvorak’s goal. Brad Richardson followed with his second goal and Carl Soderberg had his 12th a minute later.

FLAMES 4, RANGERS 3 » Johnny Gaudreau opened the scoring and then set up the winning goal midway through the second period as Calgary snapped a five-game losing streak at home with a victory over New York.

Less than three minutes after New York tied it 3-all, Sean Monahan gave the Flames their third lead at 8:22 of the second when he neatly finished off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing sequence.

Mikael Backlund and Derek Ryan also scored for Calgary (21-17-5), which got a short-handed goal while the Rangers were on a 5-on-3 advantage.