Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

[December 16, 2016]  Dec 15 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of National Hockey League games on Thursday:

Rangers 2, Stars 0

New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Dallas Stars goalie Antti Niemi dueled in a 2-0 win for the Rangers at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

Rick Nash scored the game-winning goal on a shorthanded breakaway at 7:08 of the third period. It was Nash's first game back from a groin injury that kept him out of four games.

Lundqvist made 27 saves for New York, while Niemi stopped 28.

Mats Zuccarello scored into the empty net with 1:04 remaining to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

Blackhawks 5, Islanders 4

Richard Panik scored with 6:13 remaining in the third period Thursday night to cap a wild back-and-forth game and lift Chicago over New York at Barclays Center.

Artemi Panarin scored twice for the Blackhawks, who trailed 2-0 less than four minutes into the first period but tied the game 3-3 by the end of the first 20 minutes. Artem Anisimov and Marian Hossa also scored for Chicago.

Andrew Ladd, Casey Cizikas, Ryan Strome and Anders Lee scored for the Islanders, who lost three straight (0-3-0). Thomas Greiss made 27 saves.

Ducks 4, Bruins 3

Rickard Rakell continued his hot streak with a goal and an assist and Anaheim rallied from a two-goal, first-period deficit and defeated Boston.

Andrew Cogliano, Kevin Bieksa and Josh Manson also scored for the Ducks, while Zdeno Chara, Austin Czarnik and David Krejci scored for the Bruins.

Jonathan Bernier made 31 saves for the Ducks.

Kings 4, Red Wings 1

Tyler Toffoli recorded two goals and an assist to lead Los Angeles over Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.

Derek Forbort and Nic Dowd also scored for the Kings, who snapped a seven-game losing streak in Detroit. Dustin Brown had two assists, and Kings goalie Jeff Zatkoff made 17 saves.

Mike Green scored for the Red Wings and Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots.

Coyotes 3, Maple Leafs 2 (shootout)

Peter Holland scored the only goal of the shootout and Arizona defeated Toronto.

Holland, traded away by the Maple Leafs last Friday, was the final shooter and made no mistake.

Jordan Martinook and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for the Coyotes in regulation.

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner scored for the Maple Leafs.

Blues 5, Devils 2

Vladimir Tarasenko scored one goal and assisted on two more to lead St. Louis to a win over New Jersey.

Jake Allen, making his sixth consecutive start in the last 10 days, raised his career record to 5-0 against the Devils.

Nail Yakupov, Patrik Berglund, Alex Pietrangelo and Jori Lehtera also scored for the Blues.

Adam Henrique and Miles Wood scored for the Devils

Wild 5, Predators 2

Behind another good game from Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota continued its season long six-game winning by topping Nashville.

Dubnyk stopped 34 shots and Eric Staal scored twice and Mikael Granlund, Jonas Brodin and Charlie Coyle one each for the Wild.

Ryan Ellis and Mike Fisher scored for the Predators and Pekka Rinne made 14 saves on 17 shots.

Jets 4, Panthers 3 (shootout)

Winnipeg snapped a four-game losing skid with a shootout win over Florida at the MTS Centre.

Bryan Little, Dustin Byfuglien and Adam Lowry scored for the Jets.

Aleksander Barkov, Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck scored in regulation for the Panthers.

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