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Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

[April 07, 2017] April 6 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's National Hockey League games:

Lightning 4, Maple Leafs 1

Brayden Point scored two goals, Victor Hedman added three assists and the Tampa Bay Lightning staved off elimination from playoff contention with a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Maple Leafs lost their second game in a row and again failed to clinch a first playoff berth in four years.

Nikita Kucherov and Michael Bournival also scored for the Lightning, which still must win its two remaining games to have any chance at reaching the playoffs.

Ondrej Palat added two assists for the Lightning. Nazem Kadri scored for the Maple Leafs.

Jets 5, Blue Jackets 4

Jacob Trouba scored two goals against Columbus and Winnipeg broke a third-period tie to win its sixth straight game.

Bryan Little had one goal and three assists and Mathieu Perreault added a goal and two assists for the surging Jets, who have been eliminated from the playoff race.

Mark Scheifele also scored for Winnipeg, whose winning streak is its longest since the franchise relocated from Atlanta in 2011.

The playoff-bound Blue Jackets lost their fifth straight game and any chance to gain home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs next week against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Senators 2, Bruins 1 (SO)

Ottawa qualified for the playoffs with a tie in regulation and then won the shootout over Boston.

The Senators also ended the Bruins' six-game winning streak and moved a point ahead into second place in the Atlantic Division, with a game in hand heading into the final weekend.

Drew Stafford scored for Boston and Alexandre Burrows answered for Ottawa for the regulation scoring.

Penguins 7, Devils 4

In a game that featured 11 goal scorers and 25 players recording at least one point, Pittsburgh defeated New Jersey to sweep their five-game season series.

The Penguins won their fourth straight contest and clinched second place in the Metropolitan Division.

Nick Bonino had a goal and two assists, while Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Sidney Crosby contributed two helpers. Bryan Rust, Josh Archibald, Conor Sheary, Patric Hornqvist and Matt Cullen also scored for the Penguins.

Kyle Palmieri led New Jersey with a goal and an assist, the 100th helper of his career. Stefan Noesen, John Moore and Taylor Hall also scored for the Devils.

Blues 6, Panthers 3

Patrik Berglund scored the go-ahead goal with 9:23 remaining in the third period to lead St Louis over Florida at BB&T Center.

Alex Pietrangelo, Jaden Schwartz, Ryan Reaves, Vladimir Tarasenko and David Perron also scored for the Blues.

Vincent Trocheck, Michael Matheson and Denis Malgin scored for the Panthers.

Predators 7, Stars 3

Viktor Arvidsson tallied two goals and two assists, and Craig Smith added two goals and an assist for Nashville against Dallas at American Airlines Center.

Kevin Fiala, Roman Josi and Harry Zolnierczyk also scored for the Predators. Anthony Bitetto and P.K. Subban added two assists, and Juuse Saros made 30 saves.

The Stars got goals from Jason Spezza, Radek Faksa and Jason Dickinson.

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Wild 4, Avalanche 3

Nino Niederreiter scored a go-ahead goal early in the third period and added an assist, Nate Prosser also had a goal and an assist, and Minnesota held on to beat Colorado.

Jason Zucker scored 10 seconds in after missing three games with an injury, and Mikael Granlund added a goal for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves to reach 40 wins for the first time.

Matt Nieto, Tyler Jost and Francois Beauchemin scored for the Avalanche, who closed out their home schedule with a loss.

Coyotes 4, Canucks 3

Radim Vrbata netted a pair of goals, and Luke Schenn and Alex Burmistrov also scored as Arizona beat Vancouver at Gila River Arena.

Louis Domingue made 26 saves for the Coyotes to improve to 6-0-1 in his past seven games.

Nikolay Goldobin, Brock Boeser and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks, who got 18 saves from Ryan Miller but lost their sixth consecutive game.

Ducks 4, Blackhawks 0

John Gibson stopped 37 shots to earn his sixth shutout of the season in Anaheim's rout of Chicago at Honda Center.

Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Rickard Rakell and Chris Wagner scored for the Ducks, who won their third successive game and 10th in the past 13.

Corey Crawford made 22 saves for the Blackhawks, who have lost three in succession and five of seven.

Islanders 3, Hurricanes 0

New York struck early and Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves in a victory against Carolina at PNC Arena.

The Islanders scored twice in the opening 4:39, with Brock Nelson and Scott Mayfield converting. Andrew Ladd scored 39 seconds into the second period.

Eddie Lack made 20 saves for the Hurricanes, but he's winless in three consecutive outings.

Flames 4, Kings 1

Dennis Wideman scored the decisive goal, and rookie Jon Gillies made 27 saves to win his NHL debut as Calgary defeated Los Angeles.

The Flames also got goals from Sam Bennett, Freddie Hamilton and Alex Chiasson to stay in the first wild-card position in the Western Conference by virtue of having two more regulation or overtime wins than the Predators. Both teams have 94 points.

Trevor Lewis scored for the Kings, who lost for the fourth time in their last seven games. Ben Bishop stopped 20 Calgary shots.

Oilers 4, Sharks 2

Milan Lucic scored a third-period natural hat trick to lead Edmonton over injury-depleted San Jose at SAP Center.

Oscar Klefbom provided assists on all four Oilers goals as Edmonton moved two points ahead of the Sharks in what is likely going to be a first-round playoff matchup between these teams next week.

Connor McDavid scored the Oilers' other goals, and Joel Ward and Brent Burn scored for the Sharks.

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