Highlights of Wednesday's NHL games

[March 23, 2017]  March 22 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Wednesday's National Hockey League games:

Maple Leafs 5, Blue Jackets 2

Leo Komarov, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Nazem Kadri and Nikita Zaitsev scored goals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs continued their late-season push toward the playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night at Nationwide Arena.

The surging Maple Leafs moved past the Boston Bruins into third place in the Atlantic Division. Frederik Andersen finished with 32 saves for Toronto, which is on a 6-1-1 run since returning from a West Coast trip.

David Savard and Brandon Saad scored in the second period and Joonas Korpisalo made 27 stops for the Blue Jackets. Columbus missed a chance to move into a tie atop the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference standings with the Washington Capitals.

Islanders 3, Rangers 2

Andrew Ladd scored a power-play goal with 7:22 remaining in the third period as the Islanders rallied for a crucial victory.

Thomas Greiss made 34 saves to move the Islanders to within two points of the Boston Bruins for the final wild-card spot in the East. Lee and Nikolay Kulemin had the other Islanders goals.

Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored for the Rangers, who received 25 saves from Antti Raanta. The Rangers lost seven straight at home (0-5-2).

Ducks 4, Oilers 3

Josh Manson and Rickard Rakell scored in the second period as Anaheim rallied past Edmonton.

Patrick Eaves and Hampus Lindholm added goals for the Ducks, who used their sixth win in eight games to move within two points of the first-place San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division. Anaheim jumped two points ahead of Edmonton in the race for second place.

Connor McDavid recorded a goal and two assists while Leon Draisaitl had one of each for the Oilers, whose four-game winning streak ended. McDavid has 59 assists and 85 points -- both league highs -- and Draisaitl owns 11 points in his past five games.

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